Renesas debuts two new Super-H processors for driver assistance systems.

SH74552 and SH74562 from Renesas feature on-chip flash memory and four-channel CAN

Loring Wirbel, Contributing Editor -- EDN, 1/29/2010 10:14:00 AM

Renesas Technology America Inc. has introduced two new members of the Super-H microcontroller family, intended for driver-assistance systems used in collision avoidance and obstacle detection.  The SH74552 and SH74562 are 160-MHz, 288 MIPS processors feature 1 Mbyte of flash memory and four lanes of CAN networking.  The 74552 also features a two-channel Flex-Ray controler.

The processors are cost- and size-reduced versions of 240-MHz processors, giving lower-cost vehicles the ability to offer driver assistance systems capable of processing large amounts of sensor data, while reusing the software developed for existing Super-H processors.  In addition to nonvolatile memory, the processors feature 256 Kbytes of SRAM for storage of imaging data from sensors.

 While four lanes of CAN is offered for data acqusition and networking, the SH74552 offers the next-generation Flex-Ray network as well.  Both processors include an I2C interface for cameras, a parallal DAC controller for milliwave systems, and dual direct RAM inputs for CMOS cameras.

The processors are packaged in 13 x 13 mm 176-pin FPGA.  Sample prices start at $89 each for the SH74562, and $100 each for the SH74552.