Test drive Renesas evaluation boards with ‘Lab on the Cloud’

Renesas Electronics Corp. recently launched its “Lab on the Cloud” environment where Renesas solutions are hosted in a remote lab that designers can access and test online. Solutions include evaluation boards, winning combinations (Renesas’ complementary product portfolios of analog + power + embedded processing that work together), and software. The company recently expanded its winning combinations with a new scalable artificial intelligence (AI) system-on-module (SoM) Smart Mobility ARChitecture (SMARC) board solution.

The Lab on the Cloud provides users with instant access to Renesas solutions before they receive a physical board or start a design. Boards are configured in a remote lab connected to the cloud and users access the boards through an intuitive GUI.

After creating an account and logging in, engineers see the list of boards available for testing on the cloud.  “Once they decide which board they want to test, a simple ppt will walk them through the board and possible tests and outcome,” DK Singh, Renesas’s director, Systems and Solutions, told Electronic Products. “With online evaluation, engineers will have fair idea of the devices or solution they tested and it helps them decide if they can proceed with real design.”

The virtual tool also provides live video of each board, enabling users to test, monitor, and measure results instantly. “Lab on the Cloud provides designers instant access to design tools, which would typically take days or weeks to procure in hand,” said Singh.

“This allows designers to reduce their test time and – ultimately – achieve quicker time to market with their innovative applications,” he said. “It would also help smaller or remote customers who may not have the necessary reach to get the boards quickly and pre-testing of the board online would cut their development time. In addition, it would help smaller customers or startups in testing and getting a fair idea of costly boards for free.”

Singh said Lab on the Cloud is suitable for basic verification devices and boards. “Test and setup parameters are limited to ensure 24×7 continuous operation but major parameters and key functions are well covered. Boards or designs that need frequent or extensive human interface are not suitable, but we have implemented live object detection lab through webcam interface.”

Nine popular evaluation boards are now available in the Lab on the Cloud environment. They include:

• MPPT-based solar battery charger
• USB-PD with turbo boost
• Buck-Boost last gasp power supply for energy meter
• Standard 4-20 mA loop – industrial receiver
• Arduino Shield sensor board
• Scalable HMI SMARC SoM with AI
• 1-phase static energy meter
• Digital illuminometer
• Ultra-low power MCU RE family

The Lab on the Cloud environment uses a platform developed by Tenxer Technologies, which also provides 24/7 access to Renesas solutions, along with online support. Renesas will continue to expand Lab on the Cloud with new additions throughout the year, said Singh.