Let’s hit the long-story-short of this, right out of the gate. The through-thread of today’s news from semiconductor supplier and embedded design solutions provider Renesas Electronics Corporation is simple:
Building blocks.
Here’s how this metaphor applies to Renesas’ reality.
Recently, Renesas introduced its innovative and cloud-based Internet of Things (IoT) system design platform called Quick-Connect Studio (QCS). QCS has been described by Renesas as a “first-of-its-kind platform” that allows users to “graphically build hardware and software at the same time,” leading to faster prototype validation and accelerated development for products.
In traditional development cycles (i.e. without QCS) can prove quite time-consuming, with engineers having to research, collect device information, create hardware layouts, develop software, test and iterate until the product is ready for the market.
In truth, this can be cumbersome. These steps are often performed sequentially, to boot; this consumes a ton of intensive engineering power, thus becoming a bottleneck regarding software development.
Quick-Connect Studio, however, is transformative in this regard. With QCS, engineers can perform hardware and software development simultaneously. Per Renesas, “Now, designers can immediately build software with the ability to flexibly reconfigure and test product concepts.” This not only generates time-savings, but also significantly lowers risk (since engineers can validate designs before committing to hardware layouts).
What’s more is that the QCS platform enables engineers to drag and drop device and subsystem blocks on the cloud to create their solutions graphically.
(Hence, the building blocks.)
After placing each block, users are then able to automatically generate, compile and build software, signifying what Renesas defines as “a major shift toward the no-code development paradigm.” This key part of its QCS makes constructing production-level software as simple as piecing together old-school building blocks. (Perhaps with a bit more tech expertise, but you get the idea.)
In total, Quick-Connect Studio allows users to rapidly create a full solution in the cloud and deploy it to hardware in less than 10 minutes, requiring minimal upfront learning or investment. The cloud's computing power enables swift compilation, while the modern graphical user interface (GUI) reduces the learning curve and encourages project reuse.
Built on the Quick-Connect IoT platform, Renesas’ Quick-Connect Studio supports standardized hardware with established industry interfaces such as PMOD, Arduino, and MIKROE. This allows engineers to seamlessly mix and match MCUs, MPUs, sensors, and connectivity boards using standard connectors. (Perfect for IoT.)
And in the future, users will also be able to expand beyond Renesas to collaborate with major cloud service providers (CSPs), service integrators, and open-source community leaders.
Chris Allexandre, Senior Vice President, CSMO, and Head of the Global Sales and Marketing Unit at Renesas, emphasized the company's commitment to advancing the digital user experience. “Quick-Connect Studio exemplifies how Renesas is accelerating the digital development cycle for engineers, enabling the fast validation and testing of new ideas, and allowing designers to innovate quickly using Renesas as their preferred platform.”
Quick-Connect Studio is available now.