.. zephyr:board:: aik_ra8d1

Overview

The AIK-RA8D1 provides developers with multiple and reconfigurable connectivity functions to expedite AI/ML system development. This easy-to-use hardware platform for multimodal AI/ML solutions is based on the RA8D1 MCU from the RA family of 32-bit MCUs.

The hardware platform is intended for use in a variety of AI/ML single or multimodal use cases supporting vision, real-time analytics, and audio. It enables multiple combinations of different plug-in sensors with the available onboard analog microphones and camera.

On-board support is included for several of the most commonly used peripherals, as well as interfaces for several common ecosystem standards.

The key features of the AIK-RA8D1 board are categorized as follows:

Renesas RA8D1 Microcontroller Group

R7FA8D1BHECBD
176-pin LQFP package
480 MHz Arm® Cortex® -M85 core with Helium®
1 MB on-chip SRAM
2 MB on-chip code flash memory
12 KB on-chip data flash memory
On-board external SDRAM (128Mbit)

Connectivity

One USB micro AB full speed connector for the Main MCU
SEGGER J-Link® On-board (OB) interface for debugging and programming of the RA8D1 MCU. A 10 pin JTAG/SWD interface are also provided for connecting optional external debuggers and programmers
Six PMOD connectors, allowing use of appropriate PMOD compliant peripheral plug-in modules for rapid prototyping
One Auxiliary Port connector
One CAN interface
One RJ-45 RMII Ethernet interface

Other on-board features

20-pin DVP interface for camera input
2 Analog MEMS microphones
Two user push button switches
One LED RGB

Hardware

Detailed Hardware features for the AIK-RA8D1 kit can be found at AIK-RA8D1 - User's Manual_

Supported Features

.. zephyr:board-supported-hw::

Programming and Debugging

.. zephyr:board-supported-runners::

Applications for the aik_ra8d1 board can be built, flashed, and debugged in the usual way. See :ref:build_an_application and :ref:application_run for more details on building and running.

Configuring the Debug Probe

The AIK-RA8D1 board includes an on-board SEGGER J-Link debugger. SEGGER J-Link drivers are available at https://www.segger.com/downloads/jlink

To use the on-board J-Link debugger, ensure that:

The J-Link OB is connected to the host PC via the USB port (J10).
The J-Link OB jumper is in the default configuration as described in the AIK-RA8D1 - User's Manual_.

Configuring a Console

Connect a USB cable from your PC to the on-board virtual COM port (J10), and use a serial terminal of your choice (minicom, PuTTY, etc.) with the following settings:

Speed: 115200
Data: 8 bits
Parity: None
Stop bits: 1

Flashing

Here is an example for the :zephyr:code-sample:hello_world application.

.. zephyr-app-commands:: :zephyr-app: samples/hello_world :board: aik_ra8d1 :goals: flash

Open a serial terminal, reset the board (push the reset switch S1), and you should see the following message in the terminal:

.. code-block:: console

***** Booting Zephyr OS v4.3.0-xxx-xxxxxxxxxxxxx ***** Hello World! aik_ra8d1

Debugging

Here is an example for the :zephyr:code-sample:hello_world application.

.. zephyr-app-commands:: :zephyr-app: samples/hello_world :board: aik_ra8d1 :goals: debug

Open a serial terminal, step through the application in your debugger, and you should see the following message in the terminal:

.. code-block:: console

***** Booting Zephyr OS v4.3.0-xxx-xxxxxxxxxxxxx ***** Hello World! aik_ra8d1

References

.. target-notes::

.. _AIK-RA8D1 Website: https://www.renesas.com/en/design-resources/boards-kits/aik-ra8d1

.. _RA8D1 MCU group Website: https://www.renesas.com/en/products/microcontrollers-microprocessors/ra-cortex-m-mcus/ra8d1-480-mhz-arm-cortex-m85-based-graphics-microcontroller-helium-and-trustzone

.. _AIK-RA8D1 - User's Manual: https://www.renesas.com/en/document/mat/aik-ra8d1-users-manual

.. _RA8D1 Group User's Manual Hardware: https://www.renesas.com/en/document/mah/ra8d1-group-users-manual-hardware