Dev Kit Weekly is starting 2020 off with a BANG! and the Renesas EK-RA6M3G Graphics Evaluation Kit.

Actually, there are several bangs in this episode. The first is that we're giving away SEVEN boards this week courtesy of Avnet and Renesas, so you have a better-than-normal chance of winning. More on that below, but make sure to fill out the form at http://bit.ly/WinRenesasRA.

The second bang comes, of course, in the form of the Renesas EK-RA6M3G, which is headlined by the company's RA microcontroller family. This new series of 32-bit Arm Cortex-M4-based devices integrate Secure Crypto Engine IP and are all certified to level 1 of Arm’s Platform Security Architecture. They also feature tons of connectivity options.

The third bang is what really stands out about this kit: A companion 4.3" TFT color LCD with a capacitive touch overlay that delivers 480 x 272 to UI-enabled system designs. This is supported by SEGGER's emWin Embedded GUI development tool, which comes with the kit.

The fourth and final bang is the ecosystem support. Besides SEGGER development tools, the EK-RA6M3G is supported by an ecosystem of additional software and tools, including the Renesas Flexible Software Package (download for free at info.renesas.com/en-fsp-download), Amazon FreeRTOS, cloud hooks to Microsoft Azure, machine learning libraries from vendors like Qeexo, and security stacks from wolfSSL and Cypherbridge, among others. Expansion headers even accept add-on modules from popular Maker ecosystems.

Really, what more could you ask for from a kit?

Of course you could ask for it for free, but normally that's not possible. The EK-RA6M3G graphics evaluation kit retails for $162.50 from distributors like Avnet.

However, Avnet and Renesas are giving away two of these kits, as well as FIVE EK-RA2A1 evaluation kits. The EK-RA2A1 is essentially a "little brother" of the EK-RA6M3G graphics evaluation kit, only it features a more power-efficient MCU from the RA family and doesn't include a companion touchscreen.

Take a chance at the better odds in this week's raffle by entering here: http://bit.ly/WinRenesasRA (be sure to scroll towards the bottom of the page).

For more information on the RA family of MCUs and associated development kits, be sure to check out https://www.avnet.com/wps/portal/us/products/product-highlights/renesas-ra-family/.

See you next week.