What's New in Renesas 365

The July update of Renesas 365 builds on its System Data Model foundation with enhancements across system design, device configuration, and platform performance.

Developers can now move more efficiently between system, hardware, and software workflows when creating and refining Renesas-based MCU solutions.

Visual Studio Code Integration for Renesas 365

Renesas 365 is now integrated with Visual Studio Code, enabling the development of Renesas C/C++ projects for the RA device family.

This integration brings the same Renesas 365 capabilities available in Renesas e² studio to Visual Studio Code. Developers can access system-aware configuration, connected workflows, and cross-domain capabilities while working in their preferred environment without sacrificing functionality.

For information on using the Renesas VS Code extension, visit here.

Automatic Synchronization of Functional Block Ports and Peripheral Instances

Functional block ports are now automatically synchronized with device model peripheral instances when a Renesas 365 solution is created from an existing e² studio software project or a ready-to-run example.

As part of solution creation, Renesas 365 performs an automatic Engineering Change Order (ECO) to populate and align the Electronic System Designer (ESD) document with the imported system model.

The result is a smoother onboarding experience for imported and preconfigured designs, reducing setup effort while keeping developers in control of subsequent changes.

Electronic System Designer Web Editor Improvements

Renesas 365 introduces several usability improvements to the Electronic System Designer (ESD) web editor, with a focus on reducing manual effort and making system designs easier to create and maintain.

ESD now automatically expands hardware blankets when associated functional blocks change, helping maintain alignment as designs evolve.

In addition, functional blocks and other ESD objects can now be rotated, which provides greater flexibility when organizing diagrams while preserving existing connections.

Additional enhancements include automatic parameter updates during copy and paste operations, and faster editing of functional blocks and their associated objects.

Expanded Symbol Library with AC Power Support

Electronic System Designer now includes AC power symbols as part of its available symbol library.

These symbols integrate alongside existing components and functional blocks, allowing power elements to be defined and connected within the same system-level design environment.

This addition helps developers create more complete system representations and makes it easier to bring real-world designs into Renesas 365.

Improved Device Configuration and Change Visibility

Renesas 365 introduces several enhancements to the Device Configuration experience, improving how changes are reviewed and applied.

Peripheral instances can now be selected directly within the comparison interface, with corresponding pins highlighted in the device visualization. This provides a clearer connection between configuration changes and their physical implementation.

Additional flexibility has also been introduced for working with virtualized peripherals. Device configuration now supports the removal of ports, allowing developers to directly manage configurations in scenarios such as ADC setup.

New In-App Help and Learning Experience

Renesas 365 now includes a dedicated in-app help experience, providing direct access to learning and support resources within the platform.

Developers can explore video content and recent feature updates, access documentation articles, and find answers to common questions in the same space.

Reference Design and Evaluation Kit Enhancements

We’ve expanded support for reference design and evaluation workflows with broader device compatibility and updated software integration.

This includes support for additional Renesas RA Wireless modules such as the RA6W1, RA6W2, and RRQ61xxx families, along with integration of Renesas Flexible Software Package (FSP) version 6.4.0.

DEBUG peripheral configuration is also now supported across the full device portfolio, improving consistency when working with development and evaluation setups.

Platform Performance Improvements

Significant performance and efficiency improvements have been made across device modeling and the WebIDE experience.

A new constraint resolver engine delivers faster device configuration generation while significantly reducing memory usage. Additional enhancements improve support for more complex configurations, helping make device modeling and configuration more responsive.

WebIDE performance has also been improved, reducing the time required to open software projects, inspect source files, and navigate from software-defined pins directly to their corresponding locations on the PCB.

Together, these improvements help developers move more quickly between configuration, software review, and implementation activities.

Improving Everyday Development Workflows

Together, these updates strengthen key areas of the Renesas 365 experience, from system design and device configuration to platform performance. They help developers create solutions more efficiently, better understand design changes, and move more quickly from evaluation and configuration to implementation.

The April update of Renesas 365 marks a major step forward in model-based development, introducing powerful new capabilities centered around two core themes: Solutionizing and Co-Development.

At the heart of this update is a fundamental shift away from fragmented, document-centric workflows toward a truly connected digital engineering experience spanning system, hardware, and software domains.

Introducing the System Data Model (SDM)

Under the hood, this update introduces a major new cross-domain modeling mechanism called the System Data Model (SDM). SDM digitally connects the domains of:

• System design
• Hardware design
• Software development

This creates a shared model foundation that allows these traditionally disconnected domains to remain synchronized, while also enabling differences and conflicts to be identified and resolved.

SDM is now the underpinning technology behind several major Renesas 365 capabilities, including:

• Board Support Package (BSP) generation from system intent
• Solutionizing
• Cross-domain co-design
• Cross-probing and contextual navigation

This is real model-based collaboration in action - replacing fragile document handoffs with connected digital intent.

From System Intent to BSP - Automatically

One of the most exciting capabilities in this update is the ability to scaffold a Board Support Package (BSP) directly from high-level system intent.

Using block-diagram-based design in Electronic System Designer (ESD), developers can now define systems at a functional level using simple interface definitions. From there, the Renesas 365 platform leverages its model-based constraint engine to automatically determine a valid device configuration and generate the associated BSP scaffolding.

This dramatically reduces the upfront effort required to move from concept to implementation, while also helping ensure configurations are valid from the start.

Constraint Modeling Now Understands Evaluation Boards

The platform now goes a step further by incorporating evaluation board awareness directly into the modeling process.

By providing evaluation board context, the constraint modeler understands which pins and resources are already reserved or unavailable on a specific kit, automatically avoiding conflicts during BSP generation.

This is a critical capability because it enables developers to scaffold BSPs that are not only valid for the target MCU, but also practical for the physical evaluation hardware they are using.

The result is a much smoother path to prototyping and expansion, making it easier to confidently connect external devices through expansion headers and available interfaces - knowing the generated configuration is designed to work within the constraints of the board.

Solutionizing: From Embedded Project to Full Renesas 365 Solution

The new Solutionizing capability enables existing RA MCU software projects to be transformed into fully connected Renesas 365 solutions in an automated manner.

Rather than treating software as an isolated artifact, projects can now become part of a broader system-aware solution that connects software, hardware, configuration, and lifecycle data together.

This creates a much more scalable and maintainable development experience, while also laying the foundation for richer automation and collaboration workflows across teams.

Co-Design Across Hardware and Software

The April update also introduces significant advances in co-design workflows between hardware and software domains.

Pin assignments and configuration data can now flow bidirectionally between domains, enabling hardware development in Altium Designer and software development in e² studio to stay synchronized automatically.

This means engineers no longer need to manually reconcile pin configurations across disconnected tools and spreadsheets. Changes can propagate across domains, helping teams maintain alignment while dramatically reducing integration friction and configuration errors.

Cross-Probing: From Source Code to Board

Another standout capability in this update is cross-probing between source code and hardware design context. Developers can now navigate directly from software to board-level context, including highlighted pins and nets.

This makes common development tasks significantly easier, such as:

• Finding where to place a scope probe
• Identifying which header pins to wire to an external device
• Understanding hardware connectivity directly from software context

Instead of chasing information across PDFs, schematics, notes, and pin tables, Renesas 365 now provides a connected and interactive experience that bridges the gap between code and physical hardware.

It's not only more efficient - it's simply a more intuitive and enjoyable way to develop embedded systems.

Enhanced System-Level Exploration with RA Explorer

To round out this update, RA Explorer now includes a powerful new before-and-after comparison view.

This enables developers to visually understand the impact of device changes at the system level, making exploration and tradeoff analysis significantly easier.

Whether evaluating alternative devices, understanding resource impacts, or comparing configurations, the enhanced explorer experience provides much deeper visibility into system-level consequences and opportunities.

Moving Beyond Document-Centric Engineering

Taken together, the capabilities in this update represent an important evolution toward connected, model-based engineering workflows.

By digitally linking system intent, hardware design, and software implementation, Renesas 365 is helping enable a more collaborative, scalable, and intelligent development experience - reducing friction, minimizing errors, and accelerating the path from concept to working system.

This is the future of co-development and solution creation - and it's arriving now in Renesas 365.