Chipmaker Arduino s.r.l. today introduced a new microcontroller board, the Uno R4, that offers significantly higher performance than its previous-generation hardware.

Switzerland-based Arduino is a major maker of microcontroller boards. Those are miniature computers that take the form of a compact chip measuring a few inches across. Each such chip includes a processor, memory and supporting components that allow it to perform simple computing tasks without external assistance.

Arduino’s chips are used by hobbyists to build custom electronics and by educational institutions to teach students programming. The company also has a substantial enterprise installed base. Organizations use Arduino silicon to build industrial robots, run automated irrigation systems and power other connected devices.

For enterprise customers, the company offers its chips alongside a cloud-based device management platform. Organizations can use it to collect and visualize sensory data from their Arduino-powered systems. The platform also lends itself to certain other tasks, such as updating devices’ firmware.

The Uno R4 chip (pictured) that Arduino debuted today is the new top-end option in its Uno series of microcontroller boards. The series is the company’s most popular product line. The Uno R4 replaces the product line’s previous flagship chip, the Uno R3.

“With the ever-changing needs of our community and technological advancements, even the most popular UNO R3 must evolve, though we have no plans to discontinue the board,” said Arduino co-founder Massimo Banzi.

The Uno R4 provides up to 16 times higher clock speeds, a measure of performance, than the previous-generation Uno R3. The primary contributor to the speedup is that the addition of a faster microcontroller. A microcontroller is a type of compact, power-efficient integrated circuit that can function as an Arduino’s chip primary onboard processor. 

According to the company, the Uno R4 is powered by a microcontroller called the RA4M1 that has a clock speed of 48 megahertz. The RA4M1 is made by Renesas Electronics Corp., a Tokyo-based company best known for making vehicle chips. At the architecture level, the processor is based on an Arm Ltd. design. 

There are several reasons why the Uno R4’s processor is faster than that of Arduino’s previous-generation chip.

Many applications process data in 32-bit blocks. The Uno R4’s processor features a 32-bit architecture, which means several of the processor’s components are specifically optimized to work with 32-bit data blocks. That allows the Uno R4 to run many applications faster than its predecessor, the Uno R3, which includes a processor with a simpler 8-bit architecture.

Another improvement over Arduino’s previous-generation product is the addition of a so-called floating point unit. That’s a set of circuits optimized to perform floating point operations, which are calculations involving fractions.

The ability to process fractions quickly is necessary for, among other tasks, processing sensory data. Processing data from sensors is one of the main tasks for which Arduino chips are used in enterprise internet of things projects. As a result, the Uno R4’s floating point unit should help customers speed up their software.

The chip also introduces other enhancements. Compared with Arduino’s previous-generation chip, the amount of onboard SRAM cache in the Uno R4 has been increased from 2 kilobytes to 32 kilobytes. SRAM is the high-speed memory in which a chip stores data immediately before processing it.

Arduino has also upgraded the onboard flash storage pool. The Uno R4 features 256 kilobytes of solid-state memory, eight times more than the previous-generation chip.

In the networking department, the chip introduces a new Controller Area Network bus. It will make it easier for developers to connect the Uno R2 to so-called shields. Those are add-on circuit boards that can extend an Arduino’s chip default feature set with additional capabilities.

Some shields provide sensors that allow an Arduino chip to measure temperature, pressure and other environmental parameters. Others contain wireless networking gear. Arduino also offers shields that focus on more specialized tasks, such enabling a Uno chip to be used as an industrial robot’s motor controller.

The Uno R4 is compatible with shields that work with the previous-generation Uno R3 and by default uses the same amount of electricity. However, the maximum supported voltage has been increased to 24 volts. Supplying more electricity to a chip allows developers to increase its performance in some cases. 

The Uno R4 is available in two editions. There’s a no-frills version called the Uno R4 Minima and the more advanced UNO R4 WiFi, which can establish wireless connections using Wi-Fi or Bluetooth Low Energy. The latter chip enables companies to wirelessly link their connected devices to Arduino’s cloud-based device management platform or competing services.

Image: Arduino