Automotive system basis chip has integrated CAN FD
An automotive system basis chip from Texas Instruments integrates a controller and transceiver for controller area network with flexible data (CAN FD) rate. TI believes it is the first system basis chip available that integrates such a controller and transceiver.
The TCAN4550-Q1 is designed to meet the high-bandwidth and data-rate flexibility needs of in-vehicle networks and implement, with minimal hardware changes, a CAN FD interface or increase the amount of CAN FD bus ports in a system using a serial peripheral interface (SPI) bus of almost any microcontroller.
The chip can be used in place of multiple discrete components integrated into designs or allow designers to change microcontrollers entirely when upgrading to or expanding CAN FD functionality. This can be a time-consuming and expensive process, but the TCAN4550-Q1 system basis chip allows designers to maintain their existing microcontroller-based architecture and streamline CAN FD upgrade or expansion in body electronics and lighting, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and automotive gateway designs.
The TCAN4550-Q1 can reduce the bill of materials and system cost as it integrates ±58-V DC bus fault protection, watchdog timer and fail-safe modes and is cross-compatible with the Classical CAN protocol.
Designers can also use the chip to add more CAN FD buses via the existing SPI port in an automotive system when the microcontroller has a limited number of CAN FD ports. To achieve this conventionally requires system redesign which the TCAN4550-Q1 negates.
An integrated 125mA low-dropout (LDO) linear regulator means the TCAN4550-Q1 can power itself while also providing a 70mA external output that can be used to power sensors or additional components, to reduce the power design footprint and reduce the need for external power components.
The TCAN4550-Q1 enables faster programmability of automotive software during vehicle assembly through a maximum data rate of 8Mbits per second, which exceeds the 5Mbits per second maximum data rate of the CAN FD protocol.
A TCAN4550-Q1 evaluation module is available now.
