siliconindia | | December 20198HIGHLY INTEGRATED 8-BIT MCUs CAN HELP SIMPLIFY CAN AUTOMOTIVE APPLICATIONS By Edwin Romero, Product Marketing Manager - MCU8 Division, Microchip Technologyhe controller area network (CAN) protocol is a great way to reduce the wiring complexity in data transmission, as applications become in-creasingly interconnected. Ever since it was de-signed in the mid-1980s specifically for the auto-motive industry, it has helped reduce the weight, amount and cost of wiring.Today, CAN is used widely in factory automation and medical applications. More than one billion CAN nodes are shipped worldwide each year. If we look at the number for 8-bit microcontroller units (MCUs) too, we find that over one billion are shipped annually. While there might possibly be some overlap in these num-bers, the point remains that this number is set to grow exponentially in the future.Why Car Makers Love CAN Traditional CAN communications are event based. Through CAN, microcontrollers and application specif-ic integrated circuits (ASICS) can directly communicate with each other in applications without a host computer. CAN today is more cost-effective and compatible with many automotive systems, thanks to its integration by semiconductor companies. For more than a decade and half now, 8-bit MCUs are offered with the CAN protocol. More recent 8-bit MCU design approaches use Core In-dependent Peripherals (CIPs) that allow them to address several system aspects in CAN applications.While cost-effectiveness is a key reason for the suc-cess of CAN, features such as robustness, reliable data transmission and the simplicity of its implementation have played a role in its popularity. Most of these attributes are also applicable to 8-bit MCUs. It is not surprising that 8-bit MCUs with CAN are seen as a natural combination especially in automotive networking.As automotive networks evolved, there arose a need for time-triggered, fault-tolerant and single-wire imple-mentations, as well as CAN with flexible data rate (CAN FD). CAN specifications expanded accordingly. CAN now has several applications in automotive right from access control, battery charging/battery management to use in diagnostic equipment. While automotive engineers have been using the local area network (LIN) protocol to reduce costs, it is not feasible in applications that re-quire access to data from another CAN control system. This is because LIN is a single-wire, master-slave net-work that requires both hardware and software changes from CAN. Therefore, 8-bit MCUs/CAN are better suited for these applications. An 8-Bit MCU with CAN to Meet Low-Cost Networking Requirements Designers seek to simplify tasks such as sensing param-eters for control purposes, moving a motor, activating a solenoid and others, through added peripherals that spe-cifically address other system requirements. The CIP ap-proach works very well because it can help improve re-sponse times at lower clock speeds and decrease software complexity. At the same time, it uses lesser power. The integrated CAN controller is fully backwards compatible with previous CAN modules such as CAN 1.2 and CAN 2.0A. The product comes with Memory Ac-cess Partition (MAP) capability that supports designers in data protection and bootloader applications. It also has a Having completed his B.S. ­ Electronics Engineering from the Arizona State University, Edwin is a semiconductor industry veteran who has been in the industry for over a decade. Prior to joining Microchip Technology, he headed the Applications & Marketing Communications for Corporate Marketing for On Semiconductor.IN MY OPINIONT
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