Texas Instruments is automotive system basis chip TCAN4550-Q1. The chip integrates controllers and transceivers using a flexible data rate controller area network and is designed to meet the high bandwidth and data rate flexibility requirements of in-vehicle networks. It adopts the Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) bus of almost all microcontrollers to deploy a CAN FD interface or increase the number of CAN FD bus ports in a system, while making minimal changes to the hardware.

In the past, when upgrading to or expanding CAN FD functionality, designers had to integrate multiple discrete components into their designs or overhaul the microcontroller, which was often time-consuming and costly. With the TCAN4550-Q1 System Basis Chip (SBC), designers can maintain existing microcontroller-based architectures for automotive electronics and lighting, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), and automotive gateway designs, simplifying CAN FD upgrades or expansions .

What is CAN FD?

The CAN FD communication protocol is based on the original CAN bus standard and helps to ensure that the various in-vehicle network data rates and throughputs continue to evolve while the automotive microcontroller and connected systems can communicate efficiently at various rates. The CAN FD protocol supports data transfer rates of up to 5 Mbps and payloads of up to 64 bytes, effectively increasing the ability of designers to move data faster in their next-generation automotive applications.

Key features and benefits of the TI TCAN4550-Q1:

1. Simplify bill of materials (BOM) and reduce system cost: Designers can simplify their designs by relying on the highly integrated TCAN4550-Q1, including integrated ±58-VDC bus fault protection, watchdog timer and failover mode. The TCAN4550-Q1 is also cross-compatible with classic CAN protocols.

2. Easier bus expansion in automotive designs: If the microcontroller has a limited number of CAN FD ports, designers can also use this chip to add more CAN FD buses via the existing SPI ports in the automotive system. Typically, such bus expansion requires a system redesign, which is not necessary when using the TCAN4550-Q1.

3. Smaller power supply design footprint: With an integrated 125 mA low dropout (LDO) linear regulator, the TCAN4550-Q1 can power itself, as well as provide an external 70 mA output for sensors or other components. The power supply design takes up less space by reducing the need for external power components.

4. Reduce power consumption: TCAN4550-Q1 can help designers reduce system power consumption during standby by wake-up and sleep functions.

5. Improve the maximum data transfer rate: The new SBC supports automobiles to write automotive software programs more quickly based on a maximum data transfer rate of 8 Mbps during assembly, surpassing the 5 Mbps maximum data transfer rate of the CAN FD protocol.