Philips Announces New 16-Bit CAN 2.0B Compliant Microcontroller
24 January 2000
Philips Semiconductors Announces New 16-Bit CAN 2.0B Compliant Microcontroller
SUNNYVALE, Calif.--Jan. 24, 2000--To Boost CAN Performance and Decrease Design Time for
Industrial and Automotive Applications
Philips Semiconductors, an affiliate of Royal Philips Electronics , today announced a new member of the high-performance 16-bit XA family of microcontrollers tailored for Controller Area Network (CAN) applications such as high-performance industrial and automotive systems. The XA-C3 is compliant with the CAN 2.0B standard and features Philips Semiconductors' proven PeliCAN (Philips' Extended Library CAN) functionality, incorporating a CAN transport layer co-processor to improve performance and decrease system cost and design time.
The high communications reliability of CAN devices make this standard an ideal solution for equipment control applications such as photo copiers, medical equipment and factory automation. CAN microcontrollers are also useful in applications such as electronic wheelchairs and navigational systems. According to the CAN in Automation (CiA) Group, the number of CAN application nodes in 1998 was 60 million units and this number is expected to grow by nearly 50% in 1999 and by more than 50% by the end of 2000.
"Philips Semiconductors is committed to providing highly integrated microcontroller solutions to meet the needs of the rapidly expanding CAN market," said Geoff Lees, director of marketing for Philips Semiconductors' Microcontroller Business Line. "The XA-C3 combines Philips Semiconductors' experience in the CAN transceiver and 16-bit microcontroller markets to provide design engineers with a high-performance CAN 2.0B solution at a low cost."
Features of the XA-C3
The XA-C3 is a member of Philips Semiconductors' eXtended Architecture (XA) family of microcontrollers and combines standard peripherals with a PeliCAN CAN 2.0B engine to support the maximum CAN data rate of 1 Mbps. It features 32K of One Time Programmable (OTP) program memory and 1K of on-chip data Static Random Access Memory (SRAM). The chip also includes a Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter (UART) and Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) port to enable integration of various serial interfaces to a CAN network.
The device provides support for CAN transport layer protocols such as DeviceNet, CANopen and OSEK in hardware rather than leaving the responsibility to the designer to implement in software, resulting in reduced Central Processing Unit (CPU) overhead and increased power to run the application. In most cases, the XA-C3's CAN co-processor reduces CPU overhead by up to 90% in comparison to conventional CAN microcontrollers, and typically uses less than 2% of the CPU resources for message handling, leaving almost 100% of the 16-bit CPU core's resources available to run the application. This is achieved through 32 CAN transport-layer message objects that can be configured to receive, or transmit, 32 separate filters/screeners each allowing a 30-bit ID match and full 29-bit mask to represent a unique group address.
The device supports the C programming language and runs at a 32 MHz operating frequency at 4.5 to 5.5 V. The XA-C3 also supports multi-tasking and real-time operation with a 16-level interrupt priority system that handles the 42 vectored interrupts with fast context switching. In addition, the device includes power-down and idle modes to enable low-power operation.
Pricing and Availability
The PXAC37 in extended temperature is priced at $9.50 in 1,000 unit quantities and is currently available in volume production in 44-pin LQFP and PLCC packages.
About Philips Semiconductors' Microcontroller Business Line
Philips Semiconductors is the world's leading supplier of the most popular 8-bit architecture, the 80C51, offering more than 100 derivatives. Philips Semiconductors has extended this successful architecture into its low-power, small footprint, low-system cost 80C51 family, the 51LPC and its high-performance16-bit XA family. Now customers can preserve their software, development tools and technology investment in the 80C51 while capitalizing on low-power, small footprint and 16-bit performance applications. Dataquest's "1998 Microcontroller Market Share and Unit Shipments" July 1999 report stated, "Philips Semiconductors' 80C51 sales of US$ 445 million in 1998, a 38 percent share of the total 80C51 microcontroller market." (a)
(a) Source: Dataquest. Based on Vendor Revenue by Architecture of Microcontroller Market Share and Unit Shipments. Reprinted with permission.
About Philips Semiconductors
Philips Semiconductors is the eighth largest semiconductor supplier in the world according to Dataquest's 1998 market share report. Philips Semiconductors' innovations in digital audio, video and mobile technology place the company in a leadership position in the consumer, multimedia and wireless communications markets. As a global company, offices in 40 countries serve major markets. Philips Semiconductors, headquartered in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, is an affiliate of Royal Philips Electronics. Please join us at the Philips Semiconductors website: www.semiconductors.philips.com for further information or call 1-800-447-1500 ext. 2027.