Cortex-M0 microcontrollers open up new CAN applications

First Cortex-M0 MCU with on-chip CANopen drivers in ROM

NXP has launched the first two devices, LPC11C12 and LPC11C14, in the LPC11C00 series featuring a Controller Area Network (CAN) 2.0B-compliant controller for industrial and embedded networking applications. CAN has long been considered one of the best choices for robust real-time communication, but price-prohibitive for low-cost embedded applications. With the introduction of the LPC11C00 series, NXP now provides a new low-cost entry point and total CAN solution reducing product development risk, lowering total system cost, and speeding time to market for high-performance embedded designs.

“With the addition of several low cost CAN device options, the LPC1100 family is continuing to expand into even more 8 and 16-bit application areas,” said Geoff Lees, vice president and general manager, microcontroller product line, NXP Semiconductors. “Offering CAN and CANopen protocol support directly on-chip greatly simplifies the plug-and-play integration process.”

Traditionally used primarily in automotive applications, the CAN bus is now one of the best choices for embedded networking applications which require communication across multiple embedded microcontrollers and CAN device nodes such as sensors and actuators. Some of today’s new market demands are embedded machine control applications such as home appliances, motor controllers and elevator systems, as well as energy and power controllers that increasingly need to communicate with each other. One recent example is a high-end coffee machine using microcontrollers interconnected via CANopen.

Incorporating CANopen drivers in on-chip ROM provides design engineers with easy-to-use API commands to the CANopen protocol, enabling rapid integration of the LPC11C00 series into CAN based networks. These drivers provide defined CAN and CANopen APIs to simplify CAN application development. 

The following functions are included in the API:

• CAN set-up and initialization

• CAN send and receive messages

• CAN status

• CANopen Object Dictionary

• CANopen SDO expedited communication

• CANopen SDO segmented communication primitives

• CANopen SDO fall-back handler

The key is that these drivers are included in the low power ROM, freeing up to 8kB of user code space and offering the dual advantage of reduced operating power, as well as secure and safe bootloads via CAN or other on-chip serial channels. With the security and peace of mind of ROM-based drivers, updating Flash via In System Programming (ISP) over the CAN-bus provides the whole range of functionality from programming blank parts in production through changing system parameters to full in-field re-programmability.

Enabling Higher Code Density and Superior Performance

The LPC11C00 requires 40-50 percent smaller code size than 8/16 bit microcontrollers for most common microcontroller tasks. This is enabled by the powerful Cortex-M0 v6-M instruction set which is built on a fundamental base of 16-bit Thumb instructions unique to 32-bit microcontrollers today.

With over 45 DMIPS of performance, the LPC11C00 series provides powerful message and data handling for CAN device nodes together with a power optimized solution unavailable with today’s 8-/16-bit microcontrollers.

Other key features of the LPC11C12/C14 include:

·         50 MHz Cortex-M0 processor with SWD/debug (4 break-points)

·         32 Vectored Interrupts; 4 priority levels; Dedicated Interrupts on up to 13 GPIOs

·         CAN 2.0 B C_CAN controller with on-chip CANopen drivers

·         UART, 2 SPI & I2C (FM+)

·         Two 16-bit and 2 32-bit timers with PWM/Match/Capture and one 24-bit system timer

·         12MHz Internal RC Oscillator with 1% accuracy over temperature and voltage

·         Power-On-Reset (POR); Multi-level Brown-Out-Detect (BOD); 10-50 MHz Phase-Locked Loop (PLL)

·         8-channel high precision 10-bit ADC with ±1LSB DNL

·         42 fast 5V tolerant GPIO pins, high drive (20 mA) on select pins

·         Single 1.8–3.6V power supply; 6.5kV ESD for rugged applications

Pricing and Availability

Recommended distribution unit pricing in 10,000 piece quantities for the 48-pin QFP package is LPC11C12FBD48 at US $1.68 and LPC11C14FBD48 at $1.98 with 8KB of SRAM and Flash sizes of 16kB and 32kB respectively.The parts will be available at distributors worldwide next month.  

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