Atmel Corporation as introduced two eight-bit AVR flash microcontrollers with CAN and in-application programming capabilities. With 16 MIPS RISC processing speed, the AT90CAN32 and AT90CAN64 offer performance equivalent to that of a 16-bit MCU at the price of a standard eight-bit device. The AT90CAN32 and AT90CAN6416 target door modules and other automotive and industrial applications.
Both devices are pin compatible with Atmel's 128 Kbyte AT90CAN128 MCU and integrate a V2.0A/V2.0B CAN controller, 32 Kbyte or 64 Kbyte flash program memory, 2 Kbyte or 4 Kbyte RAM, and 1 Kbyte or 2 Kbyte on-chip EEPROM.
The on-chip CAN controller can handle up to 15 independent message objects, dynamically assigning them to reception, transmission, or reception buffers in multiple CAN frames. CAN frame masking, filtering and buffering reduces host processor workload. A large portion of the device’s processing speed and memory remains available for applications while a complete higher layer protocol stack such as CANopen, DeviceNet or J1939 runs on the chip. An interrupt accelerator engine informs the CPU of critical messages without running a software scan routine, which minimizes the overhead impact on real-time applications.
An in-application programming (IAP) capability via CAN, UART or SPI, allows remote programming and field upgrades without disturbing CAN bus exchanges or interrupting the system. Atmel offers a library of IAP routines and Bootloader examples to reduce overall development time.
AT90CAN32/64 peripherals include 16-bit timers with enhanced pulse width modulation capabilities, a 10-bit/eight-channel A/D converter and several serial interfaces. The devices have a 2.7 V to 5.5 V operating voltage range and five power management modes.
AT90CAN32/64 samples are available in 64-pin TQFP and QFN packages in the industrial temperature range. The AT90CAN32 is available and the AT90CAN64 should be available in production quantities in March.