SIG 3,3-V transceivers established

CiA has established the Special Interest Group (SIG) 3,3-V transceivers. Vikas Thawani (Texas Instruments) chairs the SIG.

CAN transceiver supplied with 3,3 V is nothing new. There are several industrial applications using them. But to implement them in network with 5-V transceivers requires some additional specifications. A recently established SIG under the CiA Interest Group (IG) lower layers chaired by Magnus Hell (Infineon) is going to develop such a 3,3-V transceiver specification.

ECU (electronic control unit) manufacturers are selecting increasingly 3,3-V micro-controllers. In order to avoid two supply voltages, they like to use 3,3-V CAN transceivers instead of the currently dominating 5-V transceivers. The usage of 3,3-V transceivers can simplify device designs and can avoid the need of LDO (low-dropout) regulators.

The scope of the established CiA SIG covers the following kinds of CAN transceivers compliant with ISO 11898-2:2024: CAN HS (high speed), CAN FD (flexible data rate), CAN SIC (signal improvement capability), and CAN SIC XL (extended data field length). This includes also transceivers with low-power and selective wake-up capabilities. A related conformance test plan, an interoperability test plan submitted by the C&S Group and an EMC specification are also in the SIG’s scope. The EMC specification is a candidate to be submitted for international standardization in IEC.

The first CiA specification is intended for PMA (physical medium attachment) sublayer implementations according to the parameter set A and B as given in ISO/FDIS 11898-2:2023. The release is planned for end of 2024. All market-leading CAN transceiver chipmakers participated in the SIG’s inaugural meeting.

hz