Controller is suitable for automotive subsystems

Fujitsu Microelectronics Europe (FME) has announced the world's first FlexRay controller featuring version 2.0 FlexRay IP developed by Robert Bosch.

Fujitsu Microelectronics Europe (FME) has announced the world's first FlexRay controller featuring version 2.0 FlexRay IP developed by Robert Bosch.

Fujitsu's MB88121, available in sample quantities at the end of September 2005, delivers 10 Mbits per second over two channels.

It provides fault-tolerant, deterministic data transmission, which is suitable for the engine control, braking and steering subsystems.

It allows designers to apply the advanced features offered by a FlexRay network, while protecting the investment made developing legacy assets and sustaining the reliability of existing products.

FME will show its FlexRay controller at the International VDI conference Systems for Vehicles in Baden-Baden, Germany, on the 6th and 7th October 2005.

The MB88121 is designed to complement all of the existing standard automotive buses, including the Controller Area Network (CAN) and Local Interconnect Network (LIN).

FlexRay-based technology, which can provide approximately 10 times the throughput of CAN, is expected to gradually replace CAN as car makers and their suppliers adopt x-by-wire solutions in new generations of vehicles.

FME was the first company to deliver a complete developers' kit designed to enable early-stage application development.

The FlexRay IP is being continually upgraded, and samples of the MB88121 that comply with FlexRay protocol specification 2.1 will become available in November 2005.

In addition, new products with enhanced microcontroller-based interfaces are under development, with Fujitsu also expecting to deliver a FlexRay device featuring its 32bit FR core in 2006.

The MB88121 can be connected directly to existing CPUs, enabling the development of production systems that use a next-generation network, while simultaneously maximising the performance of equipment already in the vehicle.

Internal speeds reach 80MHz, with a 4, 5, 8 or 10MHz external oscillator, or by external clock.

The chip's parallel interface affords a maximum frequency of 33MHz.

The MB88121 is mounted in a 64-pin LQFP package, with a 48-pin package currently under development.

The device is optimised for developers wishing to gain an insight into the features that FlexRay offers, and test the performance advantage that the standard brings.

The product also provides the best way of implementing a FlexRay bus using existing CAN products and buses.

It features an internal 80MHz clock, and several parallel I/F options, with a serial I/F being considered.

Fujitsu has been an active member of the FlexRay consortium since 2002, and is also a member of 'AUTOSAR' and 'Jaspar', the standardisation organisations for the automotive industry.

Through these organisations, FlexRay-related product development will be accelerated.

The company acquired the FlexRay IP license from Bosch in Jan 2005, and commenced sales of its FlexRay starter kit in June.

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