Cypress drives next-generation automotive systems with expanded portfolio

Cypress Semiconductor announced an expansion of its automotive portfolio that will help enable manufacturers to bring high tech automotive systems historically available only in luxury models to mainstream vehicles. Leveraging a wide range of differentiated products that includes microcontrollers (MCUs), power management ICs (PMICs), memories and touch-sensing solutions, the portfolio enables value-added systems for Cypress’s top tier automotive customers.

As a key part of the expansion, Cypress introduced the first series of its Traveo microcontroller (MCU) family on the 40nm process technology node, which enables higher performance and more cost-efficient implementations of instrument clusters. The series features up to 4MB of high-density embedded flash, meter control, small thin-film transistor (TFT) display control, advanced sound output capabilities and support for many kinds of networking standards for a wide variety of instrument clusters. In addition, a new MCU in the series is optimized for high-end body and gateway control. The 40nm technology will also provide the ability to embed more on-chip flash memory for advanced applications. The 40nm Traveo MCUs will make it easier to implement Firmware Over-The-Air (FOTA) updates, which enable consumers to get new software fixes and features and new applications for their vehicles on-the-go.

“Cypress’s automotive portfolio is designed to help our customers bring innovative and differentiating features to their automobiles,” said Takeshi Fuse, senior vice president of the Automotive Business Unit at Cypress. “With the ramp up of our Traveo MCUs at the 40nm technology node, the family will enable a broad lineup for instrument clusters, body and electrical motor control, while opening up new functionality such as firmware over-the-air upgrades. The scalability of our Traveo platform, along with Cypress’s unique ability to serve as a one-stop resource with our automotive power management ICs and memories, will help our customers develop cost-effective systems to bring advanced functionality to mainstream vehicles. Furthermore, adopting 40nm technology for our MCUs shows our strong commitment for long-term support of automotive customers.”

Additionally, Cypress introduced a transceiver for the low-speed Clock Extension Peripheral Interface (CXPI) designed to succeed the widely-used Local Interconnect Network (LIN) automotive communication protocol. CXPI helps reduce bill-of-material costs and lower fuel consumption by requiring fewer wire harnesses in a vehicle. Cypress is the supplier to offer a CXPI transceiver and automotive MCUs, enabling a complete solution.

“The expansion of our Traveo MCU family and the addition of our CXPI transceiver demonstrates Cypress’s commitment to growing our automotive portfolio to address new applications and industry standards in order to help our top tier automotive customers meet their ever-evolving requirements,” added Fuse.

The new 40nm Traveo S6J331X/S6J332X/S6J333X/S6J334X series provides automotive manufacturers with a high-performance and cost-effective platform for classic instrument clusters with small thin-film transistor (TFT) displays. The series is based on the ARM® Cortex®-R5 processor with 240-MHz performance and supports the Controller Area Network-Flexible Data (CAN-FD) automotive communication protocol for increased data bandwidth for faster networking. The MCUs integrate 4MB of internal flash for application storage, enhanced secure hardware extension (eSHE) for robust security, and the industry-leading HyperBus™ interface that enables seamless connections with HyperFlash™ and HyperRAM™ memories.

Additionally, the Traveo S6J331X/S6J332X/S6J333X/S6J334X series:
• Includes a 16-bit Audio-DAC, a multi-channel mixer and I2S interfaces to output the complex, high-quality sounds required in today’s instrument clusters
• Supports Ethernet AVB for increased bandwidth in multimedia application and reduced programming time
• Combines with Cypress’s recently introduced S6BP50x series of automotive PMICs to provide a seamless solution for instrument clusters.

The new 40nm Traveo S6J335X series provides automotive manufacturers with the high performance of the other series, along with support for EthernetAVB and a maximum of eight channels for CAN-FD, enabling automotive network gateways. It includes up to 12 channels of Multi-Function Serial (MFS), up to 64 channels of 12-bit ADC inputs, and up to 64 channels of base timers, including PWMs.

The S6BT11X CXPI transceiver series works as the interface between the CXPI datalink controller and the BUS line. S6BT11X can be used to enable ECU communication with speeds going up to approximately 20kbps. The transceiver also has a sleep/wake up control function for low power dissipation, making it reliable and energy efficient.

Availability
The Traveo S6J331X/S6J332X/S6J333X/S6J334X and S6J335X series is sampling now and will be in production in the second half of 2016. It is available in 144-pin, 176-pin and 208-pin TEQFP packages.

The S6BT11X CXPI transceiver series is sampling now. It is available in an 8-pin SOP package.