austriamicrosystems presents AS8221 high-speed automotive bus transceiver for next generation automotive networks

austriamicrosystems (SWX: AMS), ), a leading global designer and manufacturer of high-performance analog integrated circuits (ICs) for communications, industrial, medical and automotive applications, presented at the Convergence Show in Detroit its automotive-qualified high-speed bus-transceiver for future generations of automotive networks. The AS8221 bus transceiver IC is ideally suited for extreme automotive environments and provides superior network stability due to its unmatched differential bus voltage level, fulfilling all FlexRay™ requirements.

The AS8221 supports baud rates of up to 10 Mbit/sec, ten times the bandwidth available on a CAN-based network, as well as the Bus Guardian interface, enabling fault tolerant and hard real-time applications. Serving as the bi-directional interface between the FlexRay™ Communication Controller and the twisted pair copper wires, the device enables two-way communications with the microcontroller (FlexRay™ Host Controller) with full mode handling, including the low-power modes. The device also provides an extended diagnostic interface.

The AS8221 offers advanced bus-failure detection capabilities with the intelligent combination of bus-current measurement and logical comparators. A thermal sensor circuit with an integral shutdown mechanism prevents damage to the device in over-temperature conditions. The symmetrical transient control for the high- and low-side driver for both the bus-minus and bus-plus line allows an ideal balance of communications over different network-topologies, with excellent EMC performance.

“Automotive-qualified according to AEC Q100, the AS8221 high-speed bus transceiver with its leading performance for stable and safe networking enables x-by-wire technology in future automotive applications,” states Bernd Gessner, General Manager Automotive at austriamicrosystems. “As a Premium Associate Member of the FlexRay consortium, we have committed our expertise in the field of time-triggered systems to the new data bus standard and will continuously expand our product family of FlexRay transceivers.”

The first generation of automotive-qualified AS8221 is available in a lead-free SSOP20 package. Qualified samples of the next generation FlexRay™ Electrical Physical Layer specification V2.1 Rev A will be available in December. More product specific information can be found on the austriamicrosystems website at http://www.austriamicrosystems.com/03products/21_bus_systems.htm

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