Microchip has released 8bit PIC18 MCUs that can transmit and receive data through CAN bus Flexible Data rate (CAN FD) bus.

Microchip-PIC18-Q84-app

It has created the family, called PIC18 Q84, for transporting sensor data to a CAN FD bus without the need for gateways or sophisticated network switching techniques.

“CAN FD will play a critical role in delivering faster data transfer rates for applications ranging from the connected car to industrial automation and smart homes,” said Microchip marketing v-p Greg Robinson.

Also on-board are various examples of the company’s ‘core independent peripherals’ that can handle a variety of tasks without requiring CPU intervention. For functional safety, available peripherals include a 32-bit ‘cyclic redundancy check with scan’ and a windowed watchdog timer, then for testing and debugging some have a JTAG (Joint Test Action Group) interface.

Some family features – not all have everything

• 64MHz internal oscillator
• Up to 128kbyte flash program memory
• Up to 13kbyte data SRAM
• Up to 1kbyte data EEPROM
• 12bit ADC with computation and context switching, up to 43 channels
• 16-bit universal timers
• Vectored interrupt capability
• Windowed watchdog timer
• 32bit cyclic redundancy check with scan
• JTAG boundary scan
• CAN FD, UART, SPI and I2C
• 28, 40 and 48pin packages

Support includes the PIC18F57Q84 Curiosity Nano evaluation kit (DM182030, right) and a Curiosity High Pin Count (HPC) development board. A plug-in module is also available for the Automotive Networking development board. Software includes the MPLAB Code Configurator for creating initialisation code.