Atmel Targets Automotive LIN Networking Applications with Introduction of AVR Microcontroller

Many automotive body electronic subsystems including door lock, window lift, wiper, light system, sun, and rain sensors are connected via LIN networks. They require tiny LIN controllers with Analog/Digital converters for sensor signal formatting and a versatile 16-bit timer. The ATtiny87 includes hardware LIN UART with automatic baud-rate synchronization in slave mode. The frame processing requests only 2 interrupts; one for LIN identifier available and one for transmit or receive completed.

The ATtiny87 (8K Flash) is fully compatible with the ATtiny167 (16 KB Flash) and is available in the same set of packages: QFN32, SO20, and TSSOP20. It supports AECQ-100 grade0 and can sustain ambient temperature up to 150 degree Celsius, which is required for under-the-hood applications such as engine sensors, water pumps, and exhaust gas systems. The ATtiny87 is also available in AECQ-100 grade1 (125 degree Celsius).

As a result of the collaboration with Vector, a leading manufacturer of software tools and components for automotive networking, a complete hardware and LIN2.1 software networking solution is now available. Due to tightly integrated hardware routines, the code size for LIN is reduced to about 1 Kbyte of Flash leaving about 7 Kbytes of Flash available for the user application.

One of the critical requirements for using embedded processors in the automotive market is the availability of an effective and well-supported LIN communication stack. Customers can easily integrate the LIN2.1 communication stack in their application and take full advantage of the code efficiency, said Michel Passemard, Director of Automotive MCU Marketing at Atmel.

Vector has developed the LIN driver for the Atmel ATtiny87 and ATtiny167 microcontroller family. This new LIN driver supports communication packages for all Automotive OEMs. In addition, associated configuration and generation tools are also available. The LIN communication package supports all protocol versions in master or slave configurations including transport and/or diagnostics layers.