Austriamicrosystems Unveils In-Vehicle-Network ICs

Austriamicrosystems has launched two in-vehicle-network ICs, the AS8520 and AS8530. The AS8520 is dedicated to LIN slaves, which can be found in car doors, car roof modules, seat modules or similar applications providing the transceiver, diagnosis and backup register access, as well as two relay drivers and a resistive attenuator.

The AS8530 is a general-purpose companion IC for LIN slaves providing the transceiver, a LDO and a shared pin microcontroller interface with window watchdog inside an eight-pin package. The AS8520 provides a LIN 2.1 transceiver with more than 6kV ESD IEC61000-4-2 capability on bus pin, a low drop out linear voltage regulator, for up to 60mA load, from a nominal 6-18V supply voltage with over-voltage capability up to 42V.

It also features two low side relay drivers and a resistive attenuator with disable switch for power saving. A four-wire microcontroller serial interface for device configuration, window watchdog trigger, diagnosis read out and read/write of eight continuously supplied backup registers are additional features of the AS8520.

The AS8530 is a stripped-down version of the AS8520 without the application-specific relay driver and attenuator, providing two-wire shared-pin microcontroller interfaces to provide the same digital features as the AS8520 in an eight-pin package. Both circuits are designed for very low quiescent current of typically 36uA in standby mode.

These LIN companion ICs are claimed to provide good diagnosis capability through the microcontroller interfaces. Continuously powered 64-bit backup memory and highly secure non-latching ESD clamp structure on the bus pin are additional highlights. Both devices are available with 5V or 3.3V regulated output voltage. The AS8520 is available in a 24-pin 6 x 6mm QFN package and the AS8530 is available in an eight-pin epSOIC package. Both ICs are suitable for operating environments from -40C to +125C.

Steatite Offers In-Vehicle Installation Service

Steatite Rugged Division is now able to offer its customers a comprehensive, specialist in-vehicle installation service. Steatite recognises that a mobile device or computer within a vehicle can help businesses achieve better workforce efficiencies and provide improved customer service. For the emergency services it can give access to information and facilitate communications that can improve and speed the response to an urgent situation.

These factors have created a customer demand to which Steatite has reacted by establishing its installation service. The capability uses Steatite Rugged Division's experience and expertise in supporting computing requirements for harsh environments. As installations are generally required to be completed at the customer's premises, Steatite's service provides nationwide coverage.

Offering a single source for the supply of a semi-rugged or fully rugged computing solution plus the carefully planned installation and set-up of that solution ready for use, can greatly simplify matters for the customer with minimum disruption of day-to-day operations.

A full vehicle installation can be complex and may encompass a pre-installation survey to understand customer requirements for the positioning of hardware. Docking and mounting arrangements and sometimes the need for peripheral devices such as printers and antennae may also need to be considered at this stage.