Xilinx Bolsters Automotive Solution Offerings with First FPGA IP for Controller Area Networks

New addition to Xilinx LogiCORE library supports critical CAN IP protocol - delivers more flexibility and functionality to XA automotive PLDs

September 19, 2005, SAN JOSE, Calif., –Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) today announced the immediate availability of a fully verified intellectual property (IP) core for implementing controller area networks (CAN) in automotive designs. The IP offering, developed by the Xilinx Hyderabad team, complements the expansion of its market-leading Xilinx® Automotive (XA) family of programmable logic devices (PLDs). The CAN LogiCORE™ solution provides a full set of features and capabilities to quickly implement the increasingly popular CAN protocol with the Xilinx Spartan™ and Virtex™ Platform FPGAs, delivering a complete and flexible hardware/software solution to address the dynamic requirements of the automotive market.  For more information visit www.xilinx.com/ipcenter.

The CAN soft IP core, which conforms to the ISO 11898-1 CAN 2.0A/B standards, can be used standalone or with the embedded MicroBlaze™ and PowerPC™ processors from Xilinx. The CAN IP solution can be used with the entire line of XA FPGA offerings. 

“Flexibility is essential to the automotive market. The combination of our XA silicon solutions with this critical piece of functionality provides a natural fit for developing next-generation automotive applications,” said Kevin Tanaka, Automotive marketing and product planning manager at Xilinx.  “By using our pre-built hardware and software solutions, designers can drastically reduce development time with ultimate flexibility and freedom of choice for a wide range of functions.”

CANs Worldwide Adoption

Controller area networks have been adopted as a standard protocol for European and U.S. automakers, and also growing in popularity in Japan and Asia-Pacific.  The CAN protocol is most commonly utilized in gateways, body and door electronics, automated HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning), dashboard and other driver information and safety-related applications. Due to its rapid adoption, most automotive designs now require at least a single CAN, and sometimes multiple CANs, in addition to other automotive networking protocols. 

Specifically, the Xilinx CAN LogiCORE solution is appealing for its ability to allow designers the flexibility to program as many CAN channels as needed for each automotive platform, thus reducing the high costs of over-design for the application. In addition, the core can be combined with multiple protocols to optimize gateway applications as an alternative to generic solutions. The CAN LogiCORE IP itself also offers configurable FIFO depth (from 2 to 64 messages), and receive filtering support. Designers also have access to a full suite of third-party IP support available through the Xilinx AllianceCORE™ program.

License Pricing and Availability

The Xilinx CAN LogiCORE IP (DO-DI-CAN) is immediately available and priced at retail USD $18,000 (a one time, site license charge).

About Xilinx XA

 The Xilinx Automotive (XA) product family is the industry's leading programmable logic family developed specifically for automotive applications. Xilinx automotive PLDs are already on the road in applications such as GPS, infotainment, communication, driver assistance and driver comfort. For more information, visit www.xilinx.com/automotive.

About Xilinx

Xilinx is the worldwide leader in complete programmable logic solutions. For more information, visit www.xilinx.com.