Texas Instruments (TI) has introduced what it describes as the industry’s first commercially available CAN XL transceiver, designed to help industrial engineers address the growing data demands of modern connected systems.
The new TCAN6062 Controller Area Network extended data-field length (CAN XL) transceiver supports payloads of up to 2,048 bytes per frame and data rates as high as 20Mbps. The device is designed to ensure that priority messages are delivered first and on time, supporting the performance requirements of applications such as humanoid robots, industrial robots and human-machine interface (HMI) systems.
A key feature of the TCAN6062 is its backward compatibility with CAN flexible data rate (CAN FD) and CAN signal improvement capability (SIC) operations. This compatibility enables engineers to migrate to CAN XL incrementally, allowing existing designs to evolve without requiring a complete network redesign.
The transceiver also enables engineers to consolidate communication layers and use Ethernet in mixed-network architectures through Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) tunneling. This can allow diagnostics, sensor data, control traffic and over-the-air updates to be transferred across a single network.
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Why does it matter?
Industrial systems are generating and demanding more data than ever before. Applications increasingly require fast and deterministic communication to synchronize motion control, sensor feedback and diagnostic data. These demands have introduced new networking requirements, sometimes forcing engineers to make system-level trade-offs to overcome bandwidth limitations.
TI says its TCAN6062 CAN XL transceiver is designed to bridge that gap by providing a path to higher-bandwidth networks while maintaining the reliability associated with CAN.
Although the CAN XL specification has been standardized for years, TI says the TCAN6062 brings the technology to the mass market as a commercially available hardware solution that engineers can implement in next-generation designs.
“As industrial systems become more intelligent and interconnected, what we ask of our networks continues to evolve,” said Dwight Byrd, general manager, Interface Products at TI. “Engineers need more data, higher speeds and greater flexibility, all without compromising performance or reliability. TI’s TCAN6062 CAN XL transceiver puts that capability in their hands today, helping them build faster, more capable industrial systems.”
The TCAN6062 incorporates CAN SIC technology to help reduce ringing by as much as 80% in complex networks, according to TI. This can simplify validation in high-node architectures. The transceiver also provides wide input/output voltage compatibility and protection up to ±58V, offering design flexibility across a range of industrial applications.
TI contributes to CAN XL standardization
TI engineers are members of the CAN in Automation (CiA) technical group that developed ISO 11898-2:2024. Through this involvement, TI contributed to the physical-layer specification for CAN XL.
“CAN has been the backbone of industrial communications for decades,” said Holger Zeltwanger, managing director at CiA.
“Texas Instruments’ long-time membership and collaboration with CiA builds on that legacy, helping shape CAN XL by contributing to a standard that will guide the entire industry. Now with the introduction of the first commercially available CAN SIC XL transceiver, CAN XL is accessible to engineers worldwide, reflecting our shared commitment to solving the engineering challenges of today and tomorrow.”
Arthur Mutter, Ph.D., Chairman of the CAN XL Special Interest Group at CiA and senior executive, Networking Technologies at Bosch said CAN XL can enable higher-performance applications while maintaining reasonable system costs.
“CAN XL opens the door to a new era of applications, enabling systems to deliver higher performance at a reasonable cost,” Mutter said. “CAN XL is the better and cheaper CAN FD, but can also tunnel Ethernet.”
Adding further, he stated, “With TI now offering a CAN SIC XL transceiver, system designers can leverage CAN XL to exchange data rapidly (up to 20 Mbit/s) and reliably in all applications, from industrial and robotics to automotive safety.”
The TCAN6062 represents the latest addition to TI’s CAN transceiver portfolio, which spans CAN FD, CAN SIC and CAN XL. According to TI, the portfolio gives engineers flexibility to deliver more data faster, farther and more reliably across their designs.
Availability
Production quantities of the TCAN6062 CAN XL transceiver are available for purchase now on TI.com.
