MR-CANHUBK344

Evaluation board for mobile robotics applications.

MR-CANHUBK344 is an open-source evaluation kit and development board for redundant networking and safety applications in mobile robotics. It features the S32K344 Automotive General-Purpose Microcontroller (lockstep Arm Cortex-M7), TJA1103 100BASE-T1 Ethernet PHY, as well as TJA1153 (SCT - Secure CAN), TJA1463 (SIC - Signal Improvement CAN) and TJA1443 HS-CAN Transceivers. An EdgeLock SE050 Plug & Trust Secure Element is included for cryptography and NFC functionality.

More information can be found on the NXP.com product page:

LogoS32K344 Evaluation Board for Mobile Robotics Incorporating 100BASE-T1 and Six CAN FDNXP

Also take a look at the other NXP GitBooks:

  • NXP Mobile Robotics: Quick reference and index for all our mobile robotics solutions.

  • NXP MR-B3RB: NXP Buggy3 Rev B platform using NavQPlus and MR-CANHUBK344

  • HoverGames: Drone & rover dev. kits, with FMUK66 vehicle management unit.

  • NXP Cup: Autonomous model car competition for students.

  • NavQPlus: i.MX 8M Plus Companion Computer.

  • UCANS32K146: CAN-FD node for mobile robotics applications.

  • RDDRONE-BMS772: Battery management system (3-6 cells).

  • RDDRONE-T1ADAPT: 100BASE-T1 ethernet adapter.

Purpose

MR-CANHUBK344 is an evaluation board designed for mobile robotics applications and is based on the S32K344 general-purpose automotive microcontroller with lockstep Arm Cortex-M7 core, featuring the latest in safety, security, and software support. While targeted to mobile robotics applications, the board can certainly be used for multiple purposes where automotive lockstep cores may be desirable:

  • A primary small vehicle controller

  • A safety domain controller

  • A high specification “CAN FD node” board

  • Bridging between 100Base-T1 and multiple CAN physical interfaces

  • Potentially as a BLDC motor controller

While the dual-core lockstep (DCLS) S32K344 is installed on this board, the same board may support an S32K324 where the Arm Cortex-M7 cores operate independently as a dual independent core device. Additionally, the S32K35x (3 core / 240MHz) will also install in the same footprint with minor modifications. Both these ideas would require manual rework to a board to replace the processor.

Overview

MR-CANHUBK344 includes one 100Base-T1 Automotive Ethernet interface and populates all six of the CAN FD ports available on S32K344. The feature set it provides is quite suitable for a wide variety of other applications. One example is experimenting with tunneling CAN over Ethernet using IEEE 1722 protocol. A software example is available for this on the NXP webpage for the device.

The 6 CAN ports are connected to three distinct types of NXP CAN PHYs, and allow for direct comparison between standard CAN FD, CAN FD/SIC (signal improvement CAN) and CAN FD/SCT (Secure CAN) Transceivers. Also on board is the SE050 Secure Element with NFC (Near Field Communication) as well as UART, SPI, I2C, PWM and other GPIO accessible on Dronecode standard JST-GH connectors.

Software Examples

In addition to the published S32 Design Studio example software application as an IEEE 1722 CAN-over-Ethernet bridge, please also look for opensource software projects that support this board for general purpose applications:

NextMR-CANHUBK344 Block Diagram

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