Looking for an alternative to I2C for sensors?

If so, the MIPI Alliance’s recently announced upgrade to its MIPI I3C specification, MIPI I3C v1.1, should be of interest. The interface eliminates the historical pain points of I²C development and provides a scalable, medium-speed, utility and control bus for connecting peripherals. It targets streamlining integration and improving cost efficiencies in the development of smartphones, wearables, high-performance servers, advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) automotive applications and more.

This first update to the interface allows it to deliver a significant speed increase and several new features to enhance reliability. To increase the interface speed to near 100 MHz, the specification enables extensible use of extra bus lanes as well as future proofing the interface for rising speed requirements. In addition to the greater speed support, new features include:

• Grouped addressing,
• Enhanced error detection/recovery,
• Slave reset,
• Comprehensive flow control,
• Outside end transfer and
• New command, control and communication (CCC) capabilities

For sensors, these revisions work together to enable new applications that include:

• Sensor device command, control and data transport
• Power management

 

Compared to other bus solutions, MIPI I3C uses a lower number of pins and takes the smallest amount of printed circuit board (PCB) real estate. The interface integrates mechanical, motion, biometric, environmental and any other type of sensor.

To learn more, MIPI will host a webinar on February 12, 2020, at 11 am Eastern (8 am Pacific) time to further explore the features and benefits of MIPI I3C v1.1 and provide an update on the I3C ecosystem. Click here to register.