Simplify complex CAN network management with ATA6563 and STM32L496AG
High-speed, high-precision: Your CAN network's best companion
Published Jul 22, 2025
Click board™
MCP2518FD Click
Dev. board
Discovery kit with STM32L496AG MCU
Compiler
NECTO Studio
MCU
STM32L496AG
Elevate your CAN network's capabilities with our high-speed, high-precision transceiver, setting new standards for data transfer within your system.
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Hardware Overview
How does it work?
MCP2518FD Click is based on the MCP2518FD and ATA6563, an external CAN FD controller with an SPI interface and a high-speed CAN transceiver from Microchip. The ATA6563, a low-level physical layer IC (PHY), provides a physical connection with the CAN bus, while the CAN controller MCP2518FD represents an interface between the MCU and the PHY. The role of the CAN controller is to provide arbitration, message framing, message validation, error detection, message filtering, and more. Among all other tasks, it offers formatted CAN data for the application layer running on the host MCU. On the other side, the ATA6563, a high-speed CAN transceiver, provides a physical connection with the CAN bus. It allows communication speeds up to 5Mbps and offers high resistance to electrostatic discharge and other electromagnetic phenomena. The ATA6563 supports Normal and Standby operational modes. Normal mode is engaged when the STBY pin, routed on the AN pin of the mikroBUS™ socket, is at the logic low level, while the TXD pin is held to a high logic level. While in the Normal
mode, the data can be transmitted and received via the CAN H/L bus lines. The mode selection can be made by positioning the SMD jumper labeled as STBY to an appropriate position marked as STBY or ON. In the case of Standby mode, if the STBY jumper is set to the STBY position, the user has the option of activating the Standby mode in two ways, where the selection is made by positioning the SMD jumper labeled as STBY SEL to an appropriate position marked as STBY or INT0. In this way, the Standby mode can be activated via the STBY pin from the mikroBUS™ socket or by the MCP2518FD interrupt signal IN0 (the IN0 pin can also be used to alert the MCU about the TX events). The MCP2518FD communicates with the MCU using the SPI interface. In addition, the user can connect the external TX/RX signals to the CAN FD transceiver and CAN bus signals directly through the onboard headers on the right and left sides of the board. This Click board™ comes equipped with the standard DB-9 connector, making interfacing with the CAN bus simple and easy. In addition, this Click
board™ also uses several pins of the mikroBUS™ socket. The CLKO pin from the MCP2518FD routed to the PWM pin of the mikroBUS™ socket can provide the clock output for the host MCU. It is derived from the input clock generated by the onboard chip oscillators, where the onboard SMD jumpers allow frequency selection between 20MHz and 40MHz. Besides, it also uses two interrupt pins, INT and INT1, routed to the INT and RX pins of the mikroBUS™ socket, respectively. While the INT pin is always an interrupt pin used to alert the MCU of the enabled interrupt event, the INT1 pin alerts the MCU about the RX events (if these interrupts are enabled). This Click board™ can operate with either 3.3V or 5V logic voltage levels selected via the VIO SEL jumper. This way, both 3.3V and 5V capable MCUs can use the communication lines properly. Also, this Click board™ comes equipped with a library containing easy-to-use functions and an example code that can be used as a reference for further development.
Features overview
Development board
The 32L496GDISCOVERY Discovery kit serves as a comprehensive demonstration and development platform for the STM32L496AG microcontroller, featuring an Arm® Cortex®-M4 core. Designed for applications that demand a balance of high performance, advanced graphics, and ultra-low power consumption, this kit enables seamless prototyping for a wide range of embedded solutions. With its innovative energy-efficient
architecture, the STM32L496AG integrates extended RAM and the Chrom-ART Accelerator, enhancing graphics performance while maintaining low power consumption. This makes the kit particularly well-suited for applications involving audio processing, graphical user interfaces, and real-time data acquisition, where energy efficiency is a key requirement. For ease of development, the board includes an onboard ST-LINK/V2-1
debugger/programmer, providing a seamless out-of-the-box experience for loading, debugging, and testing applications without requiring additional hardware. The combination of low power features, enhanced memory capabilities, and built-in debugging tools makes the 32L496GDISCOVERY kit an ideal choice for prototyping advanced embedded systems with state-of-the-art energy efficiency.
Microcontroller Overview
MCU Card / MCU
Architecture
ARM Cortex-M4
MCU Memory (KB)
1024
Silicon Vendor
STMicroelectronics
Pin count
169
RAM (Bytes)
327680
You complete me!
Accessories
DB9 Cable Female-to-Female (2m) cable is essential for establishing dependable serial data connections between devices. With its DB9 female connectors on both ends, this cable enables a seamless link between various equipment, such as computers, routers, switches, and other serial devices. Measuring 2 meters in length, it offers flexibility in arranging your setup without compromising data transmission quality. Crafted with precision, this cable ensures consistent and reliable data exchange, making it suitable for industrial applications, office environments, and home setups. Whether configuring networking equipment, accessing console ports, or utilizing serial peripherals, this cable's durable construction and robust connectors guarantee a stable connection. Simplify your data communication needs with the 2m DB9 female-to-female cable, an efficient solution designed to meet your serial connectivity requirements easily and efficiently.
Used MCU Pins
mikroBUS™ mapper
Take a closer look
Click board™ Schematic
Step by step
Project assembly
Start by selecting your development board and Click board™. Begin with the Discovery kit with STM32L496AG MCU as your development board.
Track your results in real time
Application Output
1. Application Output - In Debug mode, the 'Application Output' window enables real-time data monitoring, offering direct insight into execution results. Ensure proper data display by configuring the environment correctly using the provided tutorial.
2. UART Terminal - Use the UART Terminal to monitor data transmission via a USB to UART converter, allowing direct communication between the Click board™ and your development system. Configure the baud rate and other serial settings according to your project's requirements to ensure proper functionality. For step-by-step setup instructions, refer to the provided tutorial.
3. Plot Output - The Plot feature offers a powerful way to visualize real-time sensor data, enabling trend analysis, debugging, and comparison of multiple data points. To set it up correctly, follow the provided tutorial, which includes a step-by-step example of using the Plot feature to display Click board™ readings. To use the Plot feature in your code, use the function: plot(*insert_graph_name*, variable_name);. This is a general format, and it is up to the user to replace 'insert_graph_name' with the actual graph name and 'variable_name' with the parameter to be displayed.
Software Support
Library Description
This library contains API for MCP2518FD Click driver.
Key functions:
mcp2518fd_transmit_message- Transmits the desired message and checks is message successfully sent.mcp2518fd_receive_message- Receives the message and checks is message successfully received.mcp2518fd_reset- Function for reset using generic transfer
Open Source
Code example
The complete application code and a ready-to-use project are available through the NECTO Studio Package Manager for direct installation in the NECTO Studio. The application code can also be found on the MIKROE GitHub account.
/*!
* @file main.c
* @brief MCP2518FD Click example
*
* # Description
* This example demonstrates the use of an MCP2518FD Click board by showing
* the communication between the two Click boards configured as a receiver and transmitter.
*
* The demo application is composed of two sections :
*
* ## Application Init
* Initializes the driver and logger, performs the Click default configuration and
* displays the selected application mode.
*
* ## Application Task
* Depending on the selected mode, it sends a desired message using CAN protocol or
* reads all the received data and displays them on the USB UART.
*
* @author Mikroe Team
*
*/
#include "board.h"
#include "log.h"
#include "mcp2518fd.h"
// Comment out the line below in order to switch the application mode to receiver
#define DEMO_APP_TRANSMITTER
// Text message to send in the transmitter application mode
#define DEMO_TEXT_MESSAGE "MIKROE\0"
static mcp2518fd_t mcp2518fd;
static log_t logger;
void application_init ( void )
{
log_cfg_t log_cfg; /**< Logger config object. */
mcp2518fd_cfg_t mcp2518fd_cfg; /**< Click config object. */
/**
* Logger initialization.
* Default baud rate: 115200
* Default log level: LOG_LEVEL_DEBUG
* @note If USB_UART_RX and USB_UART_TX
* are defined as HAL_PIN_NC, you will
* need to define them manually for log to work.
* See @b LOG_MAP_USB_UART macro definition for detailed explanation.
*/
LOG_MAP_USB_UART( log_cfg );
log_init( &logger, &log_cfg );
log_info( &logger, " Application Init " );
// Click initialization.
mcp2518fd_cfg_setup( &mcp2518fd_cfg );
MCP2518FD_MAP_MIKROBUS( mcp2518fd_cfg, MIKROBUS_1 );
if ( SPI_MASTER_ERROR == mcp2518fd_init( &mcp2518fd, &mcp2518fd_cfg ) )
{
log_error( &logger, " Communication init." );
for ( ; ; );
}
if ( MCP2518FD_ERROR == mcp2518fd_default_cfg ( &mcp2518fd ) )
{
log_error( &logger, " Default configuration." );
for ( ; ; );
}
#ifdef DEMO_APP_TRANSMITTER
log_printf( &logger, " Application Mode: Transmitter\r\n" );
#else
log_printf( &logger, " Application Mode: Receiver\r\n" );
#endif
log_info( &logger, " Application Task " );
}
void application_task ( void )
{
#ifdef DEMO_APP_TRANSMITTER
if ( MCP2518FD_OK == mcp2518fd_transmit_message( &mcp2518fd, DEMO_TEXT_MESSAGE, strlen( DEMO_TEXT_MESSAGE ) ) )
{
log_printf( &logger, " The message \"%s\" has been sent!\r\n", ( char * ) DEMO_TEXT_MESSAGE );
}
Delay_ms ( 1000 );
Delay_ms ( 1000 );
#else
uint8_t data_buf[ 256 ] = { 0 };
uint16_t data_len = 0;
if ( MCP2518FD_OK == mcp2518fd_receive_message( &mcp2518fd, data_buf, &data_len ) )
{
log_printf( &logger, " A new message has received: \"" );
for ( uint16_t cnt = 0; cnt < data_len; cnt++ )
{
log_printf( &logger, "%c", data_buf[ cnt ] );
}
log_printf( &logger, "\"\r\n" );
}
#endif
}
int main ( void )
{
/* Do not remove this line or clock might not be set correctly. */
#ifdef PREINIT_SUPPORTED
preinit();
#endif
application_init( );
for ( ; ; )
{
application_task( );
}
return 0;
}
// ------------------------------------------------------------------------ END
