The products include the IMX3102 2:1 bus multiplexer, IMX3112 1:2 bus expander, and IXP3114 and IXP3104 1:4 general-purpose IO expanders, which support up to 12.5MHz speeds as well as integrated thermal sensor capability.
These products have been developed to provide maximum design flexibility for engineers implementing I3C Basic as a system management bus in applications where there may be multiple masters, a large number of endpoint devices, and long traces – all of which can impact bus complexity and signal integrity.
The integrated thermal sensor allows for better integration of thermal management into the bus design itself and can reduce the number of dedicated thermal sensor endpoints.
Next-generation compute architectures are leading the transition to I3C as the system management bus of choice following the JEDEC standard adoption of I3C Basic for the DDR5 memory sideband. The increase in memory subsystem complexity with distributed power management, telemetry and thermal management at the sub-channel level requires higher sideband bus bandwidth.
Furthermore, emerging needs for advanced thermal control loops, security and component authentication, and more robust fault tolerance and recovery are driving similar needs for a high bandwidth interface across the entire server control plane. I3C Basic provides a solution capable of serving all of these needs, according to the company. It enables system management architectures to provide granular information about the server resource status during bootup and runtime allowing system managers to implement effective workload migration and server load balancing to significantly optimise server utilization.
The IMX3102 2:1 bus multiplexer is well suited for designs where there may be two masters controlling a single peripheral or slave devices. The IMX3112 1:2 bus multiplexer supports designs where a single host is controlling two peripheral or slave devices. The general-purpose IO expanders, IXP3114 (with temperature sensor) and IXP3104 1:4 (no temperature sensor), are designed for a host controller with up to four peripheral or slave devices.
Unexpected motherboard temperature increases can result in costly system failures. Positioning temperature sensors in multiple locations on the motherboard allows engineers to continuously monitor for potential temperature spikes and direct the CPU to take action as needed to prevent a catastrophic event. The new I3C products feature integrated temperature sensors, reducing overall system costs and improving integration.
