NXP Semiconductors, distributed by Active Components, has introduced the PCA9525 and PCA9605 no-offset I2C-bus buffers.
These buffers enable system designers to isolate capacitance and interface with other bus buffers. They use the no-offset scoreboard method to decide signal direction, rather than using a directional pin and relying on offset voltages to control direction and prevent bus latch-up.
The no-offset devices are interoperable even with static offset or incremental bus buffers, allowing easy design-in regardless of which other devices are on the bus.
The units work to 1 MHz, support Fast-mode Plus, which has 10x the normal I2C-bus drive, allowing longer I2C-buses or placement of more devices on the bus.
The new buffers enable I2C-based monitoring and control systems which can serve with hundreds of nodes and/or bus wiring lengths up to 1 km at lower frequencies. Designers can now consider running I2C communications over long distances.