3 The Purpose of a Multi-Protocol Translator

I3C is a serial communication interface built upon the I²C protocol and provides a fast, high-performing, and low-power solution. It carries the advantages of I²C, such as simplicity, low pin count, easy board design, and multi-drop, but also supports the higher data rates, simpler pads, and lower power consumption of SPI. The I3C protocol has additional features that offer improvement over conventional communication protocols. This has led to upgrading system designs to I3C-based communication in many computing, mobile and automotive sectors. Even though I3C is gaining popularity in many industries, most of the sensors that are currently available in the market still communicate over the I²C, SPI or UART interface. In such scenarios, the host device in a system may have a mixed I3C bus or different communication interfaces. The drawbacks of such a system and how it is overcome with a multi-protocol translator are discussed below.