STDA048 September   2026 MSPM33C321A-Q1

 

  1.   1
  2.   Abstract
  3.   Trademarks
  4. 1Introduction
  5. 2MCAL and AUTOSAR Basics
    1. 2.1 What are MCAL and AUTOSAR?
    2. 2.2 MCAL Applications
    3. 2.3 AUTOSAR Applications
  6. 3MCAL Package for MSP Microcontrollers
    1. 3.1 Licensing Model
    2. 3.2 Support Model
  7. 4MSP Scalability and Ecosystem
    1. 4.1 Platform Scalability
    2. 4.2 Software Ecosystem and Integration
  8. 5Getting Started
    1. 5.1 Installation and Setup
    2. 5.2 Implementation Tips
  9.   Resources

2.1 What are MCAL and AUTOSAR?

AUTOSAR was established in 2003 by a consortium of automotive OEMs and suppliers to create a standardized software framework for automotive systems; it defines a layered software architecture that separates application logic from hardware-specific implementation. Figure 2-1 provides a visual representation of this layered software architecture. The three principal layers of the AUTOSAR architecture are:

  1. Application layer: vehicle-level functions written independently of hardware
  2. Runtime environment (RTE): middleware interface enabling portable communication
  3. Basic software (BSW): hardware-dependent drivers and services, including MCAL
Note: AUTOSAR offers two platform variants:
  • Classic, targeting resource-constrained or safety-critical ECUs with static, deterministic architectures compliant with ISO 26262; a rigid yet lightweight version of the AUTOSAR standards
  • Adaptive, designed for high-performance computing platforms supporting OTA updates, machine learning, and dynamic service-oriented architectures; typically resreved for larger processors and SoCs
The scope of this paper primarily focuses on AUTOSAR Classic, which remains the dominant platform in traditional automotive ECU development for simpler automotive microcontrollers such as MSPM0 and MSPM33.

MCAL occupies the lowest position within the BSW layer, sitting directly above the microcontroller hardware and providing standardized, hardware-independent APIs for core peripherals, including ADC, PWM, SPI, CAN, LIN, GPIO, timers, interrupt controllers, and memory and clock management units. By abstracting hardware-specific details behind uniform interfaces defined by AUTOSAR specifications, MCAL makes sure that upper software layers remain fully portable across different MCU families. MCAL drivers are typically supplied by microcontroller vendors and are pre-validated to reduce both development effort and safety certification burden. Texas Instruments provides MCAL support for Arm® Cortex®-based platforms MSPM0 and MPSM33, enabling AUTOSAR Classic compliance on these devices.

As shown in Figure 2-1, complex device drivers (CDDs) are a key component of the MCAL layer, extending from MCU hardware up to the AUTOSAR runtime environment. These TI-proprietary modules are not defined by the MCAL standard and expose hardware features that are not described by the standard MCAL framework. However, these modules play a key role by enabling API-access to these peripherals at the application layer.

Together, AUTOSAR and MCAL form a complementary pair: AUTOSAR defines the architectural framework and interface standards, while MCAL provides the hardware-specific implementation that makes those standards realizable on a given MCU.