Repeater enables I2C and similar bus systems to be extended without degradation

The Texas Instruments (TI) TCA9509 integrated circuit is an I2C bus/SMBus repeater for use in I2C/SMBus systems. The device can also provide bidirectional voltage-level translation (up-translation/down-translation) between low voltages (down to 0.9V) and higher voltages (2.7V to 5.5V) in mixed-mode applications. The device enables I2C and similar bus systems to be extended, without degradation of performance even during level shifting. The TCA9509 buffers both the serial data (SDA) and the serial clock (SCL) signals on the I2C bus, thus allowing 400-pF bus capacitance on the B-side. It can also be used to isolate two halves of a bus for voltage and capacitance.