Publication

Abstract : The acceptance and introduction of serial communication [5] to more and more applications have led to the requirement that the assignment of message identifiers to communication functions be standardized for certain applications. Also if there is a need to develop a communication system between more than two ECUs (Electronic Control Units), UART is no longer suitable in this situation because it can only be used for point-to-point communication. The need for a multi-master communication system becomes imperative. This paper proposes and explains about Controller Area Network Protocol (CAN Protocol), a serial communications protocol that was originally designed for the automotive industry, but has also become a popular bus in industrial automation as well as other applications. The CAN bus can be used in embedded systems, and can establish a network among microcontrollers. It is a two-wire, half duplex, high-speed network system and is well suited for high-speed applications using short messages. Its robustness and reliability makes it suitable for the semiconductor industry. Theoretically CAN can link up to 2032 devices (assuming one node with one identifier) on a single network. However, due to the practical limitation of the hardware (transceivers), it can only link up to 110 nodes (with 82C250, Philips) on a single network. It offers high-speed communication rate up to 1 Mbits/sec thus allows real-time control. In addition, the error confinement and the error detection feature makes it more reliable in noise critical environment.