What Are the Advantages of the CAN Protocol?

 

Engineers working on high-level industrial embedded systems increasingly use the Controller Area Network (CAN) bus protocol. In 1986, Robert Bosch GmbH designed the CAN protocol to aid in the transmission of electronic communications in the automotive industry. The development of the CAN protocol was responsible for advancing the electronic communications domain.

 

Automobile and truck manufacturers started installing many electronic components into their products from the beginning of the 1980s. These components included central locking, gear and lighting control, active suspension, and Anti-lock Brake Systems (ABS). It would be necessary to wire these electronic devices together so that they could work in tandem, accurately timing tasks and sharing information.

 

Following the wiring standards, the electronic modules could communicate with one another by utilising direct, point-to-point analogue signal connections. This required each module to have an architecture linked to every other module; this architecture was labour-intensive and required an excessive quantity of wire.

 

Because it enables electrical devices to interact with one another through a single multiplex line that connects each node in the network to the main dashboard, the protocol does away with the requirement for redundant wiring, which in turn eliminates the need for wasteful wiring. As a result, each electronic module in the vehicle can receive data from its associated sensors and actuators promptly.

 

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) first standardised the Controller Area Network protocol in 1993. Since then, the protocol has split into two separate standards: ISO 11898-1, which describes the data link layer of the protocol, and ISO 11898-2, which represents the physical layer. Because of its one-of-a-kind characteristics, the CAN bus protocol has gained increasing popularity and acceptance in various business sectors that use embedded networks, including the medical and manufacturing industries and the entertainment sector.

The Advantages of the CAN protocol

 

The proliferation of electronic gadgets increased the urgency for developing a standardised and centralised communication protocol. In a contemporary automobile, for instance, the dashboard, the transmission control, the engine control unit, and many other subsystems can each have more than one Transmission Control Unit (TCU). If all of the nodes are connected one-to-one, then the communication speed will be very high; however, the complexity and expense of the cables will also be very high. For example, a single dashboard calls for eight different connectors in the previous illustration.

To circumvent this problem, CAN was developed as a centralised solution using two wires: CAN high and CAN low. As a result, the CAN protocol offers a solution that is both efficient and versatile. The efficiency comes from the protocol's ability to prioritise messages, while the flexibility comes from added or withdrawn nodes without affecting the network. Here are some advantages of the CAN protocol.

 

Integrated Capability to Detect Errors

One of the essential characteristics of the CAN bus protocol is that it allows for centralised control over the many electrical devices linked to the network. Each electronic component is referred to as a node when discussing the CAN bus physical layer. Each node on the network must have a microcontroller, CAN controller, and CAN transmitter for it to be able to communicate with the other nodes on the web.

 

Reliability

When selecting a communication protocol for deployment in your embedded engineering projects, the protocol's durability and reliability are two main areas of concern to keep in mind. In addition, you will want to choose a self-sustaining communication protocol as you prepare to deploy your products into the live environment. This means the protocol can function normally for extended periods without requiring maintenance or intervention from an outside source.

 

Speed

The initial outline for the CAN protocol had three layers; the object layer, the physical layer, and the transfer layer. During the development of the CAN protocol, explicit definitions for the physical layer were omitted from the document. 

Later on, in the form of ISO 11898-2, engineers were provided with the CAN physical protocol to assist with driving the adoption of CAN devices and networks.

Depending on the length of the connection, high-speed CAN provides signal transfer speeds ranging from 40 kbps to 1 Mbps. 

 

Conclusion

To fully comprehend the adaptability of the CAN bus protocol for use in communications, we must first distinguish between address-based and message-based protocols. Nodes can communicate directly using an address-based communication protocol since they can configure themselves onto the same protocol address.

The CAN bus protocol is a communication protocol known as a message-based one. In this type of protocol, the nodes on the bus do not associate with any identifying information.

Consequently, nodes can be readily added or deleted from the system (a process referred to as "hot-plugging") without the need to execute any software or hardware changes on the system.

If you want to learn more about CAN, you can enrol in the industry-ready advanced embedded engineering courses Skill-Lync provides. Students at Skill-Lync can draw upon the years of expertise of our engineering experts. We provide on-demand expert assistance to help resolve students' challenges while studying. Our placement assistance team works closely with students to create a winning portfolio that draws recruiters to our students. The 1,400 students who have realised their dream careers with Skill-Lync are only a small testament to our industry-ready pedagogy.
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