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Experiment No 1

AIM : To study the controller area network (CAN) protocol as used in Automobiles
Objective : To perform a theoretical study of the salient features of the CAN protocol
Apparatus : Model of LAB CAR in Mechtronics COE
Introduction
The car is like a human body:
The Controller Area Network (CAN bus) is the nervous system, enabling communication. In turn, 'nodes' or 'electronic control units' (ECUs) are like parts of the body,
interconnected via the CAN bus. Information sensed by one part can be shared with another. In an automotive CAN bus system, ECUs can e.g. be the engine control unit,
airbags, audio system etc. A modern car may have up to 70 ECUs - and each of them may have information that needs to be shared with other parts of the network. The CAN
bus system enables each ECU to communicate with all other ECUs - without complex dedicated wiring.
Specifically, an ECU can prepare and broadcast information (e.g. sensor data) via the CAN bus (consisting of two wires, CAN low and CAN high). The broadcasted data is
accepted by all other ECUs on the CAN network - and each ECU can then check the data and decide whether to receive or ignore it.

The CAN bus history in short

Pre CAN: Car ECUs relied on complex point-to-point wiring

1986: Bosch developed the CAN protocol as a solution
1991: Bosch published CAN 2.0 (CAN 2.0A: 11 bit, 2.0B: 29 bit)
1993: CAN is adopted as international standard (ISO 11898)
2003: ISO 11898 becomes a standard series
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2012: Bosch released the CAN FD 1.0 (flexible data rate)

2015: The CAN FD protocol is standardized (ISO 11898-1)
2016: The physical CAN layer for data-rates up to 5 Mbit/s standardized in ISO 11898-2
Today, CAN is standard in automotives (cars, trucks, buses, tractors, ...), ships, planes, EV batteries, machinery and more.

CAN protocol:

The CAN bus is used in various domains in the motor vehicle. These domains differ in the
requirements they demand of the network. Due to the fast processes involved in the area of
engine management, information is required much faster here than in the area of comfort /
convenience where the controlled systems are located further apart and as such lines are more
prone to damage. As a result of these different requirements, buses with different data rates are
used that offer an optimum cost benefit ratio for the field of application concerned. A distinction is
made between high-speed and low-speed CAN buses. The CAN bus is finding ever more use in
vehicle diagnostics. Here, the electronic control unit is connected directly to the CAN bus and
thus receives the information it needs for diagnostics immediately. Previous diagnosis interfaces
are becoming less important.
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High-speed CAN (CAN-C)

CAN-C is defined in ISO Standard 11898-2 and operates at bit rates of 125 kBit/s to 1 MBit/s. The data transfer is therefore able to meet
the real-time requirements of the drivetrain. CAN-C buses are used for networking the following systems:
• Engine-management system (Motronic for gasoline engines or EDC for diesel engines)
• Electronic transmission control
• Vehicle stabilization systems (e.g. ESP)
• Instrument cluster

Low-speed CAN (CAN-B)

CAN-B is defined in ISO Standard 11898-3 and operates at a bit rate of 5 to 125 kBit/s. For many applications in the comfort/convenience
and body area, this speed is sufficient to meet the real-time requirements demanded in this area. Examples of such applications are:
• Control of the air-conditioning system
• Power-window unit
• Sliding-sunroof control
• Mirror adjuster
• Lighting system
• Control of the navigation system
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 Protocol layers
For communications protocols, it is standard practice to arrange thematically coherent
tasks as a set of layers, which affords a high level of flexibility in the implementation of
a bus system. With the CAN, both the CAN hardware and the CAN software are
subdivided into several layers

Application layer
The application layer represents the information in the form of data structures used
by the application. These sets of data which are to be transmitted are forwarded to the
object layer for this purpose.

Object layer
The task of the object layer is to manage the messages. The functions of this layer are
used to decide which message should be sent at which time. For incoming messages,
this layer is responsible for message filtering.
Protocol layers
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Communication Protocols (CAN)

Transport layer
The transport layer furnishes the object layer with received messages and processes the messages prepared by the object layer for sending in
such a way that the physical layer is able to transmit this information. To fulfill this purpose, the transport layer is responsible for such functions as
arbitration or fault detection and signaling.

Physical layer
The physical layer is the lowest level in the transport stack. It consists of the physical components of the network, such as the wiring and the
voltages used to send the information

 Message format
The message transfer on the CAN bus is based on four different frame formats:

Data frame:
The transmitted message contains data (e.g. current engine speed) that is provided by the transmitting station (data source).
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Communication Protocols (CAN)

Remote frame:
Stations can request the data they need from the data source (example: the windshield
wiper requests how wet the windshield is from the rain sensor). The data source
responds by sending the relevant data frame.

Error frame:
If a station detects a fault or error, it communicates this to the other stations
using an error frame.

Overload frame:
This can be used to create a delay between a preceding and subsequent data frame or
remote frame. The transmitting node reports that it cannot currently process another
frame.
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Communication Protocols (CAN)

 Data transmission system

Network nodes A network node comprises the microcontroller for the application software, the CAN
controller and the CAN transceiver (bus driver). The CAN controller is responsible for the transmit and
receive modes. It generates the bit stream for data communication from the binary data to be
transmitted and forwards it to the transceiver on the TxD line. This amplifies the signals, generates
the voltage level required for differential data transfer and transmits the processed bit stream serially
on the bus line (CAN_H and CAN_L). Incoming messages are processed by the transceiver and sent Network nodes in the CAN
to the CAN controller on the RxD line. The microcontroller, which runs the application program (e.g.
Motronic), controls the CAN controller, prepares the data to be sent and evaluates the data received.
The CAN transceiver converts the logical states 0 and 1 received by the CAN controller into voltage
levels that are fed to the CAN_H and CAN_L bus lines
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References
1. Bosch Automotive Handbook, 10th Edition BOSCH10, ISBN of 978-0-7680-9567-8
2. COE Modules developed by TTL Pune.

Exercises

1. Compare at least 3 different communication protocols used in Automobiles

2. What are the benefits and limitations of the CAN protocol.