Controller Area Network

May 2016
Visteon Pune

Strictly Private and Confidential

 Contents

Why CAN?
CAN Introduction
CAN Frame Format
CAN Bus Access
CAN Data Protection
CAN Validation

Page 2
 Why CAN?

Motivation
Bus Networking
Communication Model
Three Layer Model
Architecture of Serial Bus System

Page 3
 Motivation

• The recent history of the automobile is characterized by intensive electronification

• Over the course of time, electronic functions found their way into the automobile that could not
be implemented without highly active data exchange between electronic ECUs
• Electronic systems were requiring more and more intensive networking to implement them,
which drove wiring expense sky high
• A way out of this dilemma soon appeared in the form of bit-serial exchange of data via
a communication channel (Bus) jointly used by a number of electronic control units

Page 4
Bus Networking

Page 5
Communication Model/OSI Model
The OSI communication model (Open System Interconnection) published by ISO (International Standardization
Organization) in 1983 is a reference architecture for implementing CAN communication

Page 6
 Three Layer Model
• For data exchange between electronic control units in the motor vehicle, not all of the
communication functions, defined in the ISO/OSI model, are necessary

• Essentially, only the two lowermost layers are relevant to serial data communication in the motor
vehicle. These layers are the Data Link Layer and the Physical Layer

Page 7
 Three Layer Model (Contd.)

Page 8
 Architecture of Serial Bus System

Page 9
 CAN Introduction

CAN Standard
CAN Network
CAN Communication Principle
CAN Bus Levels

Page 10
 CAN Standard
• CAN has been standardized since 1993 and is available as an ISO standard (International Standardization
Organization): ISO 11898

• While it initially consisted of three parts, today it has five parts

• The first part describes the event-driven communication protocol

• A time-triggered extension can be found in the fourth part

• The second and third parts cover information on the bus interface and physical data transmission: A distinction
is made here between the High-Speed variant (data rates up to 1 MBit/s) and Low-Speed variant (data rates
up to 125 KBit/s)

• The fifth part describes the behavior of a CAN node in the High-Speed network in “Low Power Mode”

• A maximum network extension of about 40 meters is allowed. At the ends of the CAN network, bus termination
resistors contribute to preventing transient phenomena (reflections)

Page 11
 CAN Standard (Continued)

Page 12
 CAN Network

• A CAN network is a system network made up of CAN nodes (electronic control units with a CAN
interface), which exchange data with one another over their individual CAN interfaces and
a transmission medium (CAN bus) that interconnects all of the CAN interfaces
• A CAN interface is made up of two parts: the communication software and communication hardware
• While the communication software is made up of higher level communication services, the
fundamental communication functions are implemented in hardware
• The CAN controller provides for uniform handling of the CAN communication protocols
• The CAN transceiver serves to interface the CAN controller to the CAN bus
• The transmission medium that is generally used is a twisted pair line
• The symmetrical signal transmission that occurs over this line is very insensitive to external
interference

Page 13
 CAN Network Diagram

Page 14
 CAN Communication Principle
In a CAN network, the transmitted data frames and their sequence are not a function of the progression of
time, rather they depend on the occurrence of special events
In principle, each CAN node is authorized to access the CAN bus immediately after an event occurs. In
conjunction with the relatively short message length of a maximum of 130 bits in standard format, and the
high data transmission rate of up to 1 MBit/s, the method enables quick reactions to asynchronous
processes
This is an important prerequisite for real-time data transmission capability in the low milliseconds range,
which is primarily demanded by applications in the powertrain and chassis areas

To guarantee real-time communication despite random bus access, bus access is based on the CSMA/CA
method (Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Avoidance)
First, the CSMA/CA method ensures that CAN nodes wishing to send do not access the CAN bus until it is
available
Second, in simultaneous bus accesses occur, the CSMA/CA method ensures that the CAN node with the
highest priority data frame prevails

Page 15
 CAN Communication Principle

Page 16
 CAN Bus Levels

• ISO 11898-2 High Speed CAN assigns logical “1” to a typical differential voltage of 0 Volt. The logical
“0” is assigned with a typical differential voltage of 2 Volt
• ISO 11898-3 Low Speed CAN assigns a typical differential voltage of 5 Volt to logical “1”, and a typical
differential voltage of 2 Volt corresponds to logical “0”
Page 17
 CAN Frames Format

CAN Data Frame

CAN Remote Frame
CAN Error Frame
CAN Standard and Extended Frame
CAN Frame – Acknowledgement
CAN Frame – Bit Stuffing

Page 18
 Type and Role of Each Frame

Page 19
 CAN Data Frame

• Transmission of a data frame begins with a start symbol (Start of Frame: SOF). It is used by the
CAN nodes to synchronize to the sender
• During transmission, the CAN nodes maintain accurate timing by evaluating each edge transition
and adjusting their clocks as necessary
• The bit stuffing method guarantees that an edge transition occurs after five homogeneous bits
at most
• An end symbol (End Of Frame: EOF) marks the end of a data frame

Page 20
 CAN Data Transmission

• Data in the CAN network is transmitted using message frames, the so-called CAN data
frame
• Useful data up to eight bytes in length can be transmitted in the data field of a data frame
• The precise number of useful bytes is indicated by the DLC (Data Length Code)
• Every data frame is available for receiving by every CAN node (broadcasting)
• The useful data is protected by the CRC method (Cyclic Redundancy Check): The
sender appends a checksum (CRC sequence) to the useful data, which is evaluated by
the receiver by applying the CRC algorithm
• Depending on the result of the evaluation, the receiver acknowledges either positively or
negatively in the ACK slot that follows the CRC sequence
• Each data frame is identified by an identifier. In standard format it is made up of 11 bits,
in extended format it is 29 bits

Page 21
 Remote Frame and Error Frame

Page 22
 Standard and Extended Frame

Page 23
 CAN Framing - Acknowledgement

Page 24
 CAN Framing – Bit Stuffing

Used for the purpose of Re-

synchronization as CAN bus
is a synchronous network,
where all receiving modules
synchronize to the data
coming from a transmitting
module.

Page 25
 CAN Bus Access

Bus Access in CAN Network

Bitwise Bus Arbitration
Prioritization

Page 26
 CAN Bus Access
ISO 11898-1 defines a multi-master architecture to assure high availability and event-driven data
transmission
Each node in the CAN network has the right to access the CAN bus without requiring permission and
without prior coordination with other CAN nodes
Although bus access based on an event-driven approach enables very quick reactions to events, there is the
inherent risk that several CAN nodes might want to access the CAN bus at the same time, which would lead
to undesirable overlaps of data on the CAN bus
To preserve the communication system’s real-time capability, ISO 11898-1 provides for a bus access that
guarantees nondestructive data transport. The so-called CSMA/CA (Carrier Sense Multiple Access with
Collision Avoidance) method is used here
The CSMA/CA method ensures that CAN nodes wishing to send do not access the CAN bus until it is
available
In case of simultaneous bus access, the CSMA/CA method based on bitwise bus arbitration ensures that
the highest priority CAN message among the CAN nodes prevails
In principle, the higher the priority of a CAN message the sooner it can be transmitted on the CAN bus. In
case of poor system design, low priority CAN messages even run the risk of never being transmitted

Page 27
 Bus Access in the CAN network

Page 28
 Bitwise Bus Arbitration

The key component of the bus access method defined by ISO 11898-1 is bitwise bus arbitration. It
prevents collisions from occurring despite simultaneous bus access
After network-wide synchronization, all CAN nodes wishing to send place their identifier of the CAN message
bitwise onto the CAN bus, from most significant to least significant bit
In this process, the wired-AND bus logic upon which the CAN network is based ensures that a clear and
distinct bus level results on the bus
At the end of the arbitration phase, the CAN node transmitting the CAN message with the lowest ID gets
authorization to send. CAN nodes with lower priority messages switch to the receiving state, later they access
the CAN bus for another sending attempt as soon as it is available again

Page 29
 Wired AND Logic and Arbitration Logic

Page 30
 Example – Bitwise Bus Arbitration

Page 31
 Prioritization

The priorities of the CAN messages are decisive in obtaining bus access in the CAN network. They are
encoded via the identifier which is transmitted bitwise from the most significant to the least significant bit

Wired-AND bus logic and arbitration logic ensure that the priority of the CAN message increases with
decreasing identifier value: The smaller an identifier is, the higher the priority of the CAN message

If the bus load is not too high, this type of random, nondestructive and priority-controlled bus access provides
for fair and very quick bus access

Nonetheless, it must be taken into account that increasing bus load primarily causes delays in lower-priority
CAN messages to grow
This could impair the real-time capability of the CAN communication system. Therefore, in designing the
system the priorities of CAN messages should be derived from the urgency of the signals they will transport

Page 32
 Prioritization of CAN Message

Page 33
 CAN Data Protection

Physical Error Protection

Logical Error Detection
Logical Error Handling
Error Tracking

Page 34
 CAN Data Protection

Twisted Pair

Termination

Page 35
 Logical Error Detection- Bit Monitoring

To detect corrupted messages, the CAN protocol defines five mechanisms: bit monitoring, monitoring of the
message format (Form Check), monitoring of the bit coding (Stuff Check), evaluation of the acknowledgement
(ACK Check) and verifying the checksum (Cyclic Redundancy Check)

Page 36
 Logical Error Detection- Stuff Check

The stuff check serves to check the bit stream. The CAN protocol specifies that the sender must transmit a
complementary bit after five homogeneous bits — for synchronization purposes. There is a stuffing error if
more than five homogeneous contiguous bits are received

Page 37
 Logical Error Detection- Form Check

The form check serves to check the format of a CAN message. Each CAN message always exhibits the
same bit sequences at certain positions. They are the CRC delimiter, ACK delimiter and EOF. Senders always
transmit these message components recessively. A format error exists if a receiver detects a dominant bus
level within one of these message components in the Form Check

Page 38
 Logical Error Detection- CRC Check

In the cyclic redundancy check (CRC) the polynomial R(x) associated with the arriving data or remote frame
should equal a multiple of the generator polynomial G(x) specified by ISO 11898-1. If this is not the case
(CRC error), then the data or remote frame was corrupted during its transmission

Page 39
 Logical Error Detection- ACK Check

Page 40
 Logical Error Handling

The CAN protocol prescribes that if the error-detecting CAN node is experiencing a local disturbance, it must
inform all CAN nodes connected to the CAN network
The error-detecting CAN node transmits an error signal (error flag) for this purpose, which is made up of six
dominant bits. This is an intentional violation of the bit stuffing rule, and it generates a bit stuffing error
Transmission of an error flag ensures that all other CAN nodes will also transmit an error flag (secondary error
flag) and thereby also terminate the regular data transmission just like the sender of the primary error flag
Transmission of an error flag is always terminated by an error delimiter. This consists of eight recessive bits

Page 41
 Error Tracking

To assure network-wide data consistency, each node in a CAN network has the right to terminate any CAN
message interpreted as faulty. This also applies to a CAN node that erroneously interprets correct CAN
messages as faulty
To prevent jamming up the transmission medium, the CAN protocol specifies error tracking that allows CAN
nodes to distinguish between occasionally occurring disturbances and persistent ones
Consequently, each CAN controller has a TEC (Transmit Error Counter) and a REC (Receive Error
Counter). In case of successful transmission of a data or remote frame, the relevant error counter is
decremented (TEC=TEC-1; REC=REC-1)
Detection and subsequent transmission of a error flag causes the relevant error counter to be incremented
according to certain rules
For the sender the following rule applies: TEC=TEC+8
Error-detecting receivers initially increment their REC by one unit (REC=REC+1)
For the error causing receiver: REC=REC+8

Page 42
 Error Tracking

Page 43
 CAN Validation

Definition
 Conformance testing is the process of testing the correctness against a specifications
 The test determines whether system performs as required and decided on Pass / Fail basis

Objective
 It is Sanity Testing and not functionality testing
 Checking the implementation of CAN Protocol in an ECU
 To check performance of ECU based on CAN protocol
 To check behavior of ECU for correct and corrupted CAN messages
 To check whether network management manage the network of all ECU

Page 44
 Tests Performed On CAN Validation

• Physical Layer Tests: Supply voltage range test, Ground Offset test, Propagation Delay timing test, Slew rate
test
• DLL Test: Bit Rate test, Sample Point test
• Communication Layer Test: : Testing of ID, DLC and cycle time of selected application and network
management messages, Jitter test
• Network Management Test: Testing of network modes between nodes
• Diagnostic Test: To know software and hardware versions

Page 45
 www.visteon.com
Page 46