Controller Area Network(CAN)

• CAN or Controller Area Networking was probably one of the first technologies that was an easy
way to move data and an easy step up from RS232 serial communications.
• It’s an important technology in automation networking as it has a rather prolific set of offspring
that includes DeviceNet, CanOpen, Can Kingdom, and several hundred other offspring all over
the world.
• CAN is a serial communications standard for intelligent devices to communicate with each other.
• Unlike many other communication standards that provide fast data rates with thousands or
millions of data bytes in a single frame, CAN has a bit rate that maxes out at 1 mega baud.
• Most industrial applications don’t even need that speed. Most use the lowly 125 Kbaud. And
where other standards move thousands of bytes in a single frame, CAN only moves 8 bytes of
data.
• But where speed and capacity are strengths for many of the other standards, CAN’s strength is its
low overhead and simple physical interface.
• With its small packet size, a frame transmitted at 500 Kbaud with 8 bytes of data
is only on the network wire for a quarter of a millisecond. For many control
applications, this is plenty fast.
• Additionally, the microcontroller only needs as little as 4K of program memory
and 256 bytes of RAM to support a CAN application.
CAN was the brain child of Bosch in Germany way back in March of 1985.
• The Bosch Company designed it to replace automotive wiring. In the early days
of specification version 1.2, CAN messages contained an eleven-bit identifier
word providing the capability to address 2047 identifiers.
• In 1992 CAN Specification 2.0 extended the identifier word size to 29 bits
providing up to 56 million unique identifiers.
• In 2012 it is further extended as CAN FD (Flexible Data Rate)
As both specifications are still in use (sometimes on the same wire), the original
1.2 specification is called Part A and the new 2.0 specification is termed part B.
• A unique attribute of CAN is that only two of the OSI Reference Model layers
are defined, the Data Link Layer and the Physical Layer.
• The CAN Data Link layer is normally further split into two sub layers, the
Physical Signaling sub-layer and the Media Access Control (MAC) sub-layer.
The most important use of CAN to us in manufacturing is DeviceNet.
• Allen–Bradley (Rockwell Automation) created DeviceNet as an application
layer protocol on top of CAN in the 1990s. AB selected CAN as the
DeviceNet Physical Layer for a number of reasons including:
1) CAN has an extremely robust physical layer
2) CAN is completely open technology and embedded in almost all
microprocessors
• It uses inexpensive physical components with multiple sources.
• One of the most extraordinary features of CAN (and DeviceNet) is bitwise
arbitration.
• Bitwise arbitration is the process that CAN uses to prioritize messages without
losing any network bandwidth. On a CAN network, “zero” bits dominate
“one” bits.
• CAN devices are synchronized, and each device with a message to send starts
transmitting with the first bit of the next CAN frame.
• As each device transmits a bit, it listens to the bit actually on the network.
• If a device transmits a one and hears a zero, it knows that there are one or
more higher priority devices transmitting a zero and it discontinues
transmitting.
• Nodes with higher priority messages (more leading zeros) never know of any
conflicts with lower priority messages.
• Eventually, the highest priority message – the one with the most leading zeros – is able to
fill the frame with its message.
• All the lower priority devices begin again with the next frame. Using this mechanism,
CAN can achieve 100% bus utilization.
• Though seems to be ancient, no longer needed technology, Bosch is still actively
extending the standard.
• A few years ago, Bosch released a specification with a flexible data-rate. The new
specification is completely compatible with existing CAN.0 networks so new CAN
devices can coexist on the same network with existing CAN devices.
• CAN bus is also one of five protocols used in the on-board diagnostics (OBD)-II vehicle
diagnostics standard.
• This standard is mandatory for all cars and light trucks sold in the United States and has
been since 1996.
• Even though we live with data in the Cloud, technologies like CAN continue to be
important and will be for a long time to come.
• https://youtu.be/FqLDpHsxvf8