CAN(Controller

Area Network)
Protocol
Manu Rajeev
Karri
ECE/21/13

CONTENT
S

Need for CAN

What is CAN
CAN History
Network Model
Types of Nodes
CAN Frames
CSMA/CD-CR
Error Handling
CAN in action
CAN Advantages
and Disadvantages
Conclusion

Need for CAN

Before CAN was introduced in the automobiles, each
electronic device was connected to other device
using the wires (point to point wiring) which worked
fine, when the functions in the system were limited.
One of the major problems for automotive engineers
was linking the ECUs of the different devices so that
real time information can be exchanged. CAN
protocol was designed to address this problem.

Before CAN

After CAN

What is CAN?
AController Area Network(CAN bus) is avehicle
busstandard designed to allowmicrocontrollersand
devices to communicate with each other in
applications without ahost computer. CAN is an
extremely robust serial communication protocol.
It is a message based protocol.
Distribution across the CAN network that allows peer
to peer or master to slave type of communications.

CAN History
Bosch originally developed CAN in 1985 to address
automotive network requirements to reduce the cost
and weight of a vehicle harness system.
In the 1990s CAN was standardized by ISO 11898.
Since 1995, many higher level protocols(HLPs) were
developed for and standardized on CAN.

Network Model

Physical Network
CAN Network is made up of a group of nodes.
The smallest working CAN Network contains at least
two active nodes( to allow for a transmitting node
and a receiving node that will ack a transmitted
message)

Various Types of
Nodes

CAN Frames
Data Frame (Standard, Extended)
Remote Frame (Standard, Extended)
Error Frame (Passive, Active)
Overload Frame

Data Frame

Remote Data
Frame

Error Frame

Overload Frame

CSMA/CD-CR
CAN protocol handles bus accesses according to
Carrier Sense Multiple Access/ Collision
Detection- Collision Resolution
Carrier Sense(CS)-Every node must monitor bus for
a period of no activity before sending a message.
Multiple Access(MA)-Once a period of no activity
occurs, every node has an equal opportunity to send
a message

CSMA/CD-CR
Collision Detection(CD)-If 2 nodes transmit at the
same time , a collision occurs
Collision Resolution(CR)- Non destructive bit wise
arbitration.
Messages remain intact even after collision.
All arbitration takes place without corruption or delay
of the highest priority message.
Any message that loses the CAN BUS in arbitration is
automatically retransmitted at next available time.

Synchronization
No clock in bit stream
Receivers synchronize on recessive to dominant
transitions.
Hard synchronization occurs at SOF & resets bit
clock
Resynchronization occurs at recessive-to-dominant
(1-0) edges and adjusts the bit clock as necessary.

Bit Stuffing
Bit stuffing ensures recessive-to-dominant edges
Stuff bit occurs after 5 like bits in a row
Recessive or dominant

Error Handling
Error handling ensures integrity of messages.
There are five types of errors in CAN

CRC(Cyclic Redundancy Check) Error

Acknowledge Error
Form Error
Stuff Error
Bit Error

 CRC Error
If calculated CRC and received CRC does not match, then CRC
error occurs.
Acknowledge Error
During the transmission of dataor remote frame, in the ACK
flag field the transmitter will put recessive bit and expect
dominant bit from receive pin. If dominant bit is observed then
that is considered as proper transmission. In other case it is
acknowledgement error.
Form Error
Occurs when any Node that detects a dominant in the CRC
Delimiter, ACK Delimiter, EOF Field or Inter-frame Space.
Stuff Error
6 consecutive bits of same polarity gives an error.
Bit Error
Occurs when transmitted and received bits does not match.

CAN in Action

Transmitting a CAN
message

Receiving a CAN
message

Transmitting &
Receiving
Most aspects of transmitting and receiving a CAN
message is handled by the protocol engine in the
CAN module
Transmitting a message typically requires loading the
identifier, DLC and the data, then setting the
Transmit Request bit.
Receiving a message typically requires monitoring
the Receiver buffer Full with polling or using
interrupts to notify user application when a CAN
messages has been received.

CAN Advantages
& Disadvantages

Advantages
High performance
under light loads
Low cost
Reliable
Robust

Disadvantages
Unfair access: Node
with high priority can
hog the network
Starvation for some
particular nodes

Conclusion

CAN is ideally suited in applications requiring a large

number of short messages with high reliability in
rugged operating environments.
Because CAN is message-based and not addressbased, it is especially well-suited when data is
needed by more than one location and system-wide
data consistency is mandatory.

Thank you!