CAN bus

CAN is short for ‘controller area network’. Controller area network is an electronic communication bus defined by the ISO 11898 standards. Those standards define how communication happens, how wiring is configured and how messages are constructed, among other things. Collectively, this system is referred to as a CAN bus.

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. When transmitting data in a CAN bus no nodes are addressed, but the content of a message (eg. speed or engine temperature) is characterized by a unique identifier. A message is packaged in its own CAN bus form. This packaging is designated as "frame".

The CAN bus is a common digital data network used in automotive, industrial, medical and scientific systems. The CAN bus is used for routing sensor data between pieces of equipment. The main advantages are high resilience to noise, reliability, low cost, simple wiring and ease of use. The disadvantages are that the data packet lengths are small, transmission rates are low and the message transmission cycle time can vary.