CAN was originally developed by the German company, Robert Bosch, for use in cars, to provide a cost-effective communications bus for in-car electronics and as alternative to expensive, cumbersome and unreliable wiring looms and connectors. The car industry continues to use CAN for an increasing number of applications, but because of its proven reliability and robustness, CAN is now also being used in many other control applications.
CAN is an international standard and is documented in ISO 11898 (for high-speed applications) and ISO 11519 (for lower-speed applications).
Low-cost CAN controllers and interface devices are available as off-the-shelf components from several of the leading semiconductor manufacturers. Custom built devices and popular microcontrollers with embedded CAN controllers are also available. There are many CAN-related system development packages, hardware interface cards and easy-to-use software packages that provide system designers, builders and maintainers with a wide range of design, monitoring, analysis, and test tools.
The complexity of these control systems, and the need to exchange data between them meant that more and more hard-wired, dedicated signal lines had to be provided. Sensors had to be duplicated if measured parameters were needed by different controllers. Apart from the cost of the wiring looms needed to connect all these components together, the physical size of the wiring looms sometimes made it impossible to thread them around the vehicle (to control panels in the doors, for example). In addition to the cost, the increased number of connections posed serious reliability, fault diagnosis, and repair problems during both manufacture and in service.
A new solution was needed and, in the mid 1980s, the Robert Bosch company (a highly regarded supplier of components and sub systems to the automotive industry) provided the answer by specifying the Controller Area Network (CAN).
Many of the world's chip manufacturers now offer a wide range of semiconductor devices that implement the protocol in small low-cost controllers and interface devices and most modern cars (certainly in Europe - and increasingly in the rest of the world) now use CAN.
The benefits of reduced cost and improved reliability that the car industry gains by using CAN
are now available to manufacturers of a wide range of products.
For example:
Using CAN to network controllers, actuators, sensors, and transducers, manufacturers of all the
above-mentioned computer controlled products have benefited from:
CAN in Cars
To satisfy customer requirements for greater safety, comfort, and convenience, and to comply with increasingly stringent government legislation for improved pollution control and reduced fuel consumption, the car industry has developed many electronic systems. Anti-lock Braking, Engine Management, Traction Control, Air Conditioning Control, central door locking, and powered seat and mirror controls are just some examples.
Industrial Applications of CAN
CAN controllers and interface chips are physically small. They are available as low-cost,
off-the-shelf components. They will operate at high, real-time speeds, and in harsh environments.
All these properties have led to CAN also being used in a wide range of applications other than the car industry.
Safety
The safety-related aspects of using CAN in cars attracted the attention of manufacturers of
medical systems. Because of the inherent reliability of the data transmission and the stringent
safety requirements that need to be built into medical equipment such as X-ray machines and radio-therapy systems, CAN is now used in a range of these systems.
User Groups
To cater for the growth in the use of CAN and to provide a forum for discussion, several User
Groups have been formed. One of the first to be formed was the CAN Textile Users Group, but
the principal international Users Group is CAN in Automation (CiA). Click here to access the CiA web site.
* Go back to Intro Page and Main Index