CAN Communication Principle

In a CAN network, each CAN node essentially has the right to access the CAN bus immediately after an event occurs, in order to transmit its CAN message. This principle enables very quick reactions to asynchronous events, and it represents an important condition for real-time data transmission in the millisecond range; these are key requirements for powertrain and chassis applications.

Because of message addressing, all CAN messages are available to be received by all CAN nodes (Broadcast). By means of filters, each CAN node selects those messages from the message stream that are relevant to it. A total of 2048 CAN messages may be specified in a CAN network, since the address (Identifier) is made up of 11 bits. The figure shows an example of the communication relationships in a CAN network consisting of three CAN nodes.