Software-Based Assessment of the Synchronization and Error Handling Behavior of a Real CAN Controller

Although the Controller Area Network (CAN) technology is very mature, the behavior of real CAN controllers under marginal operating conditions is still of practical interest as CAN is being deployed in a variety of application domains. In this paper, we propose a test software architecture able to extensively investigate the reaction of a typical CAN controller when subject to various kinds of error and different timing scenarios. Both the analysis technique and the test software use a black-box approach and do not require any modification of, or access to, the internal structure of the controller itself. They are therefore readily applicable with low effort to different hardware. Possible applications include diagnostic and reliability analysis tools for CAN.