A Compression-Gathering Technique for Improving the Performance of ISO 11898 Networks

ISO 11898 (CAN) networks suffer from serious limitations on both the maximum network extension and the allowable bit rate because of the particular arbitration technique they adopt. In this paper, a modification of the basic ISO 11898 protocol is described which combines the content compression and data gathering techniques and provides high performance services for periodic data exchanges and message transmissions. The new protocol yields, on the average, a 10-times performance improvement over conventional CAN without worsening neither the responsiveness nor the bus length, and also features a satisfactory degree of compatibility with the original standard protocol.