Bulk data transfer in Controller Area Networks for Industry 4.0

Abstract

Industrial Controller Area Networks (CANs) are traditionally responsible for transmitting status and control information from and to local controllers. However, with the advances of electronics, end-nodes are capable of performing more complex operations, such as monitoring the state of the device and optimizing its operation. As a consequence, CANs should be used for the transmission of heterogeneous message types. In this work we evaluate how CANs can share their transmission resources and collect also bulk data, in addition to serving the existing controller traffic. We derive the constraints bulk data transmission needs to fulfill to ensure the robust and timely transmission of controller traffic, and propose scheduling solutions that ensure fast data delivery. Our results demonstrate that bulk data transmission is possible, unless the networks is already highly loaded, and fast delivery can be achieved even with simple transceiver hardware.