Embedded Hardware/Software CAN Node Design for Engineering and Research in the Automotive Application Field

Abstract

This work proposes a design of an embedded CAN node in the form of an electronic development board. The entire circuit is developed around an 8-bit PIC18Fxxxx microcontroller family in order to increase the optimal cost to performance ratio. The proposed board integrates the three CAN standards: physical, link and application layers. In addition to the CAN communication chain, the solution integrates the necessary modules to accomplish a complete application without the need of external hardware. It includes an input button and output LEDs, an integrated LCD display connector, a real time clock with active time memory buck up, a micro SD card for data storage, ESP8260 network interface for internet of things applications (IoT), several supported protocols interfaces like USB & RS232 and on board DS18B20 thermal sensor based on ONE Wire protocol. In addition to these hardware features, a complete Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) has been developed to manage the board software part. In the end, the whole solution validation (Hardware/software) will be done in real case studies and test scenarios that combine two or more modules at the same time. The results of every experiment are verified based on real time signal analysis using a digital oscilloscope.