Authors:
José Rufino
1
;
Paulo Verissimo
1
;
Ricardo Pinto
2
;
Carlos Almeida
2
and
Guilherme Arroz
2
Affiliations:
1
Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal
;
2
Universidade Técnica de Lisboa, Portugal
Keyword(s):
Dependability and real-time, Controller area network, Spacecraft data communication.
Related
Ontology
Subjects/Areas/Topics:
Embedded Communications Systems
;
Networking and Connectivity
;
Real-Time Systems
;
Software Architectures
;
Telecommunications
;
VLSI Design and Implementation
Abstract:
The Controller Area Network (CAN) has played along the last decade a crucial role in the design and implementation of distributed embedded systems. However, the native CAN protocol exhibits a set of availability, reliability and timeliness limitations. Given the large practical base of off-the-shelf microcontrollers integrating standard CAN interfaces and the emergence of CAN protocol open cores, a fundamental question is whether (and how) those components can be used for highly dependable applications of CAN?
This paper identifies a fundamental set of shortcomings of the native CAN protocol and discusses how existing CAN controllers can be combined with additional hardware/software components to secure the provisioning of strict dependability and timeliness guarantees. Furthermore, the paper discusses the main issues in the design and implementation of CANELy, a CAN-based infrastructure able of extremely reliable hard real-time communication, and shows how CANELy components can be i
ntegrated in the onboard data communication and processing infrastructure currently being designed for future space vehicle avionics.
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