Page 26 - 2021 Connectivity Components: Everything but the Connectors eBook
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Connector and Cable Considerations When Designing for CAN bus
Rob Iversrud, Category and Product Manager, Waytek Inc.
Controller Area Network (CAN) technology has been in use since it first appeared in European luxury vehicles 30 years ago. In recent years, CAN technology has become increasingly prevalent in class 7 and 8 trucks, construction equipment, off-highway vehicles, and many passenger vehicles.
Though the CAN acronym is well-known, the technology itself may be unfamiliar to upfitters and installers in the North American marketplace. Modern vehicles contain a variety of systems and computer components often referred to as electronic control units, or ECUs. CAN is the electronic “brain” that allows ECUs to communicate with each other; CAN bus is the wiring over which the control signals travel.
CAN bus cable consists of a pair of wires known as CAN high and CAN low (indicating high and low speed, respectively). Both wires are twisted tightly together to ensure that electromagnetic interference affects the signal in both wires uniformly, limiting errors.
Advantages of implementing CAN protocol
The CAN protocol eliminates the need for excessive wiring by allowing electronic devices to communicate with each other over the single CAN bus multiplex cable. The benefits of this include:
