Controller area network [automotive applications]

The controller area network (CAN) is becoming a de facto standard for data transmission in automotive applications. Such applications are characterized by their obligation to respect stringent time and dependability constraints. This is why it is vital, at the design step, to validate their behavior. The verification is based on the performance evaluation of the operational architecture. The authors´ approach involves: (1) building models (both analytic and simulation) and solving them (model-based evaluation); and (2) performing network monitoring on a prototype of the system (prototype-based evaluation). Automotive communications systems face an extremely hostile electrical environment (strong electromagnetic disturbances). To assume it is a 100% reliable medium is irresponsible in the face of such reality. So, the authors focus on transmission errors that may cause missed deadlines because of retransmitting corrupted frames. They propose using a flexible error-model for assessing the transmission´s reliability and for designing well-suited message scheduling policies