Modeling Effects of Physical Factors on Controller Area Network in Cyber-physical Systems

Cyber-physical systems (CPS) are becoming a promising research field to integrate the computing components, the physical processes, and the communication networks. A primary challenge in designing CPS is to understand the effect of physical factors on the communication. In the paper we propose a mathematical model to present the relations between the performance of Controller Area Network (CAN) and some physical factors, such as the temperature, the impedance value and the electromagnetic interference. The first two factors are not considered in previous studies, while the error-arriving models are often used to describe the latter one. The proposed model is based on the probability density function of the voltage generated by noise. Using the model, we can obtain insights into the bit-error rate as a function of these physical factors. Compared to existing error models of CAN, our model is more accurate. Our work provides fundamental insights into the impact of the physical factors on communication.