Customer Reviews

A Comprehensible Guide to Controller Area Network

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've had the chance to read about 1/3 of this book. It does a good job of explaining message CAN "frames", which could be said to be roughly analogous to TCP/IP datagram packets, except at a lower level of abstraction. It gives scenarios for the 4 different types of frames, explaining the use of each field in the frame for each scenario. It describes the interaction of transmitting and receiving nodes and the CAN bus. It describes the standard frame size (11 bit message id) and the extended frame size (29 bit message id) used in J1939. It begins with CAN history, applications, and where CAN fits in to the ISO/OSI 7 Layer Reference Model.

The book covers ISO-11898-1(data link and physical signaling) and ISO-11898-2(high-speed medium access unit). ISO-11898-3 (low speed, fault tolerant, medium dependent interface) and ISO-11898-4 (time-triggered communication) are not covered.

The use of "Notes" or captions to re-iterate information is effective. However, I noticed that the author chooses to repeat information too often. Its easy to overlook this, for as the author states, some of the original works that this book uses as reference material suffer from poor translations, while this book is indeed highly readable.

Also, although this book may not be the place for it, I would have liked to have seen more discussion about how CANOpen is used for automotive purposes, and perhaps some reference to FlexRay and LIN, which are often used alongside CAN in the automotive domain, in the "Higher Layer Protocols" section.

Also, for anyone that is interested in reading an alternate document to this one, Texas Instruments has a pdf file called "Introduction to the Controller Area Network (CAN)". You should be able to search for it on their website. Also, National Instruments has a decent introduction/overview in a webpage titled "Controller Area Network (CAN) Overview" which you should also be able to find via a search on their website.

The book is so well structured and narrative that even a newbie to CAN may learn essentials in a few days. Tough themes like bit timing and synchronization are introduced clearly with smart illustrations. The author is not trying to blow out pages with unnecessary details but rather selects content very carefully and builds a self-consistent guide based on (his) evident conscious experience. The guide's index is rather lean but covers all the main features I found useful for myself when was coding fw/sw CAN suite.

This small book gives intermediate-level description for low-level side of bus communication. For high-level CAN stuff see another rather good book, the "Embedded networking with CAN and CANopen" by O. Pfeiffer et al.

With the knowledge you get from the guide you most likely will not be able to create your own chip from the scratch ;-)... but definitely can develop your custom low-level s/w or f/w driver, as well as interpret waveforms on your scope with a greater confidence.

Here is the table of contents of the guide:

1. Overview
2. Main characteristics
2.1 Frames
2.2 Multi-master bus access
2.3 Message broadcasting
2.4 Message priority
2.5 Short messages
2.6 Data rate and message frequency
2.7 Bus arbitration
2.8 Error detection and fault confinement
3. Benefits of using CAN
3.1 CAN controller firmware
3.2 Low cost implementation
3.3 Speed, reliability, error-resistance
3.4 Worldwide acceptance
3.5 Higher layer protocols
4. Message frame architecture
4.1 Dominant and recessive bus levels
4.2 Data and remote frames
4.3 Data frame
4.4 Remote frame
4.5 Message frame format
4.6 Extended CAN protocol
4.7 Error frame
4.8 Overload frame
4.9 Interframe space
4.10 Frame length and transmission times
4.11 Baud rate considerations
4.12 Bandwidth
5. Message broadcasting
5.1 Message broadcasting with data frames
5.2 Message broadcasting with remote frames
6. Bus arbitration
6.1 Principles
6.2 Main rules
6.3 Example
7. Data transfer synchronization
7.1 Bit coding
7.2 Bit stuffing
7.3 Bit timing and synchronization
7.3.1 Bit sample point
7.3.2 Bit time
7.3.3 Bit time programming
7.3.4 Synchronization
7.3.5 Phase error and resynchronization
7.3.6 Oscillator frequency tolerance range
8. Error detection and fault confinement
8.1 Error detection
8.1.1 Bit monitoring
8.1.2 Checksum check
8.1.3 Bit stuffing error
8.1.4 Frame check error
8.1.5 Ack error
8.2 Error signaling
8.3 Fault confinement
8.3.1 Error counting
9. Physical layer
9.1 Bus topology
9.2 Bus medium
9.3 Bus signal level
9.4 Bus connection
9.5 Max bus length
9.6 Wiring and connectors
10. Summary
Appendix A - References
Index

This book is highly recommended for everybody who needs to learn the basics of Controller Area Network. I have been collecting all written works on CAN through the years, but this book is by far the best reference to the CAN technology. The writing is clear and precise. I was impressed by the details, especially when it comes to the more complex topics such as bit timing, phase error, and resynchronization. Adding to the value of this book are the many pictures, which are appropriately placed according to the complexity of the current topic (something that is painfully missing in the official ISO specification). The author is also not shy to point out to discrepancies between ISO 11898 and the official Bosch specification. It is also refreshing to see that the book does not include product specific information as seen in other works (basically advertisement that you as the reader pay for). If you are in the CAN business (or CANopen, DeviceNet, J1939, etc.) you should have this book.

This is the most complete work on CAN I have found so far. There are many details that are not explained in ISO11898. It is easy to read and has many helpful pictures. There are excellent sections on error detection, fault confinement and the basics on the timing registers of CAN controllers. I was easily able to apply the information from the book to my current project.

I'll keep this brief, but I wanted to give this book the 5-star rating it deserves.

This book is a one-stop shop to go from "What the hell is CAN?" to "OK, now I know everything I need to know about *CAN*."

This book doesn't - and can't & shouldn't -- discuss higher layer protocols, nor the specifics of the CAN controller chip on your board. It (thankfully) sticks to the subject without getting distracted on tangential topics. (Note: I believe the author has a book coming out in early 2008 regarding the higher-layer J1939, I'll be waiting in line for that one too.)

The book is very clearly written, has lots of pictures (a must in any technical book), and is thorough & complete.

*Anyone* starting with CAN should start here.

Sentences and/or paragraphs are repeated much too often. This book also isn't organized well. Needs an editor to streamline it. It's like a rough draft or second draft. The information is good, but it's annoying to read at times because of the way it's put together and too much repeat info.

Mr. Voss has done a good job, in a relatively small volume, of covering the basics of the CAN Bus. He specifically does a nice job of explaining the error handling mechanisms built in to the protocol. I found this book to be a good value for the price.

If you're going to create either a CAN bus analyzer or interface chip this book contains useful information. It contains detailed information about what is actually transmitted on the physical bus and what the hardware has to do. So if you need to know what is supposed to happen on the wires, this could be useful to you.

For anyone writing CAN software, such as a data link layer API (driver) or above (CANOpen, DeviceNet, J1939, etc), it's almost useless. Unfortunately, that's what I was looking for.

The author also has a bad habit of repeating the exact same information (think cut and paste) all over the place. This makes it harder to find new information vs. repeated information.

Based on the price, I should have guessed it wouldn't contain much information.

Ive been working with CAN networks for several years and have taken CAN classes from some of the big companies in the field. This book provided more detailed information and better descriptions than any other reference Ive used. I especially found useful the sections on error and overload frames, and bus bandwidth usage. The only complaint I have is the frequency that information, in fact entire paragraphs, are repeated verbatim.

The book is very detailed about the specifications and ins and outs of the CAN. As such it deserves a 5. It isn't terribly useful for building or programming such a bus. In that regard it is a 1. One item that is an overall problem is the repetition of text and comments throughout the book. That reads like padding in order to get the book's size up to an acceptable level. I found myself getting a sense of deja vu and wondering if I'd lost my place in the book. Flipping back I'd realize that it was due to repeated text.

Stars don't provide an adequate way to rate the book as its relevance is context specific. That's more true than of most technical books.