SPRUI30H November 2015 – May 2024 DRA745 , DRA746 , DRA750 , DRA756
The DCAN supports bit rates between < 1 kBit/s and 1000 kBit/s.
Each member of the CAN network has its own clock generator, typically derived from a crystal oscillator. The bit timing parameters can be configured individually for each CAN node, creating a common bit rate even though the CAN nodes’ oscillator periods (fosc) may be different.
The frequencies of these oscillators are not absolutely stable. Small variations are caused by changes in temperature or voltage and by deteriorating components. As long as the variations remain inside a specific oscillator tolerance range (df), the CAN nodes are able to compensate for the different bit rates by resynchronizing to the bit stream.
In many cases, the CAN bit synchronization will amend a faulty configuration of the CAN bit timing to such a degree that only occasionally an error frame is generated. In the case of arbitration however, when two or more CAN nodes simultaneously try to transmit a frame, a misplaced sample point may cause one of the transmitters to become error passive.
The analysis of such sporadic errors requires a detailed knowledge of the CAN bit synchronization inside a CAN node and of the CAN nodes’ interaction on the CAN bus.
Even if minor errors in the configuration of the CAN bit timing do not result in immediate failure, the performance of a CAN network can be reduced significantly.