Comparative Reliability Analysis for Single and Dual CAN (FD) Systems

Modern cyber-physical systems, such as autonomous vehicles, advanced driver assistance systems, automation systems and battery management systems, result in extended communication requirements regarding the reliability and the availability. The Controller Area Network (CAN) is a broadcast-based protocol which is still used as a standard for serial communication between individual microcontrollers due to its reliability and low power consumption. In addition, it provides mechanisms for detecting transmission errors and retransmitting messages in the event of an error. The enhancement CAN Flexible Data-Rate (CAN FD) offers increased data rates and transmission rates in order to meet the data throughput requirements. In this paper, the mechanisms for reliable data transmission in a CAN FD network are analyzed. To improve reliability, a second identical CAN-FD network is added to the system, using the additional CAN interface already available on common microcontrollers. The redundant communication network is examined in terms of failure rates and the mean time to failure. The reliability over the operation time is calculated for the single and the redundant version of the CAN FD network using the failure rate limits of the ASIL levels.