PIC BASED CONTROLLER AREA NETWORK (CAN)

The field of automation and control is constantly expanding and with that the
complexity in automation and control system has also been increasing. The
complexity ofcontrol systems and the need toexchange data between them mean that
moreand morehard-wired, dedicated signal lineshaveto be provided. The challenges
faced in automation and control system is thecomplexity of wiring, thecomplexity of
the system itself and its reliability in harsh environment. Controller Area Network
(CAN) provides solution in dealing with complexity of networking. CAN is also
growing in popularity due to its ease of use and low costs in implementing them.
CAN is as simple to use as a serial UART, and currently the cost ofCAN controllers
is still decreasing. The implementation of CAN not only covers the car and
automation industries, but also into fields such as medical instrumentation and
domestic appliances. One ofthe CAN microcontrollers available inthe market isthe
Microchip's PIC18 family. The project's goal is to set up Controller Area Network
(CAN) by utilizing the Microchip's PIC18. Microchip's MCP2551 CAN transceivers
are used to interface the CAN controllers with the CANbus. C language program is
writtento controlthe microcontrollers. TheC program is translated to HEXfile using
CCS compiler. The HEX files are downloaded onto the microcontrollers. The traffic
of the transmission of the messages is monitored using HyperTerminal. The
microcontrollers are able to send messages among them using the CANmodule. The
ID ofthe message transmitted from one microcontroller matches the ID received from
the receiving microcontroller. This work demonstrates a CAN network built using
PIC microcontrollers.