Integrating inaccessibility in response time analysis of CAN networks

Controller Area Network (CAN) is a fieldbus network suitable for small-scale Distributed Computer Controlled Systems, being appropriate for transferring short real-time messages. Nevertheless, it must be understood that the continuity of service is not fully guaranteed since it may be disturbed by temporary periods of network inaccessibility [1]. In this paper, such temporary periods of network inaccessibility are integrated in the response time analysis of CAN networks. The achieved results emphasise that in the presence of temporary periods of network inaccessibility, a CAN network is not able to provide different integrity levels to the supported applications, since errors in low priority messages interfere with the response time of higher priority message streams.