Controller Area Network (CAN)

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The CAN is based on society of automotive engineers (SAE) J2284, international standard organization (ISO)-11898, and is a serial communication language protocol used to transfer messages (signals) between electronic control modules or nodes. Two or more signals can be sent over one CAN circuit allowing 2 or more electronic modules or nodes to communicate with each other. This communication, or multiplexing, network operates at 500k/sec (kilobytes per second) and allows the electronic modules to share their information messages.

Included in these messages is diagnostic data sent over the CAN+ and CAN- lines to the data link connector (DLC). The PCM connection to the DLC is done with a twisted pair cable used for network interconnection. The diagnostic data such as self-test or parameter identification (PID) can be accessed with a scan tool. Information on scan tool equipment is described in, SCAN TOOL SETUP AND FUNCTIONALITY .