Engineering Autonomous Mobility: Wired and Wireless CAN Bus Design Principles

The controller area network (CAN) bus, the prevailing standard for in-vehicle networking (IVN), has been used for more than four decades, despite its simple architecture, to establish communications between electronic control units (ECUs). Weight, maintenance overheads, improved flexibility, and wiring complexity escalate as the quantity of ECUs rises, especially for high-demand autonomous vehicles (AVs). The primary objective of this study is to examine and discuss the significant challenges that arise during the migration from a wired CAN to a wireless CAN (WCAN). Suggested remedies include changing the configuration of the conventional ECU, creating a hidden wireless communication domain for each AV, and developing a plan to counteract the jamming signals. The simulation of the proposed WCAN was done using MATLAB and validated using OPNET analysis. The results showed that the packet loss of the eavesdropping electronic control unit ranged from 63% to 100%. Anti-jamming results show that when packet loss reaches 2% for a continuous period of time of 0.01 sec, the passive channel is automatically activated, ensuring secure data transmission.