CAN Bus Communication
Controller Area Network, the standard for automotive and industrial real-time communication. CAN FD extends bandwidth to 8 Mbps for modern applications.
Controller Area Network, the standard for automotive and industrial real-time communication. CAN FD extends bandwidth to 8 Mbps for modern applications.
Key Topics
- CAN 2.0A/B frames
- CAN FD extended frames
- Message filtering
- Error handling and bus-off recovery
- CANopen protocol
- Arbitration and priority
Supported Hardware
Nordic nRF SoCs do not include a native CAN controller. CAN connectivity on Nordic targets is typically implemented with an external SPI-attached CAN controller (for example MCP2515 or MCP2518FD) plus a CAN transceiver, paired with the host nRF MCU below.
nRF52840
Advanced multiprotocol SoC with 1MB Flash, 256KB RAM, and USB support. Pairs well with an external CAN/CAN-FD controller over SPI, while providing BLE/Thread for wireless telemetry and OTA.
nRF5340
Dual-core Bluetooth 5.4 SoC with dedicated application and network processors. The application Cortex-M33 has plenty of headroom to drive an external CAN-FD controller alongside BLE telemetry.
Use Cases
Motor Controller
Precision motor control system for BLDC, stepper, or servo motors with closed-loop feedback, used in robotics, CNC machines, and industrial automation.
Drone Flight Controller
Real-time flight controller for multirotor drones handling IMU sensor fusion, PID-based stabilization, GPS navigation, and RC receiver input.
Matter Smart Home Protocol
Unified smart home connectivity standard backed by Apple, Google, Amazon, and Samsung. Built on Thread and Wi-Fi, Matter ensures cross-platform device interoperability.
Zephyr RTOS
Open-source, scalable real-time operating system by the Linux Foundation, supporting 600+ boards. The foundation of Nordic's nRF Connect SDK and increasingly popular across the embedded industry.