Debugging CAN, LIN, and FlexRay Automotive Buses with an Oscilloscope

Embedded systems applications growing rapidly in the automotive industry. Many vehicle designs use CAN, LIN or FlexRay to communicate among electronic control units (ECUs), and between ECUs and sensors, actuators and displays. These buses are critical in providing real-time communications in and among important subsystems from braking systems to infotainment systems.
CAN, LIN, and FlexRay are relatively mature bus protocols and are designed to be robust and easy to integrate. Even so, communications can be impacted by noise, board layout, and power-up/down timing. Problems can include excessive bus errors and lock-ups. Unlike basic protocol analyzers, oscilloscopes equipped with protocol decoding, can be used to see both the decoded bus traffic, as well as signal quality. This ability to see bus signals and decoded traffic makes oscilloscopes the best choice for troubleshooting.
Perhaps more importantly, oscilloscopes can be used to troubleshoot problems at the system level. Automobiles rely on extensive networks of sensors, actuators and displays, and many problems involve bus timing relative to I/O events or values.
Oscilloscopes are well-suited for looking at I/O signals and bus transactions at the same instant. Because of this capability, they are the instrument of choice for system-level debugging.