The CAN/LIN tester is a comprehensive set of devices and software facilities targeted for the complex evaluation of specification conformance of vehicle electronic control units with CAN and LIN communication standards. The first part of the tester set is the PCIe control card for CAN/LIN interfaces used for signal generation and precise timing control. The second part is the relay board serving as a central interconnection interface between tested units and a testing computer. The last part of the set is the testing software running on the testing computer equipped with the PCIe control card. The software allows rich definition and parametrization of both custom and standardized test sets, as well as evaluation and collection of test results.

Since the project consists of several distinct parts, its development integrated a wide variety of tasks, ranging from hardware design of the PCIe card and relay board, going through PCIe card firmware and driver development, and ending and the high-level programming of the control software and its user interface. The project’s development is currently targeted on newer CAN FD (Flexible Data-Rate) deployment; however, our research group is currently starting a similar project, scoped on the automotive Ethernet communication.