BUS COMMUNICATION, BACKGROUND HISTORY

Back in the second half of 1990’s things began to change… and I was there!

With the increasingly complex vehicles, something had to be done to the

electrical architecture. The popular description of the history is that due to
customs asking for more “bells and whistles” in the cars the manufactures had to
add more and more complex electrical systems, meaning more ECU’s (Electronic
Control Module) in the vehicle. This is just part of the truth, engine management
was quite complex by now and to make it possible to diagnose and repair
efficiently something had to be done. More powerful ECU’s and better diagnostic
tools became a part of the solution. But more powerful ECU kind of started an
avalanche, it made it possible to make these vehicles with all the bells and
whistles.

Previously functions such as anti-theft protection, usually including; remote

controlled central locking, anti-theft alarm and immobilizer more or less had their
own ECU’s with very little “information exchange between them”. The
information exchange was sometimes discrete voltages, frequencies or PWM,
occasionally quite simple serial data. The functionality was designed around a lot
of discrete components making hardware cost quite a substantial burden for the
manufacturer. One can say that the “logic” of the functionality is in the
hardware, as opposed to the modern way of doing it, were the “logic” is in the
software.

This older style of architecture lead to, contrary to popular belief, vehicles more
complex in design, high build time, high build cost, complex fault diagnosing and
not seldom a bit unreliable, compared to a more modern design with bus
communication.

To overcome this, and possibly creating “new problems”, the following new way
of design was adopted. The vehicle functionality was designed around a number
of ECU’s interconnected with one or more communication networks, often called
bus network, CAN network or just network. Characteristic to this design is that
all or most of the ECU’s are hooked up to the bus network and not only share
information but also share functions.

Some examples, one ECU measure the outdoor temperature via a sensor in the
front of the vehicle, if this ECU use the information itself is really not important,
it may or may not use the information. The ECU sends the “temperature
information” on the bus network and all other bus connected ECU’s can use this
information for whatever purpose the find useful (designed by software). The
outdoor temperature can be used for displaying the temperature to the driver,
warn the driver for possible icy roads, influence the control algorithms of the
climate control, heated seat, rear window demist, heated outdoor mirrors just to
mention a few areas where the outdoor temperature information can be used.
Now, imagine the old fashion architecture, where there is no or little information
exchange between ECU’s or in many cases non ECU functions. Either the vehicle
would have to have a serious number of temperature sensors, not very realistic
or just simply be without these functions.
SAAB 9-5 M/2004

The picture above show the Saab 9-5 and the diagnostic tool. In the front of the
vehicle connected to the P-bus can be seen, further back the systems connected
to the I-bus can be seen. Please note how the jig saw pieces fit together.

Note that there is one wire between the diagnostic tool and DICE, and that DICE
is connected to I-bus. The modules ESP TC/ABS, AHL and ABS are connected
with a separate wire, this is called K-line.

The bus communication wires, “bus” is understood to be the leads over which
information is sent digitally as and serially. Digital means that the voltage
difference between the leads if it is a two wire system, has only two values,
roughly 0 V and 5 V. The information is coded so that different combinations of 0
V and 5 V pulses have different meanings. It should be mentioned that there are
busses that use only one wire, in this case the voltage difference between the
wire and “chassis ground” that carries the information. There are also optical
busses were pulses of light carries the information.

Serial means that the information is sent in ”packets” which are transmitted one
after the other in rapid succession.
This is the drawing of how the different ECU’s are connected together by P-bus
and I-bus, please see WIS for further information and explaination od what the
different number means.

In Saab 9-5 all of the car's control modules except ABS, DAH (diesel additional
heater) and AHL (automatic headlamp levelling) are connected to a bus. On cars
with Traction Control or ESP, the TC/ABS or ESP control module is connected to
the P-bus. For different reasons such as the DAH being of a slightly older
generation when first introduced, bus communication was not used. Then, as the
car evolved, the basic concept of a “non bus connected” DAH was kept.
In the Saab 9-5 the bus consists of two different busses, a P-bus (Powertrain
Bus) and an I-bus (Instrument Bus). Both buses are connected to the MIU (Main
Instrument Unit). The MIU is a gateway between the two busses, and translates
P-bus info to the I-bus and vice versa. Not all P-bus information is available on
the I-bus, the MIU only translates the bus messages as instructed by the
software in MIU. The reason for this is that if all P-bus information were to be
translated, the I-bus would be overloaded with information. The buses are
electrically isolated from each other.

The diagnostic tool is not connected directly to the bus but communicates via the
DICE, one of the control modules connected to the I-bus, and so has access to all
control modules connected to the bus. DICE is the gateway between the vehicle
and the diagnostic tool. The communication protocol between DICE and the
diagnostic tool is much slower that the I-bus. The reason for this is also based on
historical reasons, the diagnostic tool was not designed for CAN-bus
communication. So once again, we are “held back” by historical reasons.

The data transfer rate (baud rate) of the P-bus is ten times faster than that of
the I-bus. The reason for this is that the powertrain systems need information
with the least possible delay, as for example when providing air mass
compensation when the selector lever is moved from N to D or torque limitation
in connection with gear changing. Another example is the communication
between ESP (electronic stability control) and ECM (engine control module), in
case of a situation that calls for a reduction or increment in engine torque, the
delay must be shortest possible.

All the information sent from one ECU (electronic control unit) is accessible for all
other ECU’s on the bus. Please note that the word “bus” includes “the complete
bus system”, both P and I-bus) The MIU is responsible for ensuring that
information available on one bus is also available on the other bus, as already
mentioned earlier.

Vehicle speed is important information for many control modules. Because ABS is
not connected to a bus, the vehicle speed signal travels on a lead from ABS to
MIU. MIU then sends the information on vehicle speed over the busses. On cars
with Traction Control or ESP, MIU receives speed information from the TC/ABS or
ESP control module via the P-bus.

The control modules send out information on the bus at regular intervals. The
time between two transmissions depends on the information being sent and
varies between 10 milliseconds (0.010 seconds) and 1 second. Information is
also sent out by the control modules whenever the information changes.

Information is transferred between control modules over two leads, bus+ (green
cable) and bus- (white cable). Both leads of the bus are twisted to reduce
susceptibility to electrical interference.
The bus may be regarded as a two-wire telephone line running between the
ECU’s. Communication is continuous once the ignition ON. With the ignition
switched OFF, a control module that is operative may if necessary awaken the
other control modules. This happens for example when a door is opened and
TWICE, to which the door switches are connected, awakens the others so that
DICE will be able to switch on the interior lighting. This principle has historically
been the source of a lot of problem for car manufactures. When one module
wakes up, other modules wakes up too, the may include modules that are not
involved in the function (interior light for example). And not always “do the shut
up”, and as a result of this it may take unnecessarily long time for the vehicle to
go to sleep again. Anyone see the resemblance between vehicles and children?
Anyway, ECU’s that are awake needs energy to stay awake. A large number of
ECU’s that are awake when the car is not being used, consume energy that
comes from the “car battery”, the drives will notice this when the battery is flat
and the car doesn’t start.

When one of the ECU microprocessors "speaks" all the other control modules
listens and shut up, regardless of whether or not the information is of interest to
them. MIU transfers information between the two buses. This way, information
sent by one control module is available to all control modules connected to the
bus.
With the bus system, analogue signal leads such as those for the turbo/APC
pressure signal for the MIU, and digital signal leads such as those for PWM
throttle position signals and frequency modulated engine speed signals, can be
eliminated and the number of sensors consequently reduced.

The Trionic system (engine management), which is connected to a bus (P-bus),

has a coolant temperature sensor. This means that the temperature of the
coolant is always available to all systems. For this reason, only one coolant
temperature sensor is needed in the car. In the past, a vehicle could have quite a
few coolant temperature sensors or switches, engine management, cooling fan
control, temperature gauge in instrument cluster, A/C high coolant temp inhibit
and so on…

The coolant temperature is used by DICE for controlling the radiator fans (see
illustration), by the MIU for controlling the temperature gauge, and by the ACC
for controlling ventilation fan speed and air distribution during cold starts.
Component 202 in the picture below is the coolant temp sensor, 589 is the
engine management control module.
Basically, the ECU’s connected to a bus are like one big control module with a
number of sensors and a number of actuators. Bus communication may be
regarded as internal control module communication.

This means that an overall view of the car is essential when carrying out fault
diagnosis. A malfunction need not necessarily be caused by a fault in the system
where it seems to be but may very well be caused by a defective sensor in
another system.

Example; air-condition is not cooling down the cabin. With the old fashion way of
designing and thinking, one would suspect something closely related to the AC
control panel, called ACC at Saab. In the A/C system there is a pressure sensor
located on the high pressure side of the A/C system. This sensor is connected to
DICE, and if the pressure is outside limits or invalid the A/C will be inhibited. If
the pressure sensor voltage at the input of DICE is outside its normally possible
operating range DICE will set a DTC (diagnostic trouble code often called just
fault code) So, the people in the car thinks that it is something wrong with the
ACC panel, but it is not. It could be the sensor, oxidized connectors, damaged
wiring harness or possible a defective DICE. (620 is sensor, 628 is DICE)
The illustration above shows the voltage levels measured on the two bus wires.
They are called BUS + and BUS -. Your will also find that they can be called BUS
HIGH and BUS LOW, sometimes CAN BUS HIGH and CAN BUS LOW and some
other more or less “fantastic words”.

An ECU sends a message by transmitting ones (1) and zeros (0) in a defined
combination, this is what forms the “message” or information to be sent. The
ECU sends the message only if no other control module is transmitting. What the
various combinations of ones and zeros mean is determined in advance, in the
bus specifications, so that all ECU’s interpret the information identically. When no
information is sent, a sequence of ones (1) are sent. As soon as an ECU hear a
zero (0) it stops transmitting, if it was sending a message. This mean, if ECU “A”
sends 11110100110111 and ECU B sends 11100100111010, starting at the
same the exact same time, ECU “A” will stop transmitting as soon as it hear ECU
“B” sending its 4th digit. This is how collisions are being avoided.

Electrical interference, such as a voltage spike from a relay coil, will affect the
voltage on both leads in the same direction. The difference in voltage will not be
affected, however, and this makes the bus extremely insensitive to interference.

It will be stated once again, it is the difference between BUS + and BUS – that
defines a one (1) or a zero (0). It is not related to chassis ground.
The two bus leads are supplied with about 2.5 V from each control module. This
is accomplished by means of three resistors connected in series between 5 V and
ground. The middle resistor ensures that the current on bus+ is slightly lower
than that on bus- when no messages are being sent.
When both leads are supplied with about 2.5 V for a certain period of time (2
millionths of a second on the P bus), a one will be transmitted. To transmit a
zero, the control module pulls bus+ almost to 5 V and bus- almost to ground for
an equal period of time.

The timing mentioned above of course depends on the baud rate (communication
speed).

For further description of the Saab 9-5 bus system, please have a look at WIS.

Choose Saab 9-5 model year 2004, Electrical System, Bus and Diagnostic
Communication, then at the top right side of the screen, select the tab with two
sprockets, this is “Technical Description”. Read about “Function Chains”.