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Design and implementation of the CAN based

elevator control system
CONFERENCE PAPER DECEMBER 2009
DOI: 10.1109/ICAT.2009.5348404 Source: IEEE Xplore

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Design and Implementation of the CAN Based

Elevator Control System
Senad Huseinbegovic

Sead Kreso

Omer Tanovic

Department for Automatic Control

and Electronics
Faculty of Electrical Engineering,
Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina
senad.huseinbegovic@etf.unsa.ba

Department for Automatic Control

and Electronics
Faculty of Electrical Engineering,
Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina
sarfo@bih.net.ba

Department for Automatic Control

and Electronics
Faculty of Electrical Engineering,
Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina
omer.tanovic@etf.unsa.ba

Abstract In this paper we present a design and implementation

of a modern elevator control system. The conventional elevator
control system has several disadvantages (complicated circuits, a
large number of wires, sensitivity to noise, low level security, etc).
An alternative to conventional elevator control systems is a
distributed elevator control system. This paper describes a
network-based elevator control system via Controller Area
Network (CAN). We will show the design of a CAN network with
message scheduling. This paper presents the results obtained
from the experiment on a real model, i.e. the CAN based elevator
control system.
Keywords- elevator control system; controller area network;
message scheduling; message response time;

I.

INTRODUCTION

In recent years, with the development of architecture

technology, buildings are taller and taller and elevators become
important vertical transportation vehicles in high-rise buildings.
The traditional elevator control system is a relay-controlled
system. It has several disadvantages like: complicated circuits,
large number of wires, sensitivity to noise, low level security.
They all greatly affect the elevators running quality etc.
An alternative to traditional elevator control systems is a
control system based on PLC or a distributed elevator control
system. In [1], the basic structure, the control principle and the
realization method of an elevator control system based on a
PLC were given.
The complexity and physical distribution of modern activesafety automotive applications requires the use of distributed
architectures. A typical example is the elevator control system.
The distributed elevator control system replaced the centralized
control system based on PLC, and became the dominant
equipment for microprocessor-based system automation in the
last 10 years. A distributed elevator control system comprises
several independent intelligent control units/modules/stations.
Control
units
can
be
realized
with
single
microcontroller/microprocessor units, PLC, embedded
computer or PC [2]-[6]. A current trend in the industry of

978-1-4244-4221-8/09/$25.00 2009 IEEE

elevator systems is to design distributed control of the elevator

system based on a microcontroller, microprocessor or FPGA.
This paper introduces the basic structure of a CAN based
elevator control system and basic design principles of the
CAN network. The results presented in this paper were
obtained via an experimental model.
II.

ARCHITECTURE OF A DISTRIBUTED ELEVATOR

CONTROL SYSTEM

A distributed elevator control system is created from

several independent control units and communication
networks. The control units are based on a microcontroller, and
the communications networks are based on Profibus,
DeviceNet, CAN or Modbus. In the distributed elevator control
system presented in this paper the CAN network was used,
which is the most frequently used network in the area of low
level control [4][6][8].
Fig.1. shows a CAN based elevator control system,
proposed by the authors. The basic components of the elevator
control system are: CU Elevator, CU Cabin and CU Floor (CU
stands for Control Unit).
The elevator consists of a single/double cabin with 64
floors. On each floor there is a request button, a control light
and a display for the direction indication and the current
position of the elevator cabin. The sensors for the current
position and the acceleration/deceleration of the elevator cabin
are located on each floor. The cabin has a single/double door,
which can be opened/closed automatically or manually. Two
sensors inform the control system about the door position. An
optical sensor can detect objects while the door is closing. In
the elevator cabin there is a panel with request button, control
light and a display for the direction indication and the current
position of the cabin. The elevator cabin engine moves the
cabin up and down.

Figure 3. Flowchart for transmitting and receiving messages

In this paper we will focus only on the CAN identifier field

which is the basis for message scheduling on the CAN network
[10].

Figure 1. CAN based elevator control system

III.

DESIGN OF CAN BASED ELEVATOR CONTROL SYSTEM

A. Overview of CAN
The Controller Area Network (CAN) was developed in the
1980s to connect microprocessor modules in automotive
vehicles [7]-[9]. The CAN network is specified as a serial bus,
with variable length data field of 0-8 bytes and a baud rate
from 5Kbps to 1Mbps. The network topology can be either
linear or star. Data are transmitted and received using message
frames that carry data from a transmitting CU to one or more
receiving CUs. Fig 2. shows the format frame of a CAN
message. A message format begins with the start bit (start of
frame - SOF) and finishes with the end bit (end of frame EOF). Between SOF and EOF bits, there are 6 fields for
standard format of message (Fig.2,a) or 9 fields for extended
format of message (Fig.2,b). The standard format uses 11-bit
identifiers, and the extended format uses 29-bit identifiers.

(a)

(b)
Figure 2. CAN message: (a) standard format (b) extended format

B. Design of CAN based elevator control system

The flowchart of possible transmitting and receiving of
messages for elevator control system is shown in Fig 3. It
consists of three types of CAN messages, denoted green,
yellow and red color due to their relative importance. The red
messages have highest priority while the green messages have
lowest priority.
The CAN protocol is optimized for short messages. The
messages that can be exchanged between the CUs of a
distributed elevator control system are listed in Table 1.
TABLE I.

LIST OF MESSAGES FOR A CAN BASED ELEVATOR CONTROL

SYSTEM

Message
Status of module
Hall call
Status of module
Cabin in extreme position
Deceleration/Acceleration of
Cabin
Cabin on the floor
Revision instructions
Floor serviced
Cabin call

Transmitter
CU Floor
CU Floor
CU Cabin
CU Cabin

Receiver
CU Elevator
CU Elevator
CU Elevator
CU Elevator

CU Cabin

CU Elevator

CU Cabin
CU Cabin
CU Cabin
CU Cabin

Call for status

CU Elevator

CU Elevator
CU Elevator
CU Elevator
CU Elevator
CU Cabin
CU Elevator
CU Cabin
CU Elevator
CU Cabin
CU Elevator
CU Cabin
CU Elevator
CU Cabin
CU Elevator

Setting mode

CU Elevator

Indicating current position of

Cabin

CU Elevator

Indicating direction of Cabin

CU Elevator

Service floor

CU Elevator

There are different ways of organizing messages on a CAN

network. The identifier field of each message of the CU defines
the priority of the message to access the network. Messages
may be periodic or sporadic. In this paper we presented only
sporadic messages, with the exception of a message ''Call for
status which can be periodic with a period e.g. 1 hour.
The total number of bits in a CAN messages is:

8s + g + 10

(1)

where s is the number of bytes in a data field and g+10 is the

number of bits in the control fields of the CAN message. In
standard format CAN messages value of g is 34 bits [x].
Control and data fields of the CAN message (SOF,
IDENTIFIER, RTR, CONTROL, DATA, CRC) are coded
using the bit stuffing method. Whenever the transmitter detects
five consecutive bits of identical value in the bit-stream to be
transmitted, it automatically inserts a complementary bit in the
actual transmitted bit-stream. The total number of bits after bitstuffing can be no more than:

g + 8s 1
8s + g + 10 +
.
4

Figure 6. Organizing of the identifier of a message for module ''CU Cabin''

(2)

For s = 0 and g = 34, the maximal number of bits in CAN

messages is 52 bits.
The worst-case time taken to transmit a given message is
therefore:

g + 8s 1
Tm = 8s + g + 10 +
bit ,
4

(3)

where bit is the worst-case time necessary to transmit a bit on

the network (bit time).
C. Message scheduling
Message priority is given by the message identifier. The
identifier with the lowest binary number has the highest
priority. Message identifiers are organized into two sub-fields
(Fig.4). The first sub-field of the identifier defines the
transmitter type (CU Elevator, CU Cabin or CU Floor).
Remaining fields are organized depending on the type of
module, Figs. 5-7.

Figure 7. Organizing of the identifier of a message for module ''CU Floor''

IV.

IMPLEMENTATION AND RESULTS

Implemented experimental model is shown in Fig.8. In

experimental model, one CU Elevator, one CU Cabin and
three CU Floor units are connected to the CAN network. The
transmission speed of the CAN network is set to 125 kbps (bit
time bit is 8s). A microcontroller PIC 18F458 is used as the
CAN communication module, and a device MCP2551 is used
as the CAN transceiver between modules.

Figure 4. Organizing of the identifier of a CAN message

Figure 5. Organizing of the identifier of a message for module ''CU

Elevator''

Figure 8. The experimental model of the CAN based elevator control system

The experimental model of the CAN based elevator control

system can be used in real elevator applications. This
experimental model was made for the purpose of evaluation of
feasibility and the performance of our distributed elevator
system. Figs. 9-22 show the oscilloscope reading of the
message exchange between transmitter and receiver on the
CAN. All readings were performed on Logic Analyzer
HP54620C. All messages recorded on the network comply
with the real situation. Table 2 shows the values of the
identifier for all messages as well as the message duration time
on the network and the number of stuffing bits. It can be seen
from the table 2 that the maximum number of stuffing bits is 3
which is less than the number of stuffing bits assumed in (2).
This is achieved by taking care of the distribution of bit values
within the message.

Figure 9. Message transmission on the CAN network for Status of module

(Floor 2)

Figure 10. Message transmission on the CAN network for Hall Call 5.
floor

Figure 12. Message transmission on the CAN network for Acceleration of

Cabin

Figure 13. Message transmission on the CAN network for Cabin on the
floor

Figure 14. Message transmission on the CAN network for Revision

instruction

Figure 15. Message transmission on the CAN network for Floor serviced
Figure 11. Message transmission on the CAN network for Cabin in extreme
position

Figure 16. Message transmission on the CAN network for Cabin call 2.
floor

Figure 20. Message transmission on the CAN network for Indicating

direction of 1. Cabin

Figure 17. Message transmission on the CAN network for Call for status

Figure 21. Message transmission on the CAN network for Service floor

TABLE II.

IDENTIFIER VALUE AND WORST-CASE TIME OF MESSAGE

TRANSMITING

Message

Figure 18. Message transmission on the CAN network for Setting mode

Status of module
Hall call
Cabin in extreme
position
Deceleration/Acceler
ation of cabin
Cabin on the floor
Revision instructions
Floor serviced
Cabin call
Call for status
Setting mode
Indicating current
position of cabin
Indicating direction
of cabin
Service floor

6F4
7E9

Length of
message
[s]
376
368

Number of
stuffing bits
[bits]
3
2

40

376

BF

368

C0
103
140
1BD
401
490

368
376
368
368
376
376

2
3
2
2
3
3

539

368

59F

376

4C0

368

ID
[HEX]

CONCLUSION
Figure 19. Message transmission on the CAN network for Indicating current
position of 1. Cabin

One of the main goals of the CAN network presented in

this paper is minimum-bit-message length usage. The reason
for this is the significant impact of message transmission time
on safety of the elevator system. An 11-bit identifier without
data field has been used for organization and scheduling of
messages.
The experimental results allow to conclude that the
messages defined in this paper completely fulfill all conditions

for work in a real system. At a transmission speed of 125 Kbps

the longest message lasts 376 s. For elevators which travel at
4m/s the height that the elevator passes during a message
transmission is about 1,55mm which is within the allowed
range of 6mm [12]. This relates to the case where no collision
on the network occurred. In case of a collision this height has a
higher value. This case will be considered during further
research. The disadvantage of this concept is the limited
number of floors (maximum number of 64 floors) and cabins
(maximum number of 2 cabins). This will also be considered
during further research.
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[2]
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[4]

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