Probabilistic response time bound for CAN messages with arbitrary deadlines

The controller area network (CAN) is widely used in industrial and the automotive domain and in this context often for hard real-time applications. Formal methods guide the designer to give worst-case guarantees on timing. However, due to bit errors on the communication channel response times can be delayed due to retransmissions. Some methods exist to cover these effects, but are limited e.g. (support only periodic real-time traffic). In this paper we generalize existing methods to support arbitrary deadlines, and derive a probabilistic response time bound which is especially useful with the emergence of the new automotive safety standard ISO 26262.