Test and Development of the CAN peripheral in SPC58NN84x 32-bit Power Architecture microcontroller

In a world increasingly driven by smart technology, embedded systems are the quiet heroes behind the scenes—powering everything from cars to industrial machines. This thesis dives into one such system: the SPC58NN84x microcontroller, a powerful chip designed for automotive applications. At the heart of the project is the Controller Area Network (CAN), a communication protocol that allows different parts of a vehicle to talk to each other reliably and efficiently. The journey begins with a hands-on exploration of how to bring this microcontroller to life. Using a combination of hardware boards, UART modules, and diagnostic tools like logic analyzers and debuggers, I built a test environment to evaluate how the CAN peripheral behaves under different conditions. I developed a bare-metal application—essentially programming the microcontroller from scratch—to send and receive messages, control LEDs, and interact with a PC through UART commands. But the project didn’t stop there. Recognizing the growing need for scalable and maintainable software, I took the first steps toward integrating the Micrium real-time operating system (RTOS). This involved creating an abstraction layer that mimics the bare-metal functions but is designed to work within the structure of an operating system. While still a work in progress, this layer lays the foundation for future development and more complex applications. Throughout the thesis, I used a mix of visual feedback (like blinking LEDs), signal analysis, and software debugging to validate the system’s performance. The result is a flexible, testable, and expandable platform that not only proves the functionality of the CAN peripheral but also opens the door to more advanced RTOS-based solutions. This work is more than just a technical exercise—it’s a stepping stone toward smarter, more efficient embedded systems.