CANifier: CAN Controller w/ Sensor Nodes

Modern racecars carry dozens of distributed sensors that all need to share state in real time. Wiring each one back to a central controller is a fast path to a chassis wrapped in spaghetti, which is why CAN bus exists and why every node on a CAN system should be small, generic, and bulletproof. CANifier is Formula Electric Berkeley's answer to that. The board pairs an STM32 with an automotive-grade CAN transceiver and onboard power regulation, and exposes I2C, UART, SPI, GPIO, and a 12-bit ADC channel through a universal sensor connector, so almost any sensor can drop in behind a single PCB. The four-layer layout uses differential CAN routing with configurable split termination and automotive-rated connectors, and ships with companion breakout boards for an IMU, a GPS receiver, and a full-bridge strain gauge analog frontend. With distributed CANifier nodes packing sensor measurements into prioritized frames on the shared 24V low-voltage bus, the car gets a fault-tolerant interface between distributed sensors and the rest of the system, with far less wiring and far fewer one-off boards than a point-to-point alternative.

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