Editing Local Interconnect Network (section)

== LIN hardware ==
The LIN specification was designed to allow very cheap hardware-nodes being used within a network. It is a low-cost, single-wire network based on [[On-board diagnostics|ISO 9141]].<ref>[http://www.lin-subbus.de/index.php?pid=4&lang=en LIN Technical Overview] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719054953/http://www.lin-subbus.de/index.php?pid=4&lang=en |date=2011-07-19 }}</ref> In today’s car networking topologies, microcontrollers with either [[Universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter|UART]] capability or dedicated LIN hardware are used.
The microcontroller generates all needed LIN data (protocol ...) (partly) by software and is connected to the LIN network via a LIN [[transceiver]] (simply speaking, a level shifter with some add-ons). Working as a LIN node is only part of the possible functionality.
The LIN hardware may include this transceiver and works as a pure LIN node without added functionality.

As LIN Slave nodes should be as cheap as possible, they may generate their internal clocks by using [[RC oscillator]]s instead of [[crystal oscillator]]s (quartz or a ceramic).
To ensure the [[baud]] rate-stability within one LIN frame, the SYNC field within the header is used.