LIN standards and specifications

LIN (Local Interconnect Network) is a serial bus system. Since 2016, it is standardized internationally by ISO. The ISO 17987 series covers the requirements of the seven OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) layers and the corresponding conformance test plans. There is also a powerline transmission standardized:

• ISO 17987-1:2016: Road vehicles – LIN – Part 1: General information and use case definition
• ISO 17987-2:2016: Road vehicles – LIN – Part 2: Transport protocol and network layer services
• ISO 17987-3:2016: Road vehicles – LIN – Part 3: Protocol specification
• ISO 17987-4:2016: Road vehicles – LIN – Part 4: Electrical physical layer (EPL) specification 12 V/24 V
• ISO TR 17987-5:2016: Road vehicles – LIN – Part 5: Application programmers interface (API)
• ISO 17987-6:2016: Road vehicles – LIN – Part 6: Protocol conformance test specification
• ISO 17987-7:2016: Road vehicles – LIN – Part 7: EPL conformance test specification
• ISO 17987-8:2019: Road vehicles – LIN – Part 8: Electrical physical layer (EPL) specification: LIN over DC powerline (DC-LIN)

The ISO 17987-1 to ISO 17987-7 documents are currently under revision. ISO TC22 SC31 WG3 updates the documents on to be inline with the ISO inclusive language rules (“commander” instead of “master” and “responder” instead of “slave”). Additional editorial improvements will be introduced, too. It could be that some of the recommendations given in the SAE J2602 series will be submitted and accepted for the new edition of the ISO 17987 documents.

Additionally, the SAE organization provides the J2602 series of recommended practices, how to implement LIN. These documents are under review and will reference the ISO 17987 series.

• SAE J2602/1: LIN Network for Vehicle Applications
• SAE J2602/2: LIN Network for Vehicle Applications Conformance Test
• SAE J2602/3: File Structures for a Node Capability File (NCF)

Brief history of LIN

The LIN Consortium developed the first LIN specification, which was published as version 1.3. Version 2.0 was released in 2003. In 2006, the LIN Consortium published the version 2.1, which can be download here.

The LIN version 2.2A from 2010 was released after the LIN consortium was closed, but it is one of the most implemented versions. You can download it here.

In parallel, the SAE organization developed the J2602 series; it was published in 2004. The in 2012 updated documents are based on LIN version 2.0.