Shared-Clock (SC) architectures based on the Controller Area Network (CAN) protocol have been inherently
plagued by flexibility and fault-management issues since they were introduced. The easiest way out of such issues
is to adopt the more flexible/fault-manageable but expensive protocols such as the Time-Triggered Protocol (TTP)
and FlexRay. Looking at the cost-effective nature of CAN and its widespread use, we started working on making
such SC architectures more flexible and fault-manageable on embedded level as demonstrated by our previous work
“Improving flexibility and fault-management in CAN-based “Shared-Clock” architectures”, published in ELSEVIER
Journal of Microprocessors and Microsystems (Volume 37, 2013, issue 1, pages 9-23). In this paper, we intend to
show that the use of a Port Guardian (PG) mechanism can also improve fault-management on system’s level.