Site Information

 Loading... Please wait...

Blog

Teensy 4.1 Triple CAN Bus Board: Bridge Vehicle Networks to the Cloud with Ethernet and CAN FD

Posted by Wilfried Voss on

Teensy 4.1 Triple CAN Bus Board with 240x240 LCD and EthernetModern vehicles rely heavily on Controller Area Network (CAN) systems to manage communication among ECUs, sensors, actuators, and diagnostic modules. As connectivity becomes pervasive—enabling remote diagnostics, over-the-air updates, and fleet management—the need to securely and efficiently bridge CAN bus data to cloud infrastructure becomes critical.

The Teensy 4.1 Triple CAN Bus Board with 240×240 LCD and Ethernet from Copperhill Technologies provides an excellent turnkey platform to do just that. It blends raw performance, multiple CAN interfaces, and networking capabilities into a compact, Arduino-compatible form—ideal for prototyping gateways, dashboards, and intelligent IoT endpoints.


What Makes This Board Special?

Powerful Core

At its heart is the Teensy 4.1 microcontroller, driven by an NXP i.MX RT1062 Arm Cortex-M7 running at 600 MHz—one of the fastest microcontroller platforms in its class. It comes equipped with 1 MB RAM, 2 MB flash, a hardware floating-point unit (FPU), cryptographic acceleration, an RTC, Ethernet support, and microSD slot—all within a small form factor.

Triple CAN Connectivity

The board offers three CAN interfaces:

  • Two channels of CAN 2.0B (Classical CAN)

  • One channel of CAN FD (Flexible Data-rate) for high-speed, modern network support

  • Termination resistors (120 Ω) are included for stable signal integrity.

Built-in Ethernet Networking

An onboard 10/100 Mbps Ethernet PHY with MagJack enables network connectivity for data forwarding, HTTP servers, MQTT clients, or cloud integration. It also works smoothly with Teensyduino-compatible Ethernet libraries such as QNEthernet.

Local Display for Diagnostics

The integrated 1.54” IPS TFT LCD (240×240) offers a convenient interface for local monitoring—perfect for displaying real-time CAN traffic, custom dashboards, or network status.

Robust Power Handling

Designed for field deployment, the board supports:

  • 7–12 V DC input range

  • Onboard switching regulator

  • Reverse-polarity protection

This makes it suitable for automotive or industrial environments.


Use Case: CAN-to-Cloud Gateway

Let’s walk through a prototype project that turns this board into an edge gateway for sending vehicle data to the cloud via MQTT.

1. Hardware Setup

  • Connect your vehicle's CAN bus(es) to the available CAN 2.0B and/or CAN FD ports.

  • Plug in a 12 V power supply via the power jack.

  • Optionally, insert a microSD card for local logging or configurations.

  • Connect the Ethernet cable—or add a USB-to-Ethernet dongle if needed (though the built-in MagJack is preferable).

2. Software Foundation

  • Develop using the Arduino IDE with Teensyduino add-ons.

  • Start with CAN port libraries and LCD display libraries to visualize incoming frames.

  • Use the QNEthernet library or compatible alternatives to enable network connectivity.

  • Include an MQTT client (e.g., PubSubClient) for cloud communication.

  • For simpler prototyping, build a lightweight HTTP server to fetch stats via REST.

3. Functional Flow

  1. Frame Capture – Read incoming CAN messages, parse identifiers, flags, and payload.

  2. Visual Feedback – Show live diagnostics on the LCD (message count, error frames, etc.).

  3. Local Storage (optional) – Log raw or filtered CAN data to microSD.

  4. Network Transmission – Format payloads (e.g., JSON) and publish to MQTT topics.

  5. Cloud Handling – Use a broker like AWS IoT, Azure IoT Hub, or Mosquitto to consume data for dashboarding or analytics.

  6. OTA & Secure Updates – Enhance with firmware signing and remote update capabilities.


Benefits at a Glance

Feature Advantage
Multiple CAN Ports Monitor and bridge legacy and modern CAN networks simultaneously
High-Speed MCU Enables real-time processing, encryption, and display updates
Ethernet Access Reliable, low-latency network transport ideal for gateways
Display & Storage Enhances usability with local feedback and data logging
Rugged Power Design Suitable for deployment in vehicles, factories, or marine setups
Arduino-Compatible Fast development cycle using familiar tools and libraries

Advanced Ideas & Expansion

  • Edge Filtering & Aggregation – Filter messages or compute aggregate metrics before sending to reduce bandwidth usage.

  • Secure Communications – Add TLS for MQTT over Ethernet; leverage MCU's crypto unit for signing.

  • Dual Connectivity – Combine Wi-Fi or cellular modules for hybrid connectivity—especially useful for remote assets.

  • Cloud Dashboards – Drive real-time visualizations in Grafana, Node-RED, or custom dashboards via MQTT.

  • OTA Firmware Upgrades – Support remote field updates to add features or patch. (Note: implement secure signed firmware.)


Final Thoughts

Bridging field-level CAN systems to cloud-native environments is a growing requirement across industries—automotive diagnostics, industrial automation, fleet management, and marine systems. The Teensy 4.1 Triple CAN Bus Board with 240×240 LCD and Ethernet from Copperhill Technologies stands out as an all-in-one, high-performance solution tailored for this very purpose.

Its combination of multiple CAN interfaces, robust Ethernet networking, on-device diagnostics, and power-hardened design makes it ideal for rapid prototyping and deployment in mission-critical IoT systems.


Arduino IoT Cloud for DevelopersArduino IoT Cloud for Developers: Implement best practices to design and deploy simple-to-complex projects at reduced costs

The Arduino IoT Cloud offers a comprehensive set of tools for developing modern IoT solutions, significantly reducing both prototyping time and deployment costs. This book serves as a step-by-step guide to mastering the powerful Arduino IoT Cloud ecosystem.

You’ll start with an introduction to the IoT landscape—covering architecture, communication technologies, and key protocols—before exploring the capabilities of the Arduino IoT Cloud platform and the Cloud Editor. Through practical, hands-on projects such as monitoring air quality, building a portable asset tracker, and creating a remote alarm system using the LoRaWAN specification, you’ll learn to implement real-world IoT applications.

From there, you’ll dive into device-to-cloud communication, integrating the Arduino IoT Cloud SDK, and using JavaScript for advanced customization. You’ll learn to program IoT nodes, capture and analyze environmental data, and visualize it on dashboards. The book also covers advanced capabilities including task scheduling, device synchronization, remote over-the-air (OTA) updates, and scripting with CCLI—each explained through practical examples.

By the end, you’ll be equipped to work confidently with the Arduino IoT Cloud platform and compatible hardware, enabling you to create industry-ready, cost-effective IoT solutions for applications such as smart homes, precision agriculture, and beyond. More information...

The Teensy Series of Processor Modules: A Versatile Platform for Embedded Systems

The Teensy series of processor modules is a family of compact, high-performance microcontroller boards developed by PJRC. These boards are widely recognized for their small form factor, powerful processing capabilities, and extensive I/O support, making them an ideal choice for a variety of embedded systems applications, including robotics, audio processing, and IoT (Internet of Things) [...]

Read More »


PiCAN CAN Bus HATs - Powerful and Versatile Add-Ons for the Raspberry Pi

The PiCAN series of boards are widely recognized as powerful and versatile add-ons for the Raspberry Pi, enabling seamless integration with the Controller Area Network (CAN) bus. Originally developed for automotive applications, the CAN bus has become a standard communication protocol in industries such as industrial automation, robotics, and healthcare due to its robustness and efficiency. [...]

Read More »


ESP32: CAN Bus Programming with MCP2515 and MCP2517FD

For good reasons, the ESP32 processor is a prevalent choice for embedded hardware development. Besides considerable memory resources, it provides various hardware features for many applications, most prominently the Internet of Things (IoT). All that comes with more than reasonable price tags, specifically when you use one of the multiple ESP32 development modules. And since [...]

Read More »


Arduino Uno R4 Combines CAN Bus Port with IoT Capabilities

The  Arduino UNO R4 WiFi combines the RA4M1 microprocessor from Renesas with the ESP32-S3 from Espressif, forming an all-in-one tool for engineers with improved processing power and a diverse array of new peripherals. With built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth abilities, the UNO R4 WiFi allows makers to launch into unlimited innovative opportunities. Likewise, this universal board boasts a [...]

Read More »


ESP32 Project: USB to Bluetooth Gateway

The ESP32 processor allows the integration of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Bluetooth LE (BLE) for a wide range of IoT (Internet of Things) applications. Using Wi-Fi ensures connectivity within a large radius. At the same time, Bluetooth allows the user to easily detect (with low-energy beacons) a module and connect it to an Android/iOS smartphone or [...]

Read More »


IoT-Enabled Control, Data Logger, and Data Transmission Platform with CAN Bus Interface

The RapidM2M C3 by Microtronics represents a control, data logger, and data transmission platform with IoT capabilities, suitable for remote control, automation, and control tasks in industrial automation. The device includes a PLC (Programmable Logic Controller), router, firewall, and data transmission to a web platform. Process-related requirements are pre-configured, minimizing the solution integration effort. Data from analog sensors [...]

Read More »


Arduino-Compatible Microsoft Azure Certified IoT Development Kit with Visual Studio Code Support

This Microsoft Azure Certified IoT DevKit (IOT-AZ3166) is an all-in-one kit optimized for prototyping and developing Internet of Things (IoT) applications leveraging Microsoft Azure services. It supplies an Arduino-compatible board with multiple peripherals such as an OLED display, sensors, hardware debugging chip (ST-Link), and security chip. The project collection offers creative examples for learning and reference, plus [...]

Read More »


Raspberry Pi Compute Module With CAN FD for Automation and IoT Applications

Kontron announced the release of their Pi-Tron CM4 computer with Linux OS, which utilizes the fourth-generation Raspberry Pi compute module with the 1,5-GHz, 64-bit Broadcom BCM2711 chip and four Arm Cortex-A72 processors. The computer’s steel housing allows for universal use, e.g., for automation and IoT (Internet of Things) applications. Depending on the variant, it provides a 1-GiB, 2-GB, [...]

Read More »


A New Generation of SAE J1939 Gateway, ECU Simulator, and Starter Kit

Like many other businesses, we have to deal with the global shortage of electronic components. For instance, the NXP LPC 17xx processors we used for our SAE J1939 gateways and the starter kit are not available at this time. Even worse, there is no reliable information if/when production resumes. This situation forced us to rethink [...]

Read More »