Accelerating SENT Troubleshooting and Debug Using an Oscilloscope

The SENT (Single Edge Nibble Transmission) bus continues to gain acceptance across the automotive industry and is widely used to transmit high-resolution readings from powertrain sensors to an electronic control unit (ECU). SENT is formally specified by SAE International and is often referred to as SAE-J2716. As with most automotive serial protocols such as CAN and LIN, it is a low- cost, noise-immune system; however, SENT differs from the other standards as it is a fairly lightweight, high-speed, point-to-point, one-way protocol specifically designed for real-time feedback from critical operational measurement sensors.