> Hey all. For the long distance communication requirements of my
> project, I will be using the CAN bus. However, I will also have a
> central node which will consist of approximately 5 - 10
> microcontrollers on one PCB or a set of PCBs linked together with a
> short bus cable (same type as IDE cable in your computer).
>
> What would be the best bus to use in this situation? (For the node
> that is, not over long distances) I don't need blazing fast speeds.
> The bus needs to be multi master to allow for any microcontroller on
> the bus to talk at any point (when the bus isn't busy, that is).

Perhaps you need to rethink the architecture, connect all the
microcontrollers individually to some central microcontroller over
serial lines, and let the central microcontroller handle all the
routing. Have a look at land-line phone service architecture for
example. The philosophy of "common bus" is not  necessarily the best
for every project.
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