Basically put, LIN is a single-wire serial communications protocol. The protocol is based on the common UART interface, which is available on most micro-controllers and is extremely affordable. Further more, it can be easily implemented as an equivalent in software. A LIN network is comprised of a LIN Master, and at least one LIN Slave. The master requests data from the slaves by using a chronological schedule. Because only one LIN message is transmitted at any given point in time, and because all messages to be transmitted are sent within one cycle, it is impossible for data collisions to occur. Thus no arbitration or collision management in the slave nodes is required.

Another feature of LIN is its timing and synchronization methods. The synchronization mechanism allows the clock recovery by slave nodes without the need of a quartz or ceramics resonator. Because of the requirements of clock synchronization, along with further EMC (Electromagnetic Compatibility) requirements, the maximum transmission speed is limitted to 20 kbit/s.

For most applications, 20kbit/s provides a sufficient amount of speed. This combined with the clock synchronization, simplicity of UART communication, and the single-wire serial communication medium are the major factors for the cost efficiency of LIN.

The LIN Consortium Website outlines the key features of LIN: