CANopen News and Products

All Versions of MicroCANopen Now Support Automated Code Generation

Wed, 14 Feb 2007 07:26:00 GMT

Embedded Systems Academy, Inc. has extended it's MicroCANopen product line to fully support C source files, generated automatically from CANopen Electronic Datasheets and Device Configuration Files. By using the CANopen Architect EDS tool (<a href="http://www.canopenstore.com/pip/canopenarchitecteds">http://www.canopenstore.com/pip/canopenarchitecteds</a>) EDS and DCF files can be created and edited. Once development of the file is complete C source files can be automatically generated by the tool. The source files are compiled and linked with a CANopen stack to configure the behavior of the CANopen node. All versions of MicroCANopen now support the C sources files generated by CANopen Architect EDS, including the free educational and low cost versions of MicroCANopen (www.canopenstore.com/pip/microcanopen). By combining the low-cost MicroCANopen stack with CANopen Architect EDS, it is now possible to rapidly generate a large number of different firmware configurations for CANopen-compliant nodes. Prices for the combined package start at just $794. For more information on MicroCANopen, please see www.microcanopen.com. If you have any questions, please contact us.

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Impressions from the 11th international CAN Conference (iCC), September 26-28, Stockholm (Sweden), by Olaf Pfeiffer, ESAcademy

Wed, 27 Sep 2006 07:32:00 GMT

This year's iCC started with a day of workshops providing newcomers to CAN and CANopen with introductory information. The most popular workshop was the three-hour hands-on introduction to CANopen conducted by the Embedded Systems Academy. Using the simulation environment CANopen Magic ProDS the participants were able to immediately practice newly learned CANopen features. In another workshop about testing procedures Bruce Decker from Schneider Automation pointed out that a CANopen device may be incompatible to others if used "near their limits". CANopen does not specify acceptable processing times or timeouts so these are always device specific. For example, a device requiring a 4 milliseconds processing time for a certain signal will simply not function as intended if that signal is received every 3 milliseconds. In order to help with the evaluation of the physical limits of a CANopen node, ESAcademy has developed the PCANopen Inspector Test Suite. The Inspector stress-tests CANopen devices to determine their maximal response and signal processing times. The conference itself features eight sessions focusing at various CAN and CANopen topics. Topics with a continuous rise in interest include hubs, bridges and gateways. With distributed control becoming increasingly common in various applications it becomes more important to find solutions that deal with growing applications having more than 127 nodes and with the interconnection between different networks. A recent development confirming this trend is a new CANopen automotive standard for a CANopen gateway to the internal car networks. The gateway will be used for car add-on devices like the third-party electronics used in taxis, emergency vehicles and police cars. So far suppliers to these markets had to deal with different standards for accessing information on the vehicle's own internal network. Goal of the standardization is to provide a common, CANopen-based interface through which suppliers can get information from the car's build-in electronics, such as current speed, RPM, etc. Members of the standardization committee include GM/Opel, Audi, BMW, WM and several suppliers of car electronics. As a result of the standardization, future cars will be available with a 'CANopen' option to provide selected access to the car's internal networks.

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CANopen News and Products Message

Tue, 29 Nov 2005 07:13:00 GMT

CANopen Architect EDS Our new Electronic Datasheet (EDS) and Device Configuration File (DCF) editor for CANopen is now available! Create your own EDS files and DCFs from scratch or edit an existing file. The easy to use interface makes it simple! Creating EDS files are a must if you wish to sell your product for integration into other CANopen networks. Using DCFs is important in networks that use Configuration Managers. CANopen Architect EDS also includes the ability to run checker tools, allowing quick verification of file correctness. To learn more about this low cost tool, including a full list of features along with screenshots, visit the CANopen Store at <a href="http://www.canopenstore.com/pip/canopenarchitecteds">http://www.canopenstore.com/pip/canopenarchitecteds</a> regards, The CANopen Store Team

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CANopen News and Updates

Fri, 09 Sep 2005 15:27:00 GMT

PRODUCT NEWS Updates to PCANopen Magic Pro and PCANopen Magic ProDS with bug fixes and tweaks are now available. Existing customers within the support period can download their copies by going to <a href="http://www.canopenstore.com/support">http://www.canopenstore.com/support</a> and entering their activation code. BETA TESTERS WANTED We are looking for beta testers for our upcoming Electronic Datasheet editor, called CANopen Architect EDS. We anticipate that beta versions will be available towards the end of September. Testers must be actively involved or looking to be immediately involved in using and editing EDS files. Participation is limited, and beta testers submitting feedback may qualify for a free copy of the first release. FAVORITE CANOPEN APPLICATIONS The Electric Motor Glider Antares - <a href="http://www.lange-flugzeugbau.de/english/menu/menu-prod.htm">http://www.lange-flugzeugbau.de/english/menu/menu-prod.htm</a> The CANopen network in this plane has a total of 4 nodes and is used to control the retractable propeller powered by a brushless AC motor. The lever used for control is a CANopen angle transducer by Novotechnik. Using a lithium-ion battery system the Antares can climb a total of 3000m (9000ft) with one charge without thermal lift (which is a glider's natural way of climbing). Note that products featured in the Favorite CANopen Applications section are not sold or endorsed by Embedded Systems Academy, Inc. TOOL TIPS The PCANopen Magic professional line of products also offers access through the command line and batch files. The following is an example of a batch file that verifies if nodes 1, 2 and 3 are present in the network and if they are, they are switched to operational. If used with PCANopen Magic Pro, create a file chknet_a.bat in Program Files\PCANopen Magic Pro\Batches and copy the following into the file (for example using Notepad) @ECHO OFF REM PCANopen Magic script to verify if nodes 1, 2 and 3 are present REM If they are present, send all nodes to operational ECHO ############################################ ECHO ##### PCANopen Magic Script - CHKNET A ##### ECHO ############################################ REM Second, check for nodes 1 to 3 :STARTOVER ..\pcomagicpro "HARDWARE(PEAK USB-CAN,COP125) ODREAD(1,0x1000,0,n1_type.bin) ODREAD(2,0x1000,0,n2_type.bin) ODREAD(3,0x1000,0,n3_type.bin)" IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO ERRNODES ECHO ##### Nodes 1, 2 and 3 are present, now start all nodes ..\pcomagicpro "HARDWARE(PEAK USB-CAN,COP125) NMT(0,START)" GOTO ALLDONE :ERRNODES ECHO ##### Error - Not all nodes were found! ECHO ##### Reseting all nodes now, press any key to try again... ..\pcomagicpro "HARDWARE(PEAK USB-CAN,COP125) NMT(0,RESET)" PAUSE GOTO STARTOVER :ALLDONE ECHO ##### Script ended ECHO ############################################

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