Comprehensive CANopen development tool - CANopen software stack

01

Quick introduction to CANopen protocol

CANopen is a communication protocol for the CAN bus that defines a set of standard communication objects and communication services, allowing different devices to communicate and interact. The development of the CANopen protocol stack can be traced back to the early 1990s, when some industrial automation companies in Europe began to use the CAN bus as a communication protocol for industrial control systems. In order to better manage and control devices on the CAN bus, these companies began to develop the CANopen protocol stack and released the first version in 1994. It was published and formulated by CAN in Automation (CiA), a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the application and development of the CAN bus and the CANopen protocol stack. CiA was founded in 1992 and is headquartered in Germany. It has become one of the largest CANopen protocol stack organizations in the world.

At present, the CANopen protocol has become one of the most commonly used communication protocols in the field of industrial automation, and is widely used in the fields of robots, automated production lines, power systems, transportation, etc. At the same time, the CANopen protocol stack is also constantly developing and improving, and new versions and functions are constantly being introduced to meet the needs of different fields.

Mengtong Technology has nearly ten years of technical accumulation and implementation experience in the field of fieldbus solutions. Due to the objective fact that the domestic demand for fieldbus is increasing year by year and there are indeed few specialized industrial communication engineers, Mengtong Technology now provides CANopen protocol stack development solutions and technical support to customers in need.

▲CANopen product development matrix diagram

02

Mengtong CANopen protocol stack products

CANopen Master/Slave complies with the CANopen specifications of CiA 301 and CiA 302-2 published by CiA, which can cover most of the CANopen communication requirements. In addition, we also provide a variety of standard expansion function modules that may be required when using CANopen technology in controllers, mechanical equipment or automated factories.

CANopen Master/Slave is a protocol stack written in ANSI-C CANopen source code, compliant with MISRA-C. In addition, we have made further optimizations for your development. We provide a specific tool "CANopen Device Designer" to support the configuration and expansion of the protocol stack. It has a comfortable user interface, clear development steps, and detailed function configuration to help you quickly develop the CANopen protocol.

▲CANopen Device Designer

We also provide CANopen FD Master/Slave protocol stack. CAN-FD is a new generation protocol in CAN communication, with faster transmission rate and more data capacity. CiA has specified the protocol standard of CANopen FD - CiA 1301 specification. Our protocol stack fully complies with this specification, helping customers to quickly develop a more powerful CANopen FD protocol.

We also provide sub-protocols of the CANopen protocol stack. CiA has developed some industry standards for different branch industries, which are the sub-protocols of CANopen. These sub-protocols play a good guiding role in the branch industries, allowing each manufacturer to produce equipment according to the standards of the sub-protocols, so as to facilitate intercommunication with other manufacturers' equipment. Among them, the manufacturer's CiA 401, CiA 402 and other sub-protocols are not only used as industry standards in CANopen communication. They can also be seen in industrial buses such as EtherCAT.

03

CANopen protocol stack auxiliary tools

Mengtong Technology CANopen protocol stack not only provides the protocol stack product itself, but also releases a variety of supporting products, among which CANopen Device Explorer occupies an important position.

In the process of CAN/CANopen product development, data analysis is a very critical part. Data frame analysis software is like a universal tool at work. It can not only capture CAN data packets, but also assist in analyzing data functions. Among them, CANopen Device Explorer is a tool for solving the problem of parsing CANopen data packets and working status. It can arrange data in a regular time sequence so that engineers can eliminate every problem through data frame analysis in the shortest time during the development process. In addition to the data frame analysis function, the analysis software also needs to be able to simulate the command operation of the data frame, so that it can more easily reproduce the problem or verify whether the modified function meets the requirements and is stable.

CANopen Device Explorer can read the information of each standard CANopen or CANopen FD device through the device's EDS file, or directly read from the device by scanning. At the same time, it can also save and export standard device configuration files (DCF). In addition, the entire CANopen network data can be saved in a project file. The built-in scripting function based on QtScript design provides users with the possibility to create custom test and control applications, which can greatly improve efficiency.

▲CANopen Device Explorer software interface diagram