Embedded Systems Academy

The off-the-shelf I/O module PCAN-MicroMod FD DR CANopen from PEAK-System takes advantage of protocol stack from Embedded System Academy

The I/O device for DIN rail PCAN-MicroMod FD DR CANopen Digital 1 passed both the official CiA (CAN in Automation) conformance tests for CANopen® and for CANopen FD®. The device firmware is based on the Micro CANopen Plus protocol stack by Embedded Systems Academy (EmSA), gaining easyness stepping through the conformance tests.

The device is one of the first industrial off-the-shelf I/O devices available that offer both conformance-tested CANopen® and CANopen FD® interfaces. The configuration is simplified, 4 dials are used to make the settings, which are documented directly on the housing. No further configuration software is required.

All other products from the PCAN-MicroMod FD line can load the Micro CANopen Plus protocol stack as an option. There are further aluminum-housed I/O modules supporting analog inputs and outputs, as well as PWM or frequency outputs, and a System on Module solution (SoM) to integrate customized I/O with CAN/CAN FD, CANopen, and CANopen FD operating modes.

CANopen EDS/XDD files are available for download for all PCAN-MicroMod FD products documenting the CANopen or CANopen FD functionality. Furthermore, the PCAN-MicroMod FD Evaluation Board includes a free CANopen FD license.

See the PCAN-MicroMod FD devices capable of CANopen and CANopen FD in our canopenstore.eu

Earlier this year, EmSA inherited the CANopen IA product line from ESSolutions. The product line goes back about 20 years and at the time the products were based on the Philip’s XA architecture. The current products are using the NXP LPC11Cxx microcontrollers (ARM Cortex M0). Right from the beginning, EmSA provided the firmware and support software for these products making EmSA a natural candidate to continue this product line after ESSolutions discontinued their operation.

The base product is a small (31.5 x 20mm) 48pin module offering 7 configurable ports with 4 connectors each. Depending on the port number, a port can be configured to be:

• Digital input or output (4 signals)
• Remote access (serial UART, TTL)
• Internal analog input (4 times 8 or 10bit resolution)
• External analog input (4 times 12bit, I2C connected external)
• External analog output (4 times 12bit, I2C connected external)

At EmSA, we now continuously enhance the features of this product line. The latest firmware release V2.2 added remote access support to a host system via a serial TTL channel. This allows the module to be used as a CANopen communication processor in systems that can use a regular serial channel to communicate with the communication processor. A further enhancement added 8bit resolution access to the analog inputs (default use is 10bit resolution) now supporting a variety of CANopen joystick implementations.

An easy entry starter kit is now available, offering basic access to the functionality provided by the CANopen IA M0 module. All 48 pins of the module are made available on standard header rows, all marked with the matching pin names. For quick tests, switches and LEDs can be connected to any of those pins using jumper cables provided.

A CANopen FD version of the module is currently under development and scheduled for release early 2022.

For more information, see:
www.canopenia.com
www.canopenstore.eu

The 17^th international CAN Conference is an online event about the Controller Area Network happening from June 14^th to June 17^th, 2021. Papers presented cover topics such as updates on the physical and data link layer for CAN FD and XL, CANopen testing, CANopen FD and Security.

The tutors of EmSA participate in presenting two papers: “A simplified classic CANopen to CANopen FD migration path using smart bridges” and “Achieving multi-level CAN (FD) security by complementing available technologies”.

The paper about smart bridges introduces a solution to easily combine classical CANopen devices with CANopen FD devices. The bridges developed here offer one classical CANopen and one CANopen FD port and “auto-translate” CANopen and CANopen FD messages transparently. As an example, SDO transfers on the classical CANopen side are automatically translated to USDO transfers on the CANopen FD side.

The paper about security reviews currently available security solutions for CAN (FD) and examines how they complement each other. The security methods combine here are CAN message ID guarding, a CAN crypto layer and (D)TLS.

For the first time, the iCC combines papers with open CiA IG and SiG (Interest Group and Special interest Group) meetings. Here “open” means that after registration anyone can participate to see how the different work groups operate. Our engineers will participate in the SIG special car add-on devices (CiA 447) and the IG CANopen FD.

For more details and registration, see www.can-cia.org/icc

Our CANopen and CANopen FD software is now available for the entire PCAN-MicroMod FD product line from PEAK-System Technik GmbH. The PCAN-MicroMod FD product line consists of several digital and analog I/O modules with housing and an embedded module suitable for integration into custom hardware developments.

PEAK offers these modules with “direct CAN (FD)” support. A configuration utility provided can assign inputs and outputs to CAN (FD) messages. That same configuration utility can now also be used to load and activate our CANopen or CANopen FD software. The activation process requires an activation code. The activation code is part of the delivery, when buying the devices from EmSA’s online store.

Once CANopen (FD) is loaded and activated, the devices implement the CANopen (FD) device profile for generic I/O devices. In CANopen FD mode, the dual bitrate of CAN FD is supported, allowing transmission rates in the data phase of up to 5Mbps.

Our YouTube channel now features a new PEAK hardware playlist. The first videos added today, show the CANopen software installation and activation process. Future videos will give further configuration examples.

The latest release of the MCUXpresso Software Development Kit from NXP now also includes a free version of the EmSA’s Micro CANopen FD library. The library is available for various microcontrollers of the LPC54xxx and LPC55xxx families. Support for the i.MX RT family will be added later this year.

The CANopen FD libraries are separated by support for devices and managers. The examples implement a generic input and output device as well as a minimal manager and control application. The libraries are fully functional besides a limitation on the number of PDOs and node IDs supported. The licence allows developers to integrate these libraries into commercial projects.

For more details on the CANopen FD libraries in MCUXpresso SDK, watch the introductory video by NXP:

Our youtube playlist “MCUXpresso Middleware course” now features a total of nine videos, including some in-depth tutorial on how to use the CANopen and CANopen FD libraries of the MCUXpresso SDK.

For more information about our CANopen and CANopen FD libraries for NXP, visit our dedicated web page at www.em-sa.com/nxp

A few months back, EmSA’s CANopen and CANopen FD libraries and protocol stacks were integrated into NXP’s MCUXpresso SDK supporting multiple NXP microcontroller families, inlcuding the LPC54xxx family. That MCU family was chosen by PEAK Systemtechnik for a number of industrial input and output devices.

The newly released PCAN-MicroMod FD DR CANopen Digital 1 is the first of their industrial I/O device integrating both CANopen and CANopen FD within the same firmware. All essential settings of the DIN-Rail mountable device are made with turn dials: selection of CANopen or CANopen FD modes, bitrates and node id used.

Typical use cases include future proofing CANopen systems by already choosing CANopen FD capable devices and quickly adding generic I/O devices(s) to custom, embedded CANopen FD networks.

The device passed the official CiA CANopen conformance test. The CANopen FD test is pending.

For more information, see the PEAK product page.

NXP and EmSA are inviting you to the one hour seminar “Accelerate Development of Robust Network Communications with CANopen and CANopen FD” on Tuesday April 21st 2020. This webinar is a hands-on session about customized CANopen (FD) development on NXP MCUs.

In the hands-on part, we take the CANopen (FD) device/slave example included with the NXP MCUXpresso SDK and use the free CANopen Architect Mini software utility to modify and configure the CANopen (FD) communication of the device. Code modifications are made using the MCUXpresso SDK to support the custom generated CANopen (FD) object dictionary entries. Click here to register for this webinar.

The webinar requires some basic CANopen (FD) and MCUXpresso knowledge. See our courses at www.em-sa.com/video to learn the basics about these technologies.

February 24, 2020 – Embedded Systems Academy (EmSA) and NXP® Semiconductors announce the integration of the free-to-use EmSA Micro CANopen libraries into the NXP MCUXpresso Software Development Kit (SDK) for developing with NXP’s microcontrollers (MCU) and crossovers based on Arm® Cortex®-M.

For years, many MCUs have been equipped with the Controller Area Network (CAN) interfaces including CAN FD. These interfaces are optimized for embedded communication and make it easy to transmit and receive single messages.

“To take full advantage of the capabilities of such interfaces, middleware communication protocols are required,” says Olaf Pfeiffer, General Manager of EmSA. “One of the most
popular protocols for embedded CAN applications is CANopen, for which EmSA has delivered its Micro CANopen software for more than 20 years, and remains highly used among embedded developers.”

Free-to-use versions of EmSA’s Micro CANopen library are now fully integrated into the MCUXpresso SDK for a selection of NXP LPC MCUs and i.MX RT crossover MCUs.

“This integration further simplifies the process of prototyping and integrating sophisticated and reliable communication into embedded systems.” said Brendon Slade, director of MCU ecosystem for Edge Processing at NXP Semiconductors. “For most systems, the libraries can be used in production without further licensing.”

One of the first adopters is PEAK-System Technik: Their industrial I/O module PCAN-MicroMod FD is based on NXP’s LPC54000 MCU series and uses a variation o

f EmSA’s Micro CANopen libraries. “Using a proven CANopen (FD) protocol implementation for our I/O devices greatly reduced our development time and opens up additional use-cases for our customers.”, says Uwe Wilhelm, General Manager of PEAK-System Technik.

For more information about the NXP microcontrollers currently supported by EmSA’s free to use CANopen libraries and video tutorials, visit www.em-sa.com/nxp

About MCUXpresso SDK
Available in downloads based on user selections of MCU, evaluation board and optional software components, the MCUXpresso SDK merges customization and quality in a suite of production-grade runtime software. Complete with pre-integrated RTOS middleware, stacks and middleware, reference software, and MISRA-compliant drivers analyzed with Coverity® static analysis tools, it’s the ultimate software framework and reference solution for application development with NXP MCUs and crossover MCUs based on ARM® Cortex®-M cores.

About Embedded Systems Academy
Embedded Systems Academy (EmSA) is an NXP gold partner and has locations in Barsinghausen, Germany and San Jose, California. EmSA provides tools, training and services for planning, implementing, debugging, commissioning and testing of embedded networking technologies including CAN, CAN FD, CANopen, CANopen FD, CiA447, J1939 and others. EmSA’s tutors Olaf Pfeiffer, Christian Keydel and Andrew Ayre published two books about CAN, CANopen and security on CAN systems. They regularly publish related articles and papers for various international conferences.

Contact
Embedded Systems Academy GmbH
Olaf Pfeiffer
info@esacademy.de

Over the last years we published more than 50 articles, papers, books, webinars and we also continuously updated our training materials. However, some of the training material and especially scientific papers only reach a small percentage of the embedded community. Therefore we decided to publish more free educational videos to reach more of you. As a start we created several playlists on our EmSA Youtube channel. These include:

• CANopen FD Intro:
  Introductory videos to CANopen FD, also covering some basics like an introduction to the CANopen Object Dictionary concept
• CAN (FD) Security:
  Video collection about CAN and CAN FD security challenges and solutions
• MCUXpresso Middleware:
  Video collection about NXP’s MCUXpresso and CANopen libraries included

We plan to publish more videos in the upcoming month, further focusing on CAN, CAN FD, CANopen, CANopen FD topics including introductory videos as well as in-depth technology classes.

Please subscribe to the channel to stay informed about new videos published.

This year we present multiple papers at the upcoming Embedded World (25th to 27th of February in Nuremberg, Germany) and the international CAN Conference (17th to 18th March in Baden-Baden, Germany). Chris and I will be talking with our partners of NXP Semiconductors, PEAK

-Systemtechnik and the Hochschule Offenburg about CAN (FD) security and CANopen (FD) Smart Bridging. In our security papers, we examine how different existing and CAN capable security methods can best complement each other. With SmartBridgingFD we show how classical CANopen devices or networks can easily and transparently be mixed with newer CANopen FD installations. As classical CANopen and CANopen FD are not compatible on the bitrate level, they can not share the same CAN wiring. However, the SmartBridgeFD allows combining classical CANopen and new CANopen FD networks into one large logical network.

At the Embedded World, you can see the SmartBridgeFD integrated into the CANopen FD demonstrator at the CiA booth (hall 1 booth 630). Another of our CANopen (FD) demos will be displayed at NXP Semiconductors (hall 4A booth 220), as our CANopen software is now part of NXP’s latest SDK. Our CAN hardware partner PEAK Systemtechnik is in hall 1 (booth 483).

The Embedded World conference program is now online, we are in Session 2.1. The program for the international CAN Conference is here, our papers are in Session IV and VII.