Embedded Systems Academy

The popular CANopen Analysis software CANopen Magic and CANopen Logxaminer by Embedded Systems Academy have received a major update. The latest enhancement is a charting module that draws process data plots over time. In CANopen Magic, the data is captured from a live CANopen system whereas in CANopen Logxaminer it is done in post-analysis from a trace recording.

The process data charts are updated dynamically with each corresponding PDO, SDO or USDO on the network. A broad selection of triggering, filtering, scaling and measurement options allow to fine-tune the charts to the task at hand. Configurable colours and shading for each data source complete the customization options.

CANopen Magic generates process data information automatically from the EDS (Electronic Datasheet Files) files of the CANopen nodes connected to the network, making setting up charts from process data easy.

In summary, the added charting module significantly improves the build-in data analysis capabilities of CANopen Magic and CANopen Logxaminer. The charting module is now available in the CANopen Magic Professional and Ultimate editions. Get your trial here: Try CANopen Magic!

Darmstadt and Hannover, June 12th, 2019. PEAK-System Technik GmbH (www.peak-system.com) and Embedded Systems Academy GmbH (www.esacademy.de) have deepened their partnership to provide common CANopen, CANopen FD, and J1939 solutions. For more than 15 years, Embedded Systems Academy GmbH (EmSA) has offered numerous CANopen software products including monitors, analyzers, simulators, configurators, and protocol stacks for the CAN (Controller Area Network) hardware of PEAK-System Technik GmbH (PEAK). Building on that partnership, PEAK has now become a shareholder and partner of EmSA.

“By formally joining the PEAK Group of companies, we can now more easily share resources and are better positioned to streamline development processes that involve both CAN hardware and software,” says Olaf Pfeiffer, General Manager of Embedded Systems Academy GmbH.
Current projects of PEAK and EmSA include CANopen (FD) generic input and output devices, CANopen (FD) protocol libraries, security options for CAN and diagnostics and test systems for CANopen (FD) and J1939.

“The deepened partnership with EmSA will provide our hardware customers with a variety of easy-to-use software products for CANopen, CANopen FD, and J1939 applications,” says Uwe Wilhelm, General Manager of PEAK-System Technik GmbH. “We’ll announce our new joint CANopen and CANopen FD solutions on our websites and blogs over the coming months.”

It was a lengthy process. Along with other experts we from Embedded Systems Academy participated in the CANopen FD definition group for more than 2 years now. Initially some only wanted a few changes. However as CAN FD is not backward compatible to CAN (classic CAN controllers produce error frames when they see a CAN FD message) the majority saw the chance to “dump complete backward compatibility” and add new and advanced features. The previous SDO communication (request-response scheme between one master and multiple devices) was replaced with the USDO communication – the Universal Service Data Object.

A first version of the definition of CANopen FD (CiA 1301) was released by the CiA in October this year. It is available from the CiA on request (www.can-cia.org/services/publications/). Some of the new features include:

• TPDOs can now have up to 64 bytes of data (previous 8)
• Full USDO mesh definition – every node can send client requests to every other node
• USDO communication may be a broadcast to all nodes

The USDO service allows any device to send service requests to any other device, without the need for a master or manager to be involved. This greatly improves plug-and-play support and self-configuring systems, as now each device independently can analyse its surroundings: which devices are on this network and what kind of communication objects do they have available.

We at Embedded Systems Academy are now adding CANopen FD support to all our CANopen products. The first line of products supporting CANopen FD is our CANopen Magic software for the analysis and test of networks. As of the latest release (V9.0) all CANopen Magic products support both CANopen and CANopen FD. For CANopen FD an appropriate CAN FD interface must be connected. All of our current tests have been made with the PCAN-USB FD and PCAN-USB Pro FD interfaces from PEAK System.

We are currently in the process of contacting all current CANopen Magic users to inform them about their upgrade options. If you are using CANopen Magic and have not yet received an email from us about your upgrade options, please contact us.

Today, the Embedded Systems Academy announces the availability of its secure CANcrypt CAN FD bootloader for the NXP LPC54618 microcontroller. The binary version is available as free download and may be used without limitations. For programming, the FlashMagic software (www.flashmagictool.com) and a PEAK PCAN-USB FD interface (www.peak-system.com) is required.

The security system is based on two symmetric keys, separating the code protection (happening at the manufacturer) from the download process done by a system integrator or service technician. The code file is AES-GCM (128-bit key) protected, offering both encryption and authentication. The local CAN FD connection (between service host and bootloader) is CANcrypt protected (128-bit key, authentication and partial encryption).

On the host side, the update process is fully integrated into the existing FlashMagic software that handles Flash programming for all NXP LPC microcontroller families.

The figure illustrates the components of the system. The bootloader and the initial two keys (code protection, connection) are programmed into the LPC54618 device in a trustworthy manufacturer environment.

For a code update, the manufacturer creates a secure update file based on the first, code protection key. The file is encrypted and can be passed to the service technician through an unsecured channel such as email or web download. FlashMagic includes a minimal CANcrypt configurator, allowing the technician to initiate the code update using the second, CANcrypt connection key.

The secure bootloader does not by default disable the on-chip bootloaders and debug access by SWD to ensure that the default implementation can not accidentally lock a device. However, if all of these recovery methods are disabled, either during production or through a programmed application, then the secure bootloader remains the only method for code updates. In this configuration, once the CANcrypt connection key is lost, no further updates will ever be possible.

In addition to this free binary loader, ESAcademy offers a commercial version including all sources. This version offers more configuration options, such as customizing the CAN-FD bit rates (default is 500kbps/2000kbps) and security methods.

The security experts at MathEmbedded are in the process of reviewing the project. Once completed, we will publish the results here.

Download link: LPC54618_secure_CANFD_bootloader_V100.zip

MD5: 28a896e17a9a57b938337095fbd35372
SHA256: eb6d22e9390e0d1a79f04a81f926bcd98d496dd65f03535298e1ebf050e4729c

Recently we released a new version of CANopen Magic with significant improvements to the way user-defined CAN messages are handled. Here is a brief summary:

• Messages can now be grouped together allowing for more logical viewing and keeping messages with similar uses together
• Cut, copy and paste supports moving and copying messages between the groups
• The order of the messages in a group can be manipulated to allow quicker and easier identification
• All messages in a group can be transmitted at once
• Sequential message transmission

In particular the sequential message transmission is a useful new feature. Repeatedly clicking on a button causes the next message in the group to be transmitted. When the last message in the group has been reached transmission resumes with the first message in the group. This allows complex sequences of messages to be constructed and then transmitted, for example to provide input stimuli to a node under test at a specific point in it’s operation or to mimic transmissions from a node that has not yet been developed.

Available in CANopen Magic Standard, Professional and Ultimate starting with version 6.10. Download the evaluation version.