As of now, IXXAT delivers the CANobserver with an extended functionality.

The device is now able to automatically send e-mails to inform the user about faults within the communication system more quickly. This also enables to plan maintenance operations before system failures happen. Furthermore, the internal memory has been expanded by five times: Instead of the previous four, now the device comes with 20 data sets providing a storage capacity for up to 10 years. The third new feature is the SAE J1939 protocol support. Besides CAN, CANopen and DeviceNet, the CANobserver supports now also SAE J1939 systems.

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With the new version 3.02 of the CANopen module, IXXAT offers a revised and considerably extended version of its proven CANopen extension for the canAnalyser.

The CANopen module is an extension for the canAnalyser 2.7, enabling the display of received layer-2 messages according to the CANopen notation. At this, received messages are analyzed according to the communication objects defined in the CANopen protocol and assigned to the nodes. The message content is extracted and displayed in plain text.

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IXXAT, Inc. to host a three day CAN and CANopen Training Seminar at its Bedford, NH offices, near the Manchester airport.

IXXAT, Inc. will be conducting a three day introduction into Controller Area Network (CAN) and CANopen. Unlike traditional CAN and CANopen training seminars, IXXAT utilizes small class sizes and lab demonstrations to insure that seminar participants obtain a working knowledge of CAN and CANopen technology.

The seminar will be held April 20-22, 2010. Six seats are available on a first-come first-serve basis at a cost of $1,500 per attendee. For further information please call 603-471-0800 x101.

By Christian Schlegel, IXXAT Automation

One solution circumventing the limitations of CANopen (limited bandwidth, limited system extension) would be switching completely to Ethernet POWERLINK. However, for many systems this would be like the tail wagging the dog since the POWERLINK technology is more expensive than the CANopen technology (e.g. cabling costs, hardware costs, system integration costs). Instead of converting a system completely from CANopen to POWERLINK, it often makes sense to build a new system structure using several subsystems. The following two system architectures are possible…

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By Dr. Martin Merkel, Christian Schlegel, IXXAT Automation GmbH

Already in the early days of CAN, Philips Medical Systems noticed the advantages of CAN and decided to use this network protocol as communication network for interconnecting various components such as collimators, generators, and patient tables in their x-ray systems. To achieve a modular and open approach, a group within Philips Medical Systems, managed by Tom Suters, developed the first higher layer protocol for CAN, the CAN Message Specification – CMS, which was presented to the public in 1992.
CMS provided the framework for the first official CAN based communication protocol specified by CAN in Automation, the CAN Application Layer (CAL). One of the reasons that may have lead to the limited market penetration was that CAL did not provide the functionality necessary for a straight-forward description of generic device or application profiles…

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IXXAT Automation GmbH is pleased to announce that the versatile CANopenRT protocol software now supports the most recent implementation of the SocketCAN drivers for Linux using the Sysfs virtual file system.

SocketCAN is a set of open source drivers and a network stack that extends the Berkeley sockets API in Linux by introducing a new protocol family PF_CAN. Main components of SocketCAN are the network device drivers for different CAN controllers and the implementation of the CAN protocol family. The SocketCAN framework has become part of vanilla kernel starting with 2.6.25.

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The CANopen Master API and CANopen Manager API from IXXAT now support also Microsoft Windows Vista.

With Windows Vista Microsoft released a successor to Windows XP that not only features an updated user interface but also introduces a number of new security and safety features that have direct impact on user applications and driver software. With version 5.2 of the CANopen Master API and version 2.0 of the CANopen Manager API IXXAT now fully supports both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of this new operating system.

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Seminar dates in March

The seminars offered by IXXAT provide a quick and detailed introduction to current communication technologies.
The seminars are aimed primarily at developers and system designers who have to implement their own developments and want to acquire substantial basic knowledge of the technologies. However, they are also suitable for decision-makers who want to learn about the potential of the technologies.

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The new version 5.2 of the CANopen Master API now also supports the CAN@net II/VCI PC interface from IXXAT. This enables the connection of test applications to the CANopen network via Ethernet, providing various possibilities in the area of remote diagnosis and maintenance.
Further enhancements are the support of 64 bit operating systems and improvements at the status monitoring of CANopen nodes. Using the CANopen Master API 5.2 in conjunction with the CAN@net II/VCI requires the installation of the new version 3.2 of the IXXAT VCI CAN driver.

IXXAT is pleased to announce the availability of a new tool that enables the user to inspect respectively convert CANopen and POWERLINK device description files conforming to the CiA 306 and CiA 311, as well as the upcoming EPL V2.0 XML specifications.

In 2007 CAN in Automation (CiA), the international users’ and manufacturers’ group governing the development of the CANopen specifications introduced a new XML based device description file format as CiA 311 – CANopen device description. CiA 311 is based on the ISO 15745-1:2003 specification which defines generic elements and rules for describing integration models and application interoperability profiles.
A new and more flexible device description format was required due to the numerous enhancements introduced in CANopen that were not covered by the original EDS format as specified in CiA 306. In addition to the general benefits of a XML based syntax, the CiA 311 format has the particular advantage of allowing for localized device description files, a feature becoming increasingly important with the global acceptance of CANopen.

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