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.

The new CANobserver from IXXAT enables the physical and logical long-term monitoring of CAN, CANopen and DeviceNet systems. For this, the device is permanently integrated into the network and continuously monitors and records the data transfer.

Sporadic negative impacts, such as external EMC interferences or a slowly deteriorating signal quality caused by worn plug connections, can be detected by the physical layer diagnosis and logical frame monitoring in a timely manner. Thus, the CANobserver is able to inform the system operator before any communication error occurs.

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With its new “CAN network analysis seminar”, IXXAT now offers a one-day training specially intended for developers of CAN devices and service engineers.

The seminar provides an overview about possibilities and procedures for the successful analysis of CAN bus systems. This includes analysis of the communication level, e.g. for CAN device or network software development, as well as testing on physical level, e.g. for design and commissioning of CAN networks.
In addition, procedures for systematic and successful troubleshooting and elimination of existing distortion and error sources are explained in detail and presented using practical examples.
The protocol independent approach makes the seminar also interesting for CANopen, DeviceNet and SAE J1939 users.

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The new CANobserver is a diagnostic tool for physical and logical long-term monitoring of CAN-bus systems and is designed as a locally installed supplement to the CAN-Bus-Tester 2. It is integrated permanently into the network, monitors the data transfer continuously and records it automatically for a period of up to four years.

Sporadic bus interferences, such as external EMC interference or a slowly deteriorating signal quality attributable to worn plug connections, can be detected in good time by using the CANobserver.

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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, a leading supplier of products and services for the data communication in industrial and mobile systems, has announced the release of an IntervalZero RTX driver for one of its CAN boards, and said it will soon release RTX drivers for other CAN boards.
IXXAT’s communication solutions like CAN Boards, CANopen software and tools are used by companies worldwide in applications such as machine control, elevator technology, marine automation, commercial vehicles, military and medical technology.

The first RTX driver will be available for the intelligent CAN board iPC-I 320/PCI as this board is very interesting for hard real-time solutions. The next boards that will be supported are the high-end board series iPC-I XC16 and the USB-to-CAN.

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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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