[Feature Article] Products related to industrial communication protocols (CAN, LIN, Modbus)

In the automobile industry, next-generation automobile development is progressing based on four megatrends (connected, autonomous driving, sharing, and electrification) called CASE.
The difference is clear when compared to the legacy car, which is mechanical and does not have computer control, and the development of communication technology surrounding the car is noticed.

With the advent of 5G, the importance of in-vehicle communication networks is attracting more and more attention, and even with the latest trends, there is no shortage of topics such as low-speed CAN and LIN, high-speed Ethernet and HDBase-T, cloud computing, and security.

Among them, this time, we will introduce products related to industrial communication protocols such as CAN bus, which is said to be low speed but still highly popular, LIN, Modbus, which is an alternative standard for CAN.

1.CAN (Controller Area Network)

CAN (Controller Area Network) is one of the robust vehicle bus standards designed to allow microcontrollers and devices to communicate with each other without a host computer, with enhanced noise immunity in mind.

It has become widespread for transferring control information of general mobile machines (vehicles) such as automobiles, buses, and trains, but now it is used for industrial purposes (transportation machines, factories, machine tools) due to the high performance and reliability of CAN. , Robotics field) is also used.

Applications: CAN communication monitor, application equipment test, in-vehicle CAN, control equipment, data collection, etc.

■ LAWICEL CAN communication adapter

LAWICEL's CAN communication adapter "CANUSB" based in Sweden is a tool that allows you to send and receive CAN signals immediately by connecting it to the USB port of your computer (desktop or laptop). The USB cable is removable and bus-powered and does not require power.A low cost and very easy to use CAN to USB dongle.

It can be treated as a standard COM port (serial RS232 port) by the FTDI-USB driver.You can also use the data link layer (DLL) driver to speed up CAN or increase the CAN bus usage rate (bus load).You can send and receive in standard ASCII format.

Click here for sample programs for CANUSB such as C, C ++, Visual Basic 6, Delphi, Linux (Manufacturer page) Can be downloaded.

■ Kvaser USBcan Light 2xHS etc.

All Kvaser CAN interfaces are designed for automotive and commercial vehicles.These include CAN interfaces and data loggers for connecting to high-speed and low-speed CAN, and LIN, an inexpensive serial bus commonly used for mechatronic nodes in automobiles.

The "Kvaser USBcan Light 2x HS" introduced this time can be easily connected to a PC via USB (Plug and play support), CAN-Bus interface with two high speed channels.

Despite its compact size, it supports both 11-bit (CAN 2.0A) and 29-bit (CAN 2.0B active), making it very convenient for connecting to a computer (desktop or laptop).The higher version Kvaser USBcan Pro 2xHS v2 also supports CAN FD.

The MathWorks Numerical Computation Software MATLAB Vehicle Network Toolbox * supports the Kvaser CAN interface using the latest version of the KvaserCANLib driver library. You can use the Kvaser CAN device to stream CAN bus data to MATLAB and Simulink.
* Vehicle Network Toolbox provides MATLAB functions and Simulink blocks for sending, receiving, encoding, and decoding CAN, CAN FD, J1939, and XCP messages.

What Is Vehicle Network Toolbox?
https://jp.mathworks.com/videos/what-is-vehicle-network-toolbox-1535487350674.html

□ Kvaser CANlib SDK
Free resources with everything you need to develop software for the KvaserCAN interface.Click here for documentation and multiple sample programs written in C, C ++, C #, Delphi, and Visual Basic (Manufacturer page) Can be downloaded.

■ SK Pang Electronics PiCAN2 / PiCAN3 Bus Borad

SK Pang Electronics' "PiCAN2 CAN-Bus Board" and "PiCAN3 CAN-Bus Board" are additional boards for realizing CAN communication with Raspberry Pi. There are PiCAN 2 compatible with Raspberry Pi 3 or Raspberry Pi 2 and PiCAN 4 compatible with Raspberry Pi 3.

It is equipped with Microchip CAN controller MCP2515 and CAN transceiver MCP2551 and is equipped with DB9 (D-Sub 9 pin), Or 3 way screw terminal (3 Way screw terminal block connector) To make a CAN connection.

You can also easily download the SocketCAN driver and program it in C or Python.Using Raspberry Pi, which is also used for robot cars and mobile robots, and CAN, which is an in-vehicle network, you can acquire vehicle information and use it for learning and researching vehicle diagnosis.

2.LIN (Local Interconnect Network)

LIN, which is said to be an alternative standard for CAN, is a communication protocol used for automobile body control systems (power windows, mirror adjustment, door locks, etc.). LIN cannot be a perfect replacement for the CAN bus, but if speed / bandwidth is not important, it is a good alternative, including even lower cost than CAN.

Applications: Cost reduction of in-vehicle networks, control equipment, applications, LIN communication monitoring, communication testing, etc.

■ Lipowsky Industrie-Elektronik Baby-LIN series

The Baby-LIN series of Lipowsky Industrie-Elektronik of Germany (Lipowski) supports CAN buses in addition to "Baby-LIN-II" and "Baby-LIN-RC-II" that support only LIN buses. Five models of "Baby-LIN-RM-II", "Baby-LIN-MB-II" and "HARP-5" are available.
* To use CAN, a separate license code (option) is required to activate the function.

"Baby-LIN-II" is a compact system for controlling the LIN bus via USB.After installing the included LINWorks software, connect it to a USB port and use Baby-LIN-DLL to access LIN-Bus devices via LINWorks or your own application. You can simulate a LIN master node or a LIN slave node.

Baby-LIN-II supports SDF-V3.This new generation of SDF enables new features such as multiple bus sections, conditional macro commands, new system variables, new CRC functions, and sub-macro calls.

3. Modbus

Modbus is a serial communication protocol developed by Modicon for its programmable logic controller (PLC), and the network that implements the Modbus protocol is called Modbus.

Modbus protocol TheThere are two versions for serial lines (Modbus RTU, Modbus ASCII) and Ethernet (Modbus TCP).In addition, the protocol specifications are publicly available, and because they are so simple, they are widely used in automation systems.

Modbus is typically used to send signals from instrumentation and control devices to the main controller or data collection system, such as a system that measures temperature and humidity and conveys the results to a computer.In particular,Monitoring control and data acquisition (SCADA)It is often used in systems to connect a surveillance computer to a remote terminal unit (RTU).

Applications: PA (Process Automation), FA (Factory Automation), equipment, AI applications and simulations, monitoring systems, in-vehicle PLCs, etc.

■ Simply Modbus

Simply Modbus is a data communication test / debug software for systems with the communication protocol Modbus. We handle three types of software that act as Modbus masters, Modbus slaves, and Modbus TCP clients.

・ Simply Modbus RTU / ASCII Master
・ Simply Modbus RTU / ASCII Slave
-Simply Modbus TCP Client

If you purchase multiple types at once, a great set price will be applied.
Please let us know your desired product name when you contact us.

Features:
– Run Modbus setup from one screen.Easy to configure with few settings.
– Supports standard Modbus and Enron Modbus *.
* Enron standardModicon modbusA communication protocol developed by changing (serial). The main differences between the two protocols are register numbering, 2-bit register and 32-bit support, and the ability to send event logs and historical data.

■ Modbus SCADA

WLC Systems "Modbus SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition) is software for collecting data from a Modbus-compatible system *, displaying it on an HMI (Human Machine Interface) in an easy-to-understand manner, and monitoring and controlling it.
* Modbus compatible system: PLC (sequencer), measuring instrument, I / O module configured as Modbus slave device, etc.

The communication connection of a Modbus device can specify up to three serial ports and an Ethernet connection. If the connection is valid, it is processed by another thread. If the port is not used, the connection can be disabled. Web server function enables remote access and has excellent data collection function (CSV format, log retention time interval, etc.).

4. Other products related to industrial communication protocols

-ADFWeb's various converters / connection converters between different protocols
Various converters from ADFweb that connect devices with different protocols and fieldbuses such as CAN from / to CANopen and Modbus RTU from / to Ethernet.

-Small fanless computer / VECOW custom PC
Vecow's vehicle computing system.PC for in-vehicle embedded applications equipped with CAN bus for in-vehicle system management (railway standard EN50155 / EN50121 certification).

- Leddar Modules / Solid State LiDAR Sensor Modules
Solid-state LiDAR sensor module (including sample code for RS-485 / Modbus etc.).

-Factory I / O / PLC training software
Software for PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) training that supports PLC simulators, Modbus, OPC, and many other standard automation technologies.

Even if the product related to the industrial communication protocol you are looking for is not listed on our website, we will check whether it can be handled and guide you.
Please feel free to contact us.