Overview

As the use of networking continues to increase, the development of CANopen systems is not possible without suitable development tools. CANoe (CAN Open Environment) supports the entire development process for networked systems, from planning and simulation through in-the-loop testing and production.

Simulation

A significant aspect of CANoe.CANopen is the automatic generation of the simulation code. The application oriented C-based language, CAPL (Communication Access Programming Language) from Vector is used as the programming language for this purpose.
All information necessary for the generation exist in the device descriptions that are set up using ProCANopen. The entire CANopen-specific functionality of an ECU is simulated by a Nodelayer-DLL. The user can utilize the functionality of this DLL by means of function calls from a generated CAPL program. This makes it very easy to initiate a SDO access to another device in the network from the CAPL program.

Generation of automatic tests

The user can take a number of predefined test steps and assemble a more complex test sequence from them. An example would be a test step used to check for the existence of an object in the object directory. The test step must still be parameterized before it can be used. For an SDO access the user must specify the node-ID of the SDO server and the index and sub-index of the selected object. Once the test sequence has been prepared, a key press initiates generation of the associated test script in CAPL. If necessary the user can expand this test script to add application-specific test sequences.
It is easy to generate test sequences for CANopen devices. The necessary test functions are determined and assembled in a sequence based on device descriptions that exist in a standardized format (EDS files). CANoe.CANopen processes these sequences. All test results are conveniently documented in a report file.
For test purposes CANoe.CANopen offers a dialog-based creation of CANopen-specific message sequences. From a project-specific list of existing messages, the user selects and configures the desired messages (PDOs, SDOs, etc.) and assembles them into a sequence. The sequence can be replayed once or periodically. This means that message sequences can be sent to the connected devices as often as desired.

Panel generation

Panels are automatically generated for each simulated CANopen device with the aid of an integrated panel generator representing a significant simplification of the simulation. In the generation, panels are only created for objects sent by PDOs. Using these panels, direct and easy access to these objects is possible without requiring extensive knowledge of their communication properties.

One tool for all

With CANoe.CANopen all developers have a tool for the development of CANopen systems:

• Support is provided for the person responsible for distribution of functions, function testing, and integration of the entire system
• Simulation of the remaining busses and environments provides suppliers with an ideal test environment
• For projects with more than one supplier, independent and parallel development of network nodes is possible (simultaneous engineering)

For more information, application notes and a demo version please refer to Vector’s website: http://www.canopen-solutions.com/canopen_index_en.html