Customer Reviews

Embedded Networking with CAN and CANopen

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I purchased this book knowing nothing more about CAN than the free application notes that are provided by some microcontroller vendors. While I have not yet finished (still in CANopen implementation chapter), I now feel that I can make intelligent decisions, understand how CAN really operates as well as create my own limited CANopen stack on a microcontroller.

CANopen (the topic if this book) is not the only CAN protocol available. This book covers CANopen, don't get this thinking you are going to learn about SAE-J1939. True to the title, it covers CANopen.

Each section has a great deal of information and there are LOTS of tables showing the structure of each CANopen element. Sections cover each of the basic message types, transmission and reception of data, NMT and network modes. Additional sections cover physical CAN signal requirements, Draft(potential) Standards, configuration examples, network topologies and recommended connectors. If you need to troubleshoot CAN system that uses CANopen or are interested in implementing a device that will use CANopen, this information is invaluable. It doesn't cover everything, but it does effectivly blend the "reference manual" with the "tutorial," leaning towards "reference."

In some cases however, I didn't feel that the examples were all that illustrative and a few times I was left wondering about some seemingly magic transition or the interaction of values in the object dictionary. This didn't happen too frequently, and overall, I'm satisfied.

Overall, this book is a very good value and really helps to fill a void in CAN literature. If you are on a budget and need to start working with CAN, this may be your best choice. Other books hover around 3-times the price of this one and/or have been out for some time. This book was a good choice, and can stay in the lab.

Embedded Networking with CAN and CANopen has been the standard work on CANopen for years and it is great that is has been re-published (the previous publisher went out of business). I learned everything I needed to know about CANopen from this book. It is very thorough on the basics of, for instance, the CANopen Object Dictionary, Electronics Data Sheets, Data Transfer Objects, Network Management, and more. It was also a great help with understanding the CANopen Device Profiles, which is a frustrating task when you look only at the CiA (CAN-in-Automation) standards. And even now, that I deem myself a CANopen expert, I still use the book for references. This is a great book and a must-have for everybody involved with the CANopen protocol!

I found this book to be extremely helpful and practical. It is easy to follow and understand and should be useful for both beginners and advanced user. It gave more practical information, guidelines and hints than any other book I have read about CAN. It mainly covers CANopen but also gives helpful practical guidelines for any CAN application. It even provides some good "Implementation Path" hints. A "CANtime" program to help calculate CAN bit timing, and some Bandwidth Spreadsheets, that were promoted in the book have actually been withdrawn. It was a little disappointing that they are no longer available on the web page but because of the book I was able to develop my own. As an engineer about to design a CAN system this book has definitely help "lift the fog" on how to implement CAN.

This is an excellent book. If you are implementing CAN Open for your Embedded Processor / System then you will need this.
Also bear in mind that you should get the CIA spec (it is free), but this book describes all the aspects that you need, particularly the Object Dictionary.

Describing the CANopen standard must have been an extremely difficult task for the authors, but they have done a tremendous job! Whether you are in the business of CANopen development or just curious to learn about the topic this book is for you. This is by far the best work on CANopen.