CAN FD monitoring module supports higher speed testing

Using a ScopeCorder together with bus monitor modules to decode data from automotive serial buses such as CAN (Controller Area Network) enables engineers to display information such as engine temperature, vehicle speed and brake pedal position as trend waveforms and compare this with the analogue data coming from the actual sensors.

This enables automotive engineers to gain a thorough insight into the dynamic behaviour of the complete electromechanical system.

First announced in 2012, CAN FD (CAN With flexible data rate) is an extension format for CAN in which the transfer rate and data length of the data field has been increased while still following a protocol common to CAN.

It enables data rates higher than 1 Mbit/s to be transmitted on a CAN bus and is thus able to deliver the higher bandwidths now required by the automotive industry for in-vehicle networks.

Yokogawa already supports CAN FD triggering and decoding in its range of DLM mixed signal oscilloscopes for physical layer bus development.

Some automotive manufacturers in the US, Europe and Asia are planning to implement CAN FD as early as model year 2018 with a wider adoption expected in 2020.

This means that automobile engineers are now free to consider CAN FD as the solution to meet the needs for higher data rates in automotive buses especially with regard to electric/hybrid vehicles where new powertrain concepts demand a much higher bit-rate and utilisation.

“The implementation and commissioning of CAN FD systems into actual vehicles requires either multiple instruments or a single versatile multi-channel instrument like the ScopeCorder to monitor the signals on the bus and display these together with those from the sensors along with data from the engine control unit (ECU)”, says Terry Marrinan, Vice-President Yokogawa’s Test & Measurement Business Unit for Europe & OCEANIA and South-East Asia. “This is necessary in order to analyse the complete system and check that it and its latencies, for example, are operating as predicted and to find the cause of errors”, he adds: “Yokogawa is the first test and measurement company to offer this level of CAN FD capability on an instrument of this type.”

“Our many automotive ScopeCorder customers recognise that a ScopeCorder offers them a one-box solution for their testing needs and enables them to easily analyse data without the need to synchronise and import data from multiple instruments and devices”, says Marrinan: “They have been considering the use of CAN FD, and in advance of their actual testing requirements they have been asking us to add the capability for CAN FD to the ScopeCorder so that it is available when they need it. We are pleased to be able to satisfy these requests..”

The new module is also compatible with classical CAN and will replace the existing 720240 CAN-only model.