CANopen is an open, CAN-based communication protocol used in range of applications including transport and control technology, measurement systems, medical technology, railway technology, maritime applications, in general, wherever great flexibility and rapid data transmissions are in demand. The CANopen specification drew on the experience of many component manufacturers and users, resulting in an established standard that is maintained by the CAN in Automation (CiA) user organization. CANopen Electronic Data Sheets (EDS) are device description files similar to the Profibus GSD. These files make it possible to use manufacturer-independent project planning, configuration, and analysis tools. A proper EDS file is required to pass the CiA CANopen conformance test.
Features and Advantages:
The editor/generator CANeds is a tool for creating and testing EDS files. CANeds takes over the difficult and error-prone task of creating EDS files manually. CANeds enables device manufacturers and system integrators to avoid problems when working with corresponding CANopen configuration programs.
CANeds provides the following functions:
- Creation of new EDS files
- Modification of EDS files
- Testing of EDS files
- Scanning of devices, with EDS files generated semi-automatically
Creating EDS files is very easy due to the ability of accessing standard objects and their attributes via CiA-CADB databases. CANeds displays the structure of an EDS in a hierarchical tree structure (see figure) and represents CANopen object attributes such as object and data types symbolically.
New functions of Version 3.3:
- New EDS files created per CiA311 can now be saved in XML format. CANeds supports this format for EDS or DCF files.
- Existing EDS/DCF files can be converted to other formats. CANeds supports the following conversion directions: EDS (Electronic Data Sheet) to XDD (Device Description), DCF (Device Configuration File) to XDC (Device Configuration),
EDS to DCF.
Integrated CANchkEDS
CANeds includes CANchkEDS for checking the correctness of EDS files. You can download the actual release here: CANchkEDS
Detailed information is available in the PDF data sheet.