The CANopen specifications can be obtained from the home page of CiA. e.V.. The most important specification documents are:
- DS 301 - This document is also known as the Communication profile and it describes the fundamental services and protocols used under CANopen.
- DS 302 - Framework for programmable devices (CANopen Manager, SDO Manager)
Information on cables and connectors is contained in DR 303-3.
The behaviors of many device classes are already defined under CANopen in so-called device profiles (DS 4xx). These profiles describe:
- Run-time behavior
- Device-specific objects in the object directory
- Error handling
- Standard configuration of PDOs