Controller Area Network

Features

• Cover Type: Hard Cover with 430 pages
• Published by: IXXAT Automation GmbH August 22, 2001
• ISBN 10 Number: 3000073760
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-3000073762
• Book Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.6 x 1 inches
• Weighs: 2.2 pounds

Book Description
Originally developed for use in automotive applications, CAN (Controller-Area-Network) has become the de-facto communication standard in vehicles and mobile systems, as well as in any kind of distributed embedded system.

With this book, the necessary basics for understanding, implementation and application of CAN-based data communication systems shall be provided. Therefore, a basic introduction into data communication in cars, machines and on the factory floor is given. A main focus of the book is the introductory description of the physical and data link layer of the CAN protocol. In addition, a description of the general architecture of CAN protocol controllers is provided together with the most important CAN chips available on the market. Another focus of the book is the introduction to the most important CAN-based higher layer protocols, especially CANopen and DeviceNet. Finally, general aspects for the design and implementation of CAN-based networks as well as hard- and software components and development tools are described.

About The Author
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Konrad Etschberger teaches real-time systems and industrial communication at the University of Applied Sciences in Weingarten, Germany. He has been involved in the design, development and application of CAN technology in industrial and automotive applications since the first CAN chip became available. In 1994 he published his first book about CAN, in 2000 a second, completely revised and extended edition followed.

In 1987 he founded stzp, a technology transfer company which was one of the first CAN pioneers. In 1980 the activities of stzp were transferred to IXXAT Automation GmbH, Weingarten, a leading provider of CAN- and TCP/IP-based products, system designs and solutions.

Reader Reviews
This book contains some good introductory information on CAN, but it is hurt by poor readability. The book was originally written in German, and the translation to English is lacking. You can usually figure out what is meant, but some chapters are tough going. [usage hints to editor: "e.g." should only be used parenthetically] The main reason I bought the book was for the chapter on DeviceNet, and I was disappointed in the treatment of DeviceNet. I found the descriptions of DeviceNet frames were often confusing. If the book contained just _one_ example message for each type, it would have answered so many questions that I haven't been able to figure out after re-reading the text several times. What would have been wonderful would have been an example "session" that included connection setup and data exchange messages, but the DeviceNet chapter only contains examples of a small subset of the message types. After paying $80, I felt a little ripped-off, but it's the only thing I could find that covered DeviceNet at all. The introductory CAN info was OK, but it is available elsewhere in better prose for much less money. Sure, there are probably grammatical errors in this review, but you didn't pay $80 for it... Comment | | (Report this)