CAN communication module for NI's CompactRIO platform

6th September 2006

ES Admin

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National Instruments has released a new CAN communication module for the National Instruments CompactRIO platform. The new NI 9852 module provides direct connectivity to low-speed/fault-tolerant CAN networks, and is a powerful addition to the high-speed CAN connectivity that CompactRIO already offers, further establishing CompactRIO as an ideal platform for in-vehicle measurement and control applications.

The CompactRIO programmable automation controller (PAC) is a rugged, reconfigurable control and acquisition system designed for applications requiring high performance and reliability. The system combines an open, embedded architecture with small size, extreme ruggedness and hot-swappable industrial I/O modules. Commonly used for body electronics in the automotive industry, low-speed/fault-tolerant CAN networks communicate through two wires. Low-Speed CAN networks have short cable distances and slower communication speeds, making it possible to transmit data asymmetrically over just one bus line instead of two.

The NI 9852 provides two ports of low-speed/fault-tolerant CAN communication with devices at transfer rates up to 125 kb/s. With an NI 9852 installed in a CompactRIO chassis, engineers can take advantage of the flexibility and performance of the CompactRIO platform to achieve hardware synchronisation with high-speed CAN, analogue and digital measurements with up to 25 ns resolution. With support for 11-bit and 29-bit arbitration IDs, NI 9852 modules can also communicate with J1939 networks.

The NI 9852 also offers advanced functionality, such as software-selectable termination. Because of this feature, engineers do not have to add or remove resistors to their cabling to make the module compatible with the CAN network. If a CAN network already has termination on it, engineers can simply set the NI 9852 termination to off, or vice versa, making it much easier to establish communication with CAN devices and networks.

Engineers also can use the NI 9852 module with the R Series expansion chassis, as well as any other NI R Series devices to extend the functionality and performance of LabVIEW FPGA technology to any desktop computer or PXI chassis, providing the highest-performance PC-based CAN interface on the market.

National Instruments, a leading provider of CAN hardware and software tools, offers CAN interfaces on a variety of platforms, including PCI, PXI, PCMCIA and CompactRIO. NI interfaces are available with high-speed, low-speed/fault-tolerant, single-wire and software-selectable physical layers.