Posted to News on 18th Jun 2008, 18:34
CANopen device profile for generic I/O modules v3.0
CAN in Automation (CiA) is releasing the CiA 401 CANopen device profile for generic I/O modules version 3.0 as a draft standard (DS). This device profile enables connection of digital and analogue I/O modules to a CANopen network.
The digital I/O values may be grouped to 8-bit, 16-bit or 32-bit values, which makes it possible to address up to 8128 I/O. Analogue measurements feature signed integer. Float data types with resolution of up to 32-bit are possible.
Special I/O devices (eg joysticks) are defined in the appendices of the specification. Version 3.0 enables the indication of manufacturer-specific PDO mapping in the device type object. The new version features dead-band objects and additional PDO mappings for joystick devices. Additionally, a warning is sent if the 'global analogue input interrupt' is disabled.
The first CiA 401 specification was released in December 1996 and is widely used in automation and many other industries including medical devices, off-highway vehicles, etc. CiA has already developed the CiA 401 conformance test plan (CiA 312-2). A related test tool is under development.
