Does the .NET Micro Framework support the CAN bus?

Question

I know that the .NET Microframework supports the I²C bus. Are there some libraries for CAN or CANOpen too?

If not, does it support CAN without using other peripherials? Can I build CAN support myself?

Regards,
Markus

Answer 1

Support regarding CAN can be very specific to the hardware layer underneath. Does the chip have mailboxes? How many? Do they support extended IDs or just standard IDs? What sort of autorouting is supported by a mailbox / channel?

Basically, I think any libraries you might find are going to be tied specifically to a hardware interface.

You might want to take a look at National Instruments - they tend to provide robust libraries for their hardware, even if they aren't the cheapest.

Answer 2

The offerings from GHI support CAN through their .NET Micro extensions. See here for a development system: http://www.ghielectronics.com/product/108

Refer to the documentation here for details on the CAN implementation: http://www.ghielectronics.com/downloads/EmbeddedMaster/LibraryDocumentation/Index.html

Answer 3

I'm currently using a USB to CAN-bus adaptor from IXXAT

http://www.ixxat.com/usb-to-can-compact-interface_en.html

They provide an up to date DLL and C# bindings

http://www.ixxat.com/can_driver_for_windows_en.html

Which I'm using to read and write data to a CAN-bus network.