CAN FD: The Ultimate Guide (2023)

What is CAN FD?

CAN FD is a shortcut of Controller Area Network Flexible Data-Rate. It is a data communication protocol or also known as CAN FD protocol, commonly used for broadcasting sensor data and control information.

Benefits of CAN FD

There are several great benefits of implementing the CAN FD protocol. We will mention four main benefits below:

• Smooth transition.

• Increased reliability.

• Increased speed.

• Increased length of data bytes.

Generally speaking, CAN FD can improve network bandwidth by 3 to 8 times more than a classical CAN.

As we already mentioned before, CAN FD can handle more data at a faster rate. Some of the common applications can be seen below:

• Robotics.

• Electric Vehicles (EV).

• Trucks and buses.

• ECU flashing.

• Safe driving.

• Secure CAN Bus.

The applications can be done by connecting the Telematics Unit to an OBD2 port in your vehicle.

CAN FD vs CAN

The main difference between CAN FD and CAN is the flexible data. It means that using CAN FD, Electronic Control Units(ECUs) can easily switch to different data rates with either larger or smaller message sizes.

CAN FD offer faster data speed and more data capacity enhancements than classical CAN. This usually applies to companies in need of using lots of data, where classical CAN might cause some issues. CAN FD can then become the solution for many businesses, due to their specific needs of transferring more amounts of data.

SocketCAN

SocketCAN, formerly known as Low-Level CAN Framework is a set of open-source CAN drivers. Traditional CAN drivers are only allowed to send data to and receive from the CAN controller. Easily explained, it means that only single processes can occur, which means that all other processes are blocked.

On the other side, SocketCAN allows multiple applications to access one CAN device, as well as one application to access multiple CAN networks, making the whole process much more effective and convenient.

We are currently working on a new CAN FD device, which will be capable of all the things mentioned previously. Contact us for further info.

CAN FD frame

CAN FD frame offer extra data bytes in addition to a classical CAN. Do you want to see the difference between a classical CAN frame and a CAN FD frame? Then take a look below.

As stated before, it is forecasted that CAN FD will take over classical CAN in the upcoming years. A couple of examples of CAN FD usage in the future can be seen below.

• CANopen FD will be adopted via CiA 1301 1.0.

• J1939-22 will use CAN FD data frames.

• The first CAN FD capable cars were expected to be sold in 2021.

• CAN FD is expected to be used in most of the new vehicles and other applications.

• Will use 2 Mbit/s and increasing to 5 Mbit/s.

As we see increasing needs for faster data rates and more robust solutions, we have developed the next generation of CAN Bus data - the TMU CAN FD device.

Next generation of the CAN FD

We listened to your needs and we developed the advanced Telematics Unit CAN FD. The device offers a 2x CAN FD interface and easily accessible outputs, allowing you to easily complete your advanced projects. It allows running full LINUX OS, making it possible to build any solution on top of ours.

Learn more about the next-generation CAN FD device here.

Contact us if you want to kickstart your project with us and find out more details about the next-generation device.

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