Literature Describing MilCAN Building Blocks

Nov. 2, 2009 - PRLog -- The MilCAN standard has been defined by a group of interested companies and government bodies associated with the specification, manufacture and test of military vehicles. MilCAN is primarily used in British Army vehicles, such as the TITAN©, TROJAN©, and TERRIER©, as part of the UK Ministry of Defence’s Future Rapid Effect System (FRES) initiative.

The MilCAN physical layer conforms to the CAN standard ISO 11898. The CAN protocol is ideally suited for the tough environmental conditions experienced by military vehicles. CAN was originally designed for use in passenger automobiles, but, due to its extreme reliability, is also utilized in a great number of industrial applications. Many companies in the field of medical engineering chose CAN since they have to meet particularly strict safety requirements. Similar problems have been faced by manufacturers of other equipment with very high safety or reliability requirements, including robots, lifts and transportation systems.

The MilCAN A Standard uses a 29-Bit message identifier and it is based on the SAE J1939 Standard. J1939 defines serial data communications between microprocessor systems (also called Electronic Control Units - ECU) in any kind of heavy duty vehicles.

The MilCAN B standard uses an 11-Bit message identifier to provide compatibility with existing CANopen devices. CANopen is a higher layer protocol (HLP) on top of CAN, and it provides network management functions not supported by the original CAN standard.

With standards A and B, MilCAN utilizes the possibility to connect 11-Bit CANopen devices and 29-Bit SAE J1939 devices on the same network, thus gaining access to a great number of devices from Europe (primarily CANopen), and the United States (primarily SAE J1939).

“A Comprehensible Guide to Controller Area Network” by Wilfried Voss represents the most thoroughly researched and most complete work on CAN available in the marketplace. This book provides complete information on all CAN features and aspects combined with a high level of readability.

“A Comprehensible Guide to J1939” by Wilfried Voss is the first work on J1939 besides the SAE J1939 standards collection. It provides profound information on the J1939 message format and network management combined with a high level of readability.

“Embedded Networking with CAN and CANopen” by Olaf Pfeiffer, Andrew Ayre, and Christian Keydel provides a detailed look at both CAN and CANopen, this book examines those technologies in the context of embedded networks. There is an overview of general embedded networking and an introduction to the primary functionality provided by CANopen.

All books are available through Online booksellers such as Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes & Noble, and others. eBook (PDF) versions can be previewed and purchased through the Copperhill Media web site at http://www.copperhillmedia.com.

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Copperhill Media Corporation is a publisher of technical literature with special interest in Controller Area Network, CANopen and SAE J1939.