Chinese Version

CAN Driver for Windows

-Powerful Driver Software with common Programming Interface for all IXXAT PC/CAN

Overview

The universal CAN driver "Virtual CAN Interface (VCI)" for Windows supports all passive and active PC/CAN boards from IXXAT and is delivered free of charge with the boards.

As DLL for Windows 9x/Me/NT/XP, the VCI provides an interface for user programs that are developed with Windows development tools (e.g. Visual-C++, Delphi, C++-Builder, Visual Basic). The special feature of the VCI is its common programming interface (CAN-API), which allows switching between the various board types without adapting the user software.

Use of the VCI under Visual Basic and LabView is simplified by the provision of a "VCI-Wrapper" in form of an automation-compatible COM port.

Due to the wide functionality in connection with the good real-time-capability, the VCI is the ideal interface for many CAN applications on the PC, such as analysis tools, control, visualization, service and configuration programs.

The VCI CAN driver supports two CAN channels per CAN board and several, also different types of PC/CAN boards in one PC simultaneously. An application program can thus also be implemented, for example, as a gateway between several different CAN network.

Messages are received either via queues or buffers. In the case of queues, various possibilities are provided for event-controlled processing of the received messages. Where active CAN boards are used, reception of CAN messages and message filtering are carried out by the microcontroller system of the CAN board. This considerably reduces the load on the PC and on the application program and guarantee loss-free reception of CAN messages even if the PC is currently occupied with other tasks. In addition, the time-stamp is also generated by the microcontroller system, which guarantees an exact time reference. A simple CAN bus monitor, "miniMon", is also delivered together with the VCI CAN driver which displays the messages transmitted on the CAN bus and enables messages to be transmitted.

Basic Functions of the VCI-CAN Driver

Receive queues (FIFOs)

Several queues can be created for the reception of CAN messages, where specific messages can be assigned to each queue. The queues guarantee reception of messages at the correct time without losing "old messages" Queues can be provided with corresponding "fill-level marks", so that an event is transmitted to the application when a certain fill level is exceeded. Every message in a receive queue is provided with a 32-bit time-stamp. Other CAN events, such as the reception of error frames, can also be provided via a receive queue of the application.

Receive buffers

On message buffer per CAN identifier can be created according to the FullCAN principle in which the message received last is saved. This means that old data are overwritten by new data. In addition, each message buffer has a counter that records the number of messages received. The application therefore always has the current data available, which can be read independently of the time at which the messages were received.

Remote buffers

For messages that should be able to be requested by CAN nodes via remote frame, remote buffers can be created. These are used to save messages and can be read by the other CAN node. The application is then only responsible for providing the current data in each case.

Transmit queues

For the transmission of messages, one or more transmit queues can be created which are processed by the VCI CAN driver according to their priority. High-priority queues are emptied first before a low-priority queue is processed.

Further Functions of the VCI-CAN Driver

Convenient board installation via the Windows device manager Dialog to select the installed boards, easy to integrate into own applications Management functions for start-up and testing of the PC/CAN interface board Automatic download of firmware for active boards directly from the driver, thus simple firmware updates possbile Standard (11-bit identifier, CAN 2.0A) and extended protocol (29-bit identifier, CAN 2.0B) Detection and display of the bus load (only with active CAN boards) Reception of self-transmitted messages (self-reception), operation in "Listen only mode" possible Cyclic transmission of CAN messages

New Functions of the VCI V3

The 2.x version of the VCI CAN driver available today is sophisticated, comprehensive command library for accessing CAN systems. The 3.0 version of the VCI has a greatly simplified user interface, although the scope of functions was considerably extended in various respects.

In addition to a further improved performance of the VCI, several applications can now access the same CAN board. The VCI is also extended correspondingly with respect to the use of IXXAT CAN boards in real-time-critical applications. In the case of active CAN boards it is now possible for CAN messages to be transmitted by the microcontroller of the CAN boards cyclically according to a pre-configured time scale.

Simple Installation of the CAN Boards

The CAN boards are installed according to the Windows standard. After installation, the data of the installed CAN board in are entered in the registry. The control panel contains the program module "IXXAT interfaces". This provides an overview of the CAN boards installed on a PC with all hardware-specific parameters such as address and interrupt. In addtion it enables a test of the CAN board. If several CAN boards are installed, one can be defined as the default CAN board.

Fax: +86-10-82357574