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The CCS C Compiler now supports sending and receiving CAN FD messages over the CAN Bus. This support is from the addition of two new drivers that compiler now comes with. The can-dspic33_fd.c driver is for dsPIC33CH and dsPIC33CK devices with a built-in CAN FD peripheral and the can-mcp2517.c driver is for a MCP2517FD external CAN FD controller. The MCP2517FD external CANFD controller uses an SPI interface to communicate, so it can be used with any PIC® microcontroller.
The CAN FD stands for CAN Flexible Data-Rate, the main improvements of CAN FD over CAN 2.0 is that the data rate switches to a faster rate after the arbitration bits are sent, and the maximum data packet size is increased from 8 bytes to 64 bytes. Both of this improvements allow for more data to be transferred in less time, increasing the throughput of the CAN Bus.
The CAN FD driver API was made to be as similar as possible to the current CAN driver provided in the CCS C Compiler. The CAN FD driver API is fully documented in the driver's .h files, however the following function will mostly likely be used in any CAN FD project being developed, can_init(), can_kbhit(), can_getd() and can_putd(). The can_init() function is used to initialize the peripheral and setup the baud rate, filters and objects used by the driver, this function also accepts an optional parameter to select what operation mode the CAN FD peripheral will be operating in when the function call is complete. The can_kbhit() function is used to check if any CAN messages were received by the RX object. The can_getd() function is used to retrieve received messages from the RX object. Finally the can-putd() function is used to load a message into the TX object to be sent on the CAN Bus.
Additionally to make is easier to setup the CAN FD peripheral the CAN FD driver as multiple preproccessor defines that can be made before the driver is included. The full list of the defines that can be made and their descriptions, including the default values, can be found in the driver's .h file. Some of the more common defines that will most likely be used are CAN_NOMINAL_BAUD_RATE, CAN_DATA_BAUD_RATE, CAN_TX_BUFFERS and CAN_RX_BUFFERS. The defines CAN_NOMINAL_BAUD_RATE and CAN_DATA_BAUD_RATE are used to set the bit rate used with CAN FD message frames during the arbitration and data periods respectively. The only requirements are that the CAN_CLOCKS_SPEED define must be evenly divisible by the rates, and the max CAN_NOMINAL_BAUD_RATE is 1,000,000 and the max CAN_DATA_BAUD_RATE is 8,000,000. For the built-in CAN FD peripheral the define CAN_CLOCK_SPEED is used to set the clock being presented to the peripheral. There are multiple ways the clock can be setup, see the can-dspic33_fd.h file for all options. By default the driver is setup to use the auxiliary clock setup for a speed of 80MHz. For the MCP2517FD controller the define CAN_CLOCK_SPEED is made automatically based on the define MCP2517_EXT_CLOCK_SPEED which is the speed of the external crystal connected the controller. Only a 4MHz, 20MHz or 40MHz crystal can be used with it, by default the driver is set to use a 20MHz crystal. The define CAN_TX_BUFFERS sets the size of the TX Queue object used to send messages, the number of messages that can be held in RAM to be sent on the CAN Bus. It can be set from 0 to 32, 0 disables the TX Queue object, the default size if 1. The define CAN_RX_BUFFERS sets the size of the FIFO 1 object which is setup as a receive FIFO by the driver, the number of received messages that can be held in RAM. It can be set from 0 to 32, 0 disables the FIFO 1 object, the default is 32 for the built-in CAN FD peripheral, and 16 for the MCP2517FD controller.
Finally a new CAN FD development kit will soon be available from CCS which contains a node with a dsPIC33CH128MP506 for using the can-dspic33_fd.c driver, and a node with the MCP2517FD external controller for using the can-mcp2517.c driver. In addition to the hardware the development kit comes with an exercise manual that has examples of using more of the CAN FD features, including setting up and using CAN filters, using multiple FIFO objects and using the CAN FD interrupts.
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About CCS:
CCS is a leading worldwide supplier of embedded software development tools that enable companies to develop premium products based on Microchip PIC® MCU and dsPIC® DSC devices. Complete proven tool chains from CCS include a code optimizing C compiler, application specific hardware platforms and software development kits. CCS' products accelerate development of energy saving industrial automation, wireless and wired communication, automotive, medical device and consumer product applications. Established in 1992, CCS is a Microchip Premier 3rd Party Partner. For more information, please visit http://www.ccsinfo.com.
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