CAN XL demonstrators

At the Embedded World trade show Bosch, NXP, and Vector will present running CAN XL networks. CAN XL is the third CAN protocol generation featuring bit rates up to 20 Mbit/s and data field length up to 2048 byte.

The nonprofit CiA (CAN in Automation) association shows in Nuremberg on its booth (hall 1/203) two CAN XL demonstrators. One is provided by NXP. It runs at 20 Mbit/s in the data phase using engineering samples of its CAN SIC XL transceivers. The arbitration (nominal) bit rate is 500 kbit/s and error signaling is switched off. The demonstrator by Vector also shown on the CiA booth is related to service-oriented communication based on CAN XL. There is a third CAN XL demonstrator on the Bosch booth (hall 4/334). It uses the company’s CAN XL IP cores implemented in FPGAs.

“CAN XL is more than just a data link and physical layer improvement,” said Holger Zeltwanger, CiA Managing Director, “it is a complete ecosystem.” It offers embedded protocol management functions allowing to run simultaneously different higher-layer protocols and to support virtual networking.” In addition, there are optional functions such as CANsec (cybersecurity at line speed) and frame fragmentation specified.

CiA members developed the related specifications (CiA 610 series). The data link layer and physical coding sub-layer (CiA 610-1) has been submitted to ISO for integration into the next edition of ISO 11898-1. The CiA 610-3 CAN XL SIC specification (physical medium attachment sub-layer) is already part of the ISO 11898-2 standard. It also covers the CAN SIC transceiver specification, originally specified in CiA 601-4.