CANalyzer is an analysis

Metrology

Metrology is the science of measurement. Metrology includes all theoretical and practical aspects of measurement. The word comes from Greek μέτρον , "measure" + "λόγος" , amongst others meaning "speech, oration, discourse, quote, study, calculation, reason"...

 software tool from Vector Informatik GmbH

Vector Informatik

Vector Informatik develops software tools and components for networking of electronic systems based on the serial bus systems CAN, LIN, FlexRay, MOST, Ethernet and SAE J1708 as well as on CAN-based protocols such as SAE J1939, SAE J1587, ISO 11783, NMEA 2000, ARINC 825, CANaerospace, CANopen and...

. This development software is widely used, primarily by automotive and electronic control unit suppliers, to analyze the data traffic in serial bus systems. The most relevant bus systems here are CAN

Controller Area Network

Controller–area network is a vehicle bus standard designed to allow microcontrollers and devices to communicate with each other within a vehicle without a host computer....

, LIN

Local Interconnect Network

The LIN-Bus is a vehicle bus standard or computer networking bus-system used within current automotive network architectures....

, FlexRay

FlexRay

FlexRay is an automotive network communications protocol developed by the . It is designed to be faster and more reliable than CAN and TTP, but is also more expensive...

, Ethernet

Ethernet

Ethernet is a family of computer networking technologies for local area networks commercially introduced in 1980. Standardized in IEEE 802.3, Ethernet has largely replaced competing wired LAN technologies....

 and MOST as well as CAN-based protocols such as J1939

J1939

Society of Automotive Engineers SAE J1939 is the vehicle bus standard used for communication and diagnostics among vehicle components, originally by the car and heavy duty truck industry in the United States....

, CANopen

CANopen

CANopen is a communication protocol and device profile specification for embedded systems used in automation. In terms of the OSI model, CANopen implements the layers above and including the network layer. The CANopen standard consists of an addressing scheme, several small communication protocols...

, ARINC 825

ARINC 825

- ARINC Specification 825 - The General Standardization of CAN for Airborne Use :Controller Area Network increasingly found its way into aerospace applications because of its cost effective and efficient networking capability for systems employing the Line-replaceable unit concept to share data...

 and many more.

Description

Vector first offered CANalyzer on the market in 1992 – the world’s first CAN software tool. CANalyzer has been continually updated since then, and today it is considered the world’s leading analysis tool for CAN buses. Besides its primary field of application, which is in-vehicle electronic networking in the automotive industry, CANalyzer is also used in many other industries such as rail transportation, heavy-duty vehicles, special-purpose vehicles, avionics, medical technology and many more.
New technologies based on IP architectures in the automotive industry
are supported by CANalyzer.

In addition to its robust bus monitoring functionality, CANalyzer also contains many stimulation and analysis functions for triggering and analyzing message traffic and data contents. These functions are incorporated in a measurement setup. Users can configure and extend the tool’s functionality with an integrated compiling programming language.
Data is displayed and evaluated in both raw and symbolic formats. Back in 1992, Vector had already developed the DBC data format, which has become the de-facto standard in the automotive industry for exchanging CAN descriptions. Relevant standards are supported for other bus systems as well, such as FIBEX

Fibex

The Field Bus Exchange Format is being adopted by the automotive industry for its ease of data/information exchange. FIBEX is an XML-based standardised format used for representing the networks used in the automobile. It has extensibility required for the various network protocols used. It is...

 for FlexRay, LDF for LIN and EDS/DCF/XDD for CANopen.

Versions

Version 1.0 was released in 1992. The current version of CANalyzer is 7.6 (Revised: June 2011).
Program Levels
CANalyzer is available in different variants. They relate to the software’s functional features (fundamental, expert and professional), supported bus systems (CAN, FlexRay, etc.) and supported higher-level protocol options (SAE J1939, CANopen, etc.).

Additional resources

• Pfeiffer, Ayre, Keydel: Embedded Networking with CAN and CANopen, RTC Books San Clemente, USA, 2003 (eng)
• Pfeiffer, Ayre, Keydel: Embedded Networking with CAN and CANopen, RTC Books, Japan, 2006 (jap)
• CAN-Show-Premiere, Report about the CiA booth on the fair Interkama 1992, in Markt&Technik Nr.45, November 6th, 1992 (German)
• Develop CAN applications faster - CAN tools: News at a glance, in Markt&Technik Nr.45, November 6th, 1992 (German)