CanKingdom
CANKingdom Specification
Read or download the specification here.
Technical Overview
CanKingdom is usually mentioned as a CAN (Controller Area Network) higher layer protocol, but it is more than that. Here is further information on the many facets of this communications protocol.
| Statement | Comments |
|---|---|
| CanKingdom is a CAN higher layer protocol. | Actually meta protocol is a more proper term. |
| The modules serve the network. | No system knowledge is required within any single node. |
| The King (system designer) takes the full responsibility for the system. | An example: In order to organize a plug & play system, the King specifies which nodes that may be added and under which circumstances. No nodes but the ones specified are allowed to be added. The King is represented in the system by the Capital (supervising node). |
| CanKingdom provides simple unique identification of system nodes. | The world wide product identification standard EAN/UPC is used for node identification. Individual node identification is provided by use of serial numbers. |
CanKingdom unleashes the full power of CAN. It gives a system designer maximum freedom to create his own system. The system designer is not bound to the CSMA/AMP multi-master protocol of CAN but can create systems using virtually any type of bus management and topology. CanKingdom opens the possibility for a module designer to design general modules without knowing in which system they will finally be integrated into and what type of higher layer CAN protocol it will have. As the system designer can allow only specific modules to be used in his system, the cost advantage of an open system can be combined with the security of a proprietary system!
Since the identifier in a CAN message not only identifies the message but also governs the bus access, a key factor is the enumeration of the messages. Another important factor is to see to it that the data structure in the data field is the same in both the transmitting and receiving modules. By adopting a few simple design rules these factors can be fully controlled and communication optimized for any system. This is done during a short setup phase at the initialization of the system. Including some modules not following the rules of the CanKingdom into a CanKingdom system is even possible.
CanKingdom also enforces a conform documentation of modules and systems.