The Controller Area Network (CAN or CAN-Bus) is used in vehicles (cars, trucks),
as kind of an industrial "Fieldbus", but also in marine applications.
Vision Systems provides many models of adapters, to connect a computer to the CAN-Bus.
Customers create their own applications to perform specific tasks.
Now as a new tool Vision Systems offers the software
BUSMASTER.
This is an Open Source Application, originally created by Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions (RBEI).
It is designed to "simulate, analyze and test data bus systems such as CAN".
Vision Systems invests efforts necessary to have BUSMASTER support the VSCAN products, and will continue to do so.
Since version 1.6.8 BUSMASTER uses the VSCAN API to control CAN Adapters from VScom. Since all these adapters support the
VSCAN API interface,
all of the VSCAN adapters are supported by BUSMASTER, not only selected models like USB-CAN.
So BUSMASTER can perform the task with adapters built-in or attached to a PC, but also can do that via networks.
Even via Internet such operations are possible.
In monitoring and analyse BUSMASTER basically reads all transmissions and data on the CAN-Bus lines.
But in difference to some other tools it not only interprets the CAN data direct (OSI Layer 2).
It also understands higher data protocols (OSI Layer 7), such as J1939.
Since BUSMASTER is Open Source, the capabilities are permanently extended.
New protocols implemented later are also understood when used with a VSCAN adapter.
Customers can extend BUSMASTER, or use it as it is. Later versions may provide more benefits.
BUSMASTER can monitor the CAN-Bus, and store all data plain in a log.
Further it can identify the parameters and values from implemented high level protocols, and send them into a database.
But users can also send their own data onto the CANB-Bus. Another option is sending parts of a saved log file
as new data to the bus (Replay Mode).
