CAN (Controller Area Network) on Android

Question

I am trying to connect control multiple device on the network centrally via a tablet/android device and have some issues trying to find the right protocol for secure communication.

Is there a api available for coding/utilizing CAN network on android over Ethernet/Bluetooth/Wifi ? Or is there another protocol that is more suitable for my application?

Thank you.

Answer 1

What you are able to use will be determined by what protocol your devices support.

However, the use of a CAN bus is meant primarily to reduce wiring between the components, so implementing it over a wireless protocol is pretty much nonsense.

Considering you have the alternatives you mentioned (Ethernet/Bluetooth/Wifi), assuming some kind of TCP/IP network between your devices HTTPS would be a reasonable protocol to use.

Answer 2

Another way is to use a CAN bus to Android dongle specifically designed for this application. It uses Google's USB open accessory to communicate through USB.

Answer 3

If you have a PC with CAN adapter, you can use https://github.com/dschanoeh/socketcand daemon and an app (you'll have to write it yourself using available Java classes from https://github.com/dschanoeh/Kayak) on your tablet to directly communicate with CAN nodes.

Another way is to use some Ethernet/Wifi gateway like NetCAN Plus 110 Mini or NetCAN Plus 120 WLAN. You'll need to write an Android app opening a TCP channel and talking ASCII protocol to these gateways.

For Bluetooth http://www.rmcan.com/index.php?id=1067