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CAN & CANopen Studio

Universal CAN & CANopen Protocol Analyzer, Telemetry Plotter, and Transmit Station

CAN & CANopen Studio is a modern, modular, cross-platform protocol engineering suite designed for testing, reverse-engineering, diagnosing, and interacting with CAN bus networks and CANopen automation devices.

Initially created for electric kart telemetry (SEVCON Gen4 inverter & De Haardt safety transponders), it has been completely generalized into a universal tool compatible with industry standard hardware adapters, CiA 301 / CiA 402 drives, J1939 commercial vehicles, and arbitrary CAN traffic.

Key Highlights

  • Multi-Adapter Hardware Support: Direct plug-and-play support for SLCAN (Lawicel CANUSB, USBtin, CANable), PEAK-System PCAN, Kvaser, Vector XL, IXXAT, gs_usb (Candlelight), Linux SocketCAN, and built-in Virtual simulation loop.
  • Protocol & Device Decoders: Extensible decoding engine for generic CANopen (CiA 301 / CiA 402), SEVCON Gen4 inverters, De Haardt track safety transponders, 29-bit J1939 frames, and Raw CAN.
  • Multi-Trace Telemetry Oscilloscope: Real-time simultaneous time-series plotting of all 8 payload bytes (B0 to B7) or decoded physical values (RPM, torque, temperatures, voltage).
  • Network Node Monitor & Gauges: Live visual tracking of node NMT states (Operational, Pre-Operational, Stopped), message counters, and real-time RPM / torque dials.
  • Full Transmission Console: Generic NMT Master controller, high-precision SYNC clock pulse generator (50 Hz), arbitrary frame transmitter, and pre-configured frame templates library.
  • SDO Object Dictionary Explorer: Expedited dictionary reader and writer for inspecting and calibrating any CANopen node.
  • OBD-II Vehicle Diagnostics (SAE J1979): Live parameters, trouble codes and VIN over an ELM327 (USB, Bluetooth SPP, Wi-Fi) or straight over a native CAN adapter via ISO-TP. Supported PIDs are discovered from the vehicle rather than assumed, vehicle profiles inherit from a generic J1979 base, and everything is read-only by default.
  • Native Rust Engine: Frame parsing, CANopen classification, ISO-TP reassembly and the virtual simulator run as compiled code shared by every front end — see the measured results.
  • Wireshark and PulseView Export: Capture to PCAP-NG, live through a named pipe or into a file, and reconstruct the waveform a frame would have made as VCD for sigrok — one capture, the protocol in one tool and the bits in the other.
  • AI Agent Integration: Built-in MCP and A2A servers let an AI agent read the live trace, inspect nodes and telemetry, transmit frames, drive the NMT state machine and control the network bridge.
  • Real Bus Network Bridge: Mirror a physical CAN bus — a drive, an inverter, a live harness — onto a UDP multicast group so remote machines observe the real traffic as if they were wired to it.
  • Two Front Ends, One Engine: The full-featured Python studio, and a lean native front end built with Slint, both driving the same protocol core.
  • Integrated In-App Updater: Automated background checks against GitHub Releases, direct 1-click Windows installer upgrade, and Git update automation.

Quick Navigation

Getting started

Using the bus

Under the hood

Automation and project