Diagnostics on Vector CANoe - Part 1

Vector provides a solid diagnostics framework to communicate with ECU's. Take the first step into diagnostics on Vector CANoe in this article

Diagnostics are one of the most important parts of modern ECU's, especially if they are thoroughly implemented, without being overwhelming. Not only in development, but if you ever saw the MIL (Malfunction Indication Light) coming on, that means some diagnostic went on to deliver such a warning! This is why we love diagnostics here, they are useful. We already made quite a few articles (with more to come) related to diagnostics, but how do we see them in action? Well, one could buy a device that costs very little, a simple OBD-II reader, or, use Vector tools, if you are a total professional. We already explored a bit of their CAPL language, in Vector CAPL Tutorial (opens in a new tab). Today, we will learn how to configure UDS communication in Vector CANoe.

It's safe to say, that before we go too deep into the theory, you should have some basic knowledge of the topics in discussion today. So, you may want to take a read on our articles UDS Overview (opens in a new tab) and UDS Frames and NRC Codes (opens in a new tab), to get an overview of the UDS protocol, if this is new to you, and CAN-TP Overview (opens in a new tab), to learn about the PDUs involved in UDS communication. Although CANoe also supports KWP (KeyWord Protocol), we are not focusing on it today, but we will cover it in the future and compare it to UDS. Another thing to take into consideration is that this will become a series of articles, as it's impossible to cover everything related to CANoe and diagnostics without writing a book! So, we'll deliver this to you in bite-sized pieces.

Let's start! When we open CANoe, you have one tab related to diagnostics. From left to right, let's analyse it:

CANoe diagnostics tab

From left to right, we have:

• Diagnostic / ISO TP - Where you configure the diagnostic descriptions for all the networks you want and modify dedicated parameters, such as the CAN IDs for communication

• Basic Diagnostic - Here you can describe some simple diagnostic services (not only for UDS, but also KWP), for some popular bus protocols, such as CAN (which you can learn more about in our article CAN Protocol Overview (opens in a new tab)), LIN, FlexRay and K-line

• Diagnostic Parameters - In this window you can set diagnostic response parameters and configure the associated requests, to then send them through mouse clicks, or cyclically when the measurement starts. The results are then displayed in this window and on the trace windows for CANoe

• Diagnostic Console - Makes it possible and simple to send a single diagnostics and observe the responses

• Fault Memory - Easy read access to the fault memory within your ECU. It also allows you to delete single entries from it. To use this feature at full strength, you will need a database in a diagnostic description format (CDD, ODX or MDX). If you are unfamiliar with the fault memory, you can read our article DEM Overview (opens in a new tab), where we touch slightly on the concept

• Session Control - Allows you to switch the diagnostic session level of the ECU interactively, and control its communication management settings

• OBD-II - Makes it possible for you to execute On-Board Diagnostics according to the SAE J1979 standard

• Diagnostic Window - Clusters some diagnostics features into a single window. You can set the diagnostic-related features present in this window as you desire

• CANdelaStudio - Shortcut to open the CANdelaStudio app from Vector. This app allows you to create a formal diagnostic specification for your ECU. Then, you can use this output specification to ease your work into the CANoe diagnostics and use the features at full strength

• ODXStudio - Shortcut to the app ODXStudio from Vector, which is a dianostic authoring tool for data in the ODX (Open Diagnostic eXchange) format, an XML-based ASAM standard for describing diagnostically relevant ECU data. Since this format is independent from OEMs, it makes a good candidate for joint OEM efforts

• J1939 DTC Monitor - Display and request error codes (DTC's), freeze frames and diagnostic messages over the J1939 protocol. We will cover J1939 soon. For now, J1939 is the open standard for communication over CAN on heavy duty vehicles. It allows for a standardized collaboration between manufacturers, so, it's quite cool

• J1939 Diagnostic Memory Access - It allows you to read and write parts of the memory and execute a boot load procedure, over the J1939 protocol, using the DM14, DM15, DM16 and DM18 diagnostic messages, which we'll cover soon here

• J1939 OBD I / M-Monitor - Allows you to configure diagnostic messages of type DM7 and sent them to the ECUs in the network, as part of the J1939 protocol for On-Board Diagnostic Inspection and Maintenance Monitor

• J1587 DC Monitor - Based on the J1587 protocol, which is a standard for data exchanged between ECUs using the SAE J1708 physical layer for heavy duty vehicles, the DC (DiagnostiC) monitor examines the diagnostic messages, displays them and allows you to send requests and retrieve the requested diagnostic data

From this description, you can see that some of these functionalities overlap. You can do the same as provided in the Fault Memory and Session Control windows in the Diagnostic Console window, just with a lower level of abstraction. The good thing is, you can create a dedicated window on CANoe where this is organized as you see fit. So, there is a user interface for everyone. Lastly, we can see the tab also contains some XCP functionalities. We will leave them for another set of articles, as XCP is a development module, and a bit different from diagnostics. If you want to learn more about it, you can read our article What is XCP (opens in a new tab).

As you can see, today we covered all the categories available for use in CANoe, and it looks like we have some homework! Specially near the end, some new concepts related to heavy duty vehicles started popping up, and we'll for sure cover them in the upcoming articles, as a support base to continue our learning of the powerful Vector CANoe diagnostic features. For today, though, let's digest these categories, refresh some old concepts and enjoy the day. See you in the next part!