off_highway_can

The off_highway_can package provides a C++ library to

• receive can_msgs/Frame or socketcan_msgs/FdFrame ROS messages and decode their bytes into custom C++ message structures,
• encode the bytes of can_msgs/Frame or socketcan_msgs/FdFrame ROS messages from custom C++ message structures and send them.

The list of message structures containing the definition of a CAN message and signals need to be filled by derived classes for CAN node specific functionality. The more generic handling of a cyclic redundancy check and a rolling message counter per message is provided by the library. Have a look directly into the CAN message structure definition for further information.

Classes

Receiver

The off_highway_can::Receiver is an abstract base class and needs to be derived for specific sensor types and behavior. It provides the functionality to process can_msgs/Frame or socketcan_msgs/FdFrame ROS messages and decode configured ones based on provided message definitions. The decoded signal values are forwarded to the derived class for user-defined processing of them.

The off_highway_can::Receiver allows to switch between normal and FD CAN frames via the constructor argument use_fd.

The processing chain is based completely on message callbacks and thus event-based. The needed processing time per message can be logged as ROS debug message at runtime with the compile time optionCOMPILE_DEBUG_LOG.

Furthermore, the off_highway_can::Receiver provides a watchdog which checks whether any configured message was received in the period of time defined by the parameter timeout and sends a diagnostic error on the /diagnostics topic when a timeout occurs.

Subscribed Topics

• from_can_bus (can_msgs/Frame)
  • CAN frames to decode
  • Disabled by use_fd constructor argument
• from_can_bus_fd (socketcan_msgs/FdFrame)
  • CAN FD frames to decode
  • Enabled by use_fd constructor argument

Published Topics

• /diagnostics (diagnostic_msgs/DiagnosticArray)
  • Update Rate: normally 1 Hz, can be forced
  • Diagnostic error in base class only contains timeout status

Parameters

See receiver_params.yaml.

Sender

The off_highway_can::Sender is an abstract base class and needs to be derived for specific behavior. It provides the functionality to send can_msgs/Frame or socketcan_msgs/FdFrame ROS messages by encoding configured CAN messages as bytes based on provided message definitions. The encoded signal values are published to the to_can_bus or to_can_bus_fd topic.

The off_highway_can::Sender allows to switch between normal and FD CAN frames via the constructor argument use_fd.

The encoding and publishing chain is just a method call and thus event-based. The needed processing time to encode and publish all configured messages can be logged as ROS debug message at runtime with the compile time optionCOMPILE_DEBUG_LOG.

Furthermore, the off_highway_can::Sender provides a watchdog which checks whether a ROS message was published in a defined by the parameter timeout and sends a diagnostic error on the /diagnostics topic when a timeout occurs.

Published Topics

• to_can_bus (can_msgs/Frame)
  • Encoded CAN frames
  • Disabled by use_fd constructor argument
• to_can_bus_fd (socketcan_msgs/FdFrame)
  • CAN FD frames to decode
  • Enabled by use_fd constructor argument
• /diagnostics (diagnostic_msgs/DiagnosticArray)
  • Update Rate: normally 1 Hz, can be forced
  • Diagnostic status in base class only contains timeout status

Parameters

See sender_params.yaml.

Free and Open Source Software (FOSS)

File truncated at 100 lines see the full file

Changelog for package off_highway_can

0.9.0 (2025-06-16)

• Use lround and explicit cast
• Fix integer inputs for round test
• Contributors: Robin Petereit

0.8.0 (2025-03-24)

• Move test to emphasize external FOSS
• Add tests for encoding by round
• Replace truncation of physical value with round outside of FOSS Minimizes the floating point error such that half offset of resolution in tests is not needed anymore.
• Contributors: Calin-Vasile Sopterean, Robin Petereit

0.7.0 (2024-12-04)

• Update docs for CAN FD
• Check matching lengths in decoding
• Allow start bits in CAN FD range
• Make CRC and message counter optional
• Enable processing of CAN FD frames
• Remove unused definitions
• Do not force warnings as errors to fix rolling (#11)
• Contributors: Robin Petereit, Tim Clephas

0.6.3 (2024-07-09)

0.6.2 (2024-06-13)

0.6.1 (2024-06-04)

• Fix missing dependency that was find_packaged (#7)

  • Fix missing dependency that was find_packaged

  * Use ament_lint_common ---------

• Contributors: Tim Clephas

0.6.0 (2024-05-14)

• Switch from deprecated signature to const shared_ptr reference while still supporting efficient intra-process communication See https://github.com/ros2/rclcpp/pull/1598.
• Contributors: Sarah Huber

0.5.1 (2024-03-27)

• Align Clang FP contraction to GCC for passing tests
• Add virtual destructor for base class
• Contributors: Robin Petereit