socketcan_adapter_ros

A ROS2 wrapper for the socketcan_adapter library, providing ROS2 nodes and launch files for easy integration with ROS2 systems.

Dependencies

• socketcan_adapter - Core SocketCAN library
• rclcpp - ROS2 C++ client library
• rclcpp_lifecycle - ROS2 lifecycle node support
• can_msgs - ROS2 CAN message definitions

Build

Install dependencies:

rosdep install -i -y --from-paths socketcan_adapter_ros

Build:

colcon build --packages-up-to socketcan_adapter_ros

Usage

Launch the CAN Bridge Node

ros2 launch socketcan_adapter_ros socketcan_bridge_launch.py

Launch Parameters

• can_interface: CAN interface to connect to (default: “can0”)
• can_error_mask: CAN error mask (default: 0x1FFFFFFF - everything allowed)
• can_filter_list: CAN filters as list of ID/mask pairs (default: [])
• join_filters: Use joining logic for filters (default: false)
• auto_configure: Automatically configure the lifecycle node (default: true)
• auto_activate: Automatically activate the lifecycle node post configuration (default: true)

Example Launch with Parameters

ros2 launch socketcan_adapter_ros socketcan_bridge_launch.py \
    can_interface:=can1 \
    can_error_mask:=0x1F \
    can_filter_list:="[{id: 0x123, mask: 0x7FF}, {id: 0x456, mask: 0x7FF}]"

Manual Lifecycle Management

If you prefer manual control over the lifecycle:

# Launch without auto-activation
ros2 launch socketcan_adapter_ros socketcan_bridge_launch.py \
    auto_configure:=false \
    auto_activate:=false

# Configure the node
ros2 lifecycle set /socketcan_bridge configure

# Activate the node
ros2 lifecycle set /socketcan_bridge activate

Topics

Published Topics

• /can_rx (can_msgs/msg/Frame) - Received CAN frames from the bus

Subscribed Topics

• /can_tx (can_msgs/msg/Frame) - CAN frames to transmit to the bus

Node Details

The socketcan_bridge node is implemented as a ROS2 lifecycle node

Parameters

The node accepts the following ROS2 parameters:

• can_interface (string): Name of the CAN interface (e.g., “can0”, “vcan0”)
• error_mask (int): CAN error mask for filtering error frames
• filters (array): List of CAN filter objects with id and mask fields
• join_filters (bool): Whether to use joining logic for multiple filters

Requirements

• ROS2 (Humble or later)
• Linux system with SocketCAN support
• socketcan_adapter library
• Active CAN interface (real or virtual)