National Instruments USB-8501 CAN Interface Device

The NI USB-8501 (Part Numbers: 786306-01 and 786307-01) is a Low-Speed/Fault Tolerant Controller Area Network (CAN) Interface Device from National Instruments. This device is fully compatible with the NI-XNET drivers. The USB-8501 is offered in two variations: with one port and with two ports. This device is bus-powered. Thus, you can operate this device by connecting to any standard USB 2.0 port, since it will draw the required power from the host port without needing an external power adapter or power supply.

The NI USB-8501 CAN Interface Device is a viable solution in applications where thousands of CAN signals and CAN frames are involved, such as automation, bus monitoring, control, and more. The DMA engine in the USB-8501 utilizes the integrated processes and onboard hardware resources to move CAN signals and frames between the user program and the interface without putting any stress on the CPU of the host machine. Thus, the NI USB-8501 CAN Interface Device can operate with minimal message latency and without using any hardware resources of the host processor, even while handling the most complicated applications.

The three-pin COMBICON connector on the USB-8501 is provided to let the device synchronize the onboard time-base with various kinds of external devices. Moreover, the COMBICON connector can also be used for external triggering. This CAN Interface Device comes equipped with an NXP TJA1055T transceiver that can operate at a maximum baud rate of 125 Kbps. The above-mentioned synch port is a 5V TTL compatible port. The NI USB-8501 has a 2 meter long captive USB cable.