CiA 306 
Electronic data sheet specification  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Version: 1.3.0 
01 January 2005 
!  CAN in Automation (CiA) e. V. 
DS 306 V1.3 
Electronic data sheet specification 
CiA 
History 
Date 
Version 
Changes 
2005-01-01 
1.3 
Publication as Draft Standard 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
General information on licensing and patents 
CAN  in  AUTOMATION  (CiA)  calls  attention  to  the  possibility  that  some  of  the  elements  of  this  CiA 
specification may be subject of patent rights. CiA shall not be responsible for identifying any or all such 
patent rights. 
Because  this  specification  is  licensed  free  of  charge,  there  is  no  warranty  for  this 
specification,  to  the  extent  permitted  by  applicable  law.  Except  when  otherwise  stated  in 
writing  the  copyright  holder  and/or  other  parties  provide  this  specification  “as  is”  without 
warranty  of  any  kind,  either  expressed  or  implied,  including,  but  not  limited  to,  the  implied 
warranties  of  merchantability  and  fitness  for  a  particular  purpose.  The  entire  risk  as  to  the 
correctness and completeness of the specification is with you. Should this specification prove 
failures, you assume the cost of all necessary servicing, repair or correction. 
Trademarks 
CANopen® and CiA® are registered community trademarks of CAN in Automation. The use is 
restricted for CiA members or owners of CANopen vendor ID. More detailed terms for the use 
are available from CiA.  
© CiA 2005 
All  rights  reserved.  Unless  otherwise  specified,  no  part  of  this  publication  may  be  reproduced  or 
utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and microfilm, 
without permission in writing from CiA at the address below. 
CAN in Automation e. V. 
Kontumazgarten 3 
DE - 90429 Nuremberg, Germany 
Tel.: +49-911-928819-0 
Fax: +49-911-928819-79 
Url: www.can-cia.org 
Email: headquarters@can-cia.org 
2 
 
© CiA 2005 – All rights reserved 
DS 306 V1.3 
Electronic data sheet specification 
CiA 
Contents 
1  Scope ...................................................................................................................................................... 4 
2  References ............................................................................................................................................. 5 
3  Abbreviations and definitions ............................................................................................................ 6 
3.1  Abbreviations.................................................................................................................................... 6 
3.2  Definitions ......................................................................................................................................... 7 
4  Electronic data sheet specification ................................................................................................... 8 
4.1  General ............................................................................................................................................. 8 
4.2  Basic structure.................................................................................................................................. 8 
4.3  Entry value interpretation................................................................................................................. 9 
4.4  File information............................................................................................................................... 11 
4.5  General device information ........................................................................................................... 12 
4.6  Object dictionary ............................................................................................................................ 14 
4.6.1  General .................................................................................................................................... 14 
4.6.2  Mapping of dummy entries ..................................................................................................... 14 
4.6.3  Object descriptions.................................................................................................................. 15 
4.6.4  Object links .............................................................................................................................. 20 
4.6.5  Comments ............................................................................................................................... 20 
5  Device configuration file DCF........................................................................................................... 22 
5.1  General ........................................................................................................................................... 22 
5.2  File information section.................................................................................................................. 22 
5.3  Object sections............................................................................................................................... 22 
5.3.1  Parameter value in standard description............................................................................... 22 
5.3.2  Denotation ............................................................................................................................... 23 
5.3.3  Compact storage ..................................................................................................................... 23 
6  Module concept ................................................................................................................................... 26 
6.1  General ........................................................................................................................................... 26 
6.2  Electronic data sheet ..................................................................................................................... 26 
6.2.1  Assignment of extension modules ......................................................................................... 26 
6.2.2  PDOs........................................................................................................................................ 26 
6.3  Module description......................................................................................................................... 27 
6.4  Device configuration file ................................................................................................................ 28 
6.5  Example .......................................................................................................................................... 29 
© CiA 2005 – All rights reserved 
 
3 
DS 306 V1.3 
Electronic data sheet specification 
CiA 
1 
Scope 
The usage of devices in a communication network requires configuration of the device parameters and 
communication  facilities.  CANopen  defines  a  standardised  way  to  access  these  parameters  via  the 
object dictionary. 
For  handling  of  the  complexity  of  CANopen  systems  software  tools  are  required.  This  reduces  the 
complexity of the planning, configuration and analysis process and significantly increases the security 
of the system.  
For this purpose software  tools need an electronic description of the CANopen devices. To allow the 
usage  of  manufacturer  independent  tools,  this  document  defines  a  standardised  file  format –  called 
Electronic Data Sheet. 
Furthermore  some  derived  file  formats  are  specified.  The  Device  Configuration  File  describes  a 
concrete incarnation of a device configuration. The Module Data Sheet describes modules of devices 
with a modular structure. 
4 
 
© CiA 2005 – All rights reserved 
DS 306 V1.3 
Electronic data sheet specification 
CiA 
2  References 
/CiA301/ 
CiA 301, CANopen application layer and communication profile 
/CiA302/ 
CiA  302, CANopen framework  for CANopen  managers and programmable CANopen 
devices 
/CiA401/ 
CiA 401, CANopen device profile generic I/O modules 
/CiA405/ 
CiA 405, CANopen interface and device profile for IEC 61131 programmable devices 
/ISO646/ 
ISO/IEC 646, ISO 7-bit coded character set for information interchange 
 
© CiA 2005 – All rights reserved 
 
5 
DS 306 V1.3 
Electronic data sheet specification 
CiA 
3  Abbreviations and definitions 
3.1  Abbreviations 
ASCII 
American standard code for information interchange 
CAN 
COB 
Controller area network 
Communication object 
COB-ID 
COB identifier 
CR 
DCF 
DIN 
EBNF 
EDS 
ID 
ISO 
LF 
LSS 
MD 
MDS 
NMT 
OS 
OSI 
PDO 
RPDO 
SDO 
TPDO 
Carriage return 
Device configuration file 
Deutsches Institut für Normung 
Extended Backus-Naur form 
Electronic data sheet 
Identifier 
International standardisation organisation 
Line feed 
Layer settings specification 
Module description 
Module data sheet 
Network management 
Operation system 
Open systems interconnection 
Process data object 
Receive PDO 
Service data object 
Transmit PDO 
6 
 
© CiA 2005 – All rights reserved 
DS 306 V1.3 
Electronic data sheet specification 
CiA 
3.2  Definitions 
The definitions given in /CiA301/ and /CiA405/ shall apply to this specification, too. 
Notation for the time: 
hh:mm (AM/PM) 
 
 
 
hh: 
mm: 
two decimal digits which represent the hours 
two decimal digits which represent the minutes 
(AM/PM) 
two characters which represent if the time is located forenoon or 
afternoon 
Notation for the date: 
mm:dd:yyyy 
mm: 
dd: 
yyyy 
two decimal digits which represent the month 
two decimal digits which represent the day 
four decimal digits which represent the year 
 
 
 
 
© CiA 2005 – All rights reserved 
 
7 
DS 306 V1.3 
Electronic data sheet specification 
CiA 
4 
Electronic data sheet specification 
4.1  General 
In order to give the user of a CANopen device more support the device description shall be available 
in a standardised way. This gives the opportunity to create standardised tools for: 
•  Configuration of CANopen devices, 
•  Designing networks with CANopen devices, 
•  Managing project information on different platforms. 
Therefore two types of files are introduced to define a CANopen device with electronically means.  
An EDS may be used to describe the: 
•  Communication functionality and objects as defined in /CiA301/ and Application Frameworks 
•  Device specific objects as defined in the device profiles 
The EDS serves as template for a device „XY“ of the vendor „UV“. The DCF describes the incarnation 
of a configured device not only with the objects but also with the values of the objects. Furthermore it 
contains a value for the bitrate of a device and for the node-ID. 
EDS
DFC
device
Electronic
Data
Sheet -
serves as
template
for
different
configu-
rations for
one
device
type
1000 kBit/s
ID = 2
250 kBit/s
ID = 55
20 kBit/s
ID = 110
Figure 1: EDS structure 
 
An EDS is supplied by the vendor of a particular device. If a vendor provides no EDS for his CANopen 
devices a default EDS might be used. The default  EDS comprises all entries of a device profile for a 
particular  device  class.  The  user  shall  be  aware,  that  the  description  is  different  from  the  concretely 
implemented features of that device, what may cause severe problems! 
4.2  Basic structure  
The files are ASCII-coded, the /ISO646/ character set shall be used.  
The lines shall be ended by a LF character or by a CR / LF combination. The total length of a line shall 
not exceed 255 characters. 
8 
 
© CiA 2005 – All rights reserved