can: can327: CAN/ldisc driver for ELM327 based OBD-II adapters

This is the can327 driver. It does a surprisingly good job at turning
ELM327 based OBD-II interfaces into cheap CAN interfaces for simple
homebrew projects.

Please see the included documentation for details and limitations:
Documentation/networking/device_drivers/can/can327.rst

Link: https://lore.kernel.org/all/[email protected]
Signed-off-by: Max Staudt <[email protected]>
Reviewed-by: Vincent Mailhol <[email protected]>
[mkl: minor coding style improvements]
Signed-off-by: Marc Kleine-Budde <[email protected]>

Author: Max Staudt

Documentation/networking/device_drivers/can/can327.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,331 @@
+.. SPDX-License-Identifier: (GPL-2.0-only OR BSD-3-Clause)
+
+can327: ELM327 driver for Linux SocketCAN
+==========================================
+
+Authors
+--------
+
+Max Staudt <[email protected]>
+
+
+
+Motivation
+-----------
+
+This driver aims to lower the initial cost for hackers interested in
+working with CAN buses.
+
+CAN adapters are expensive, few, and far between.
+ELM327 interfaces are cheap and plentiful.
+Let's use ELM327s as CAN adapters.
+
+
+
+Introduction
+-------------
+
+This driver is an effort to turn abundant ELM327 based OBD interfaces
+into full fledged (as far as possible) CAN interfaces.
+
+Since the ELM327 was never meant to be a stand alone CAN controller,
+the driver has to switch between its modes as quickly as possible in
+order to fake full-duplex operation.
+
+As such, can327 is a best effort driver. However, this is more than
+enough to implement simple request-response protocols (such as OBD II),
+and to monitor broadcast messages on a bus (such as in a vehicle).
+
+Most ELM327s come as nondescript serial devices, attached via USB or
+Bluetooth. The driver cannot recognize them by itself, and as such it
+is up to the user to attach it in form of a TTY line discipline
+(similar to PPP, SLIP, slcan, ...).
+
+This driver is meant for ELM327 versions 1.4b and up, see below for
+known limitations in older controllers and clones.
+
+
+
+Data sheet
+-----------
+
+The official data sheets can be found at ELM electronics' home page:
+
+  https://www.elmelectronics.com/
+
+
+
+How to attach the line discipline
+----------------------------------
+
+Every ELM327 chip is factory programmed to operate at a serial setting
+of 38400 baud/s, 8 data bits, no parity, 1 stopbit.
+
+If you have kept this default configuration, the line discipline can
+be attached on a command prompt as follows::
+
+    sudo ldattach \
+           --debug \
+           --speed 38400 \
+           --eightbits \
+           --noparity \
+           --onestopbit \
+           --iflag -ICRNL,INLCR,-IXOFF \
+           30 \
+           /dev/ttyUSB0
+
+To change the ELM327's serial settings, please refer to its data
+sheet. This needs to be done before attaching the line discipline.
+
+Once the ldisc is attached, the CAN interface starts out unconfigured.
+Set the speed before starting it::
+
+    # The interface needs to be down to change parameters
+    sudo ip link set can0 down
+    sudo ip link set can0 type can bitrate 500000
+    sudo ip link set can0 up
+
+500000 bit/s is a common rate for OBD-II diagnostics.
+If you're connecting straight to a car's OBD port, this is the speed
+that most cars (but not all!) expect.
+
+After this, you can set out as usual with candump, cansniffer, etc.
+
+
+
+How to check the controller version
+------------------------------------
+
+Use a terminal program to attach to the controller.
+
+After issuing the "``AT WS``" command, the controller will respond with
+its version::
+
+    >AT WS
+
+
+    ELM327 v1.4b
+
+    >
+
+Note that clones may claim to be any version they like.
+It is not indicative of their actual feature set.
+
+
+
+
+Communication example
+----------------------
+
+This is a short and incomplete introduction on how to talk to an ELM327.
+It is here to guide understanding of the controller's and the driver's
+limitation (listed below) as well as manual testing.
+
+
+The ELM327 has two modes:
+
+- Command mode
+- Reception mode
+
+In command mode, it expects one command per line, terminated by CR.
+By default, the prompt is a "``>``", after which a command can be
+entered::
+
+    >ATE1
+    OK
+    >
+
+The init script in the driver switches off several configuration options
+that are only meaningful in the original OBD scenario the chip is meant
+for, and are actually a hindrance for can327.
+
+
+When a command is not recognized, such as by an older version of the
+ELM327, a question mark is printed as a response instead of OK::
+
+    >ATUNKNOWN
+    ?
+    >
+
+At present, can327 does not evaluate this response. See the section
+below on known limitations for details.
+
+
+When a CAN frame is to be sent, the target address is configured, after
+which the frame is sent as a command that consists of the data's hex
+dump::
+
+    >ATSH123
+    OK
+    >DEADBEEF12345678
+    OK
+    >
+
+The above interaction sends the SFF frame "``DE AD BE EF 12 34 56 78``"
+with (11 bit) CAN ID ``0x123``.
+For this to function, the controller must be configured for SFF sending
+mode (using "``AT PB``", see code or datasheet).
+
+
+Once a frame has been sent and wait-for-reply mode is on (``ATR1``,
+configured on ``listen-only=off``), or when the reply timeout expires
+and the driver sets the controller into monitoring mode (``ATMA``),
+the ELM327 will send one line for each received CAN frame, consisting
+of CAN ID, DLC, and data::
+
+    123 8 DEADBEEF12345678
+
+For EFF (29 bit) CAN frames, the address format is slightly different,
+which can327 uses to tell the two apart::
+
+    12 34 56 78 8 DEADBEEF12345678
+
+The ELM327 will receive both SFF and EFF frames - the current CAN
+config (``ATPB``) does not matter.
+
+
+If the ELM327's internal UART sending buffer runs full, it will abort
+the monitoring mode, print "BUFFER FULL" and drop back into command
+mode. Note that in this case, unlike with other error messages, the
+error message may appear on the same line as the last (usually
+incomplete) data frame::
+
+    12 34 56 78 8 DEADBEEF123 BUFFER FULL
+
+
+
+Known limitations of the controller
+------------------------------------
+
+- Clone devices ("v1.5" and others)
+
+  Sending RTR frames is not supported and will be dropped silently.
+
+  Receiving RTR with DLC 8 will appear to be a regular frame with
+  the last received frame's DLC and payload.
+
+  "``AT CSM``" (CAN Silent Monitoring, i.e. don't send CAN ACKs) is
+  not supported, and is hard coded to ON. Thus, frames are not ACKed
+  while listening: "``AT MA``" (Monitor All) will always be "silent".
+  However, immediately after sending a frame, the ELM327 will be in
+  "receive reply" mode, in which it *does* ACK any received frames.
+  Once the bus goes silent, or an error occurs (such as BUFFER FULL),
+  or the receive reply timeout runs out, the ELM327 will end reply
+  reception mode on its own and can327 will fall back to "``AT MA``"
+  in order to keep monitoring the bus.
+
+  Other limitations may apply, depending on the clone and the quality
+  of its firmware.
+
+
+- All versions
+
+  No full duplex operation is supported. The driver will switch
+  between input/output mode as quickly as possible.
+
+  The length of outgoing RTR frames cannot be set. In fact, some
+  clones (tested with one identifying as "``v1.5``") are unable to
+  send RTR frames at all.
+
+  We don't have a way to get real-time notifications on CAN errors.
+  While there is a command (``AT CS``) to retrieve some basic stats,
+  we don't poll it as it would force us to interrupt reception mode.
+
+
+- Versions prior to 1.4b
+
+  These versions do not send CAN ACKs when in monitoring mode (AT MA).
+  However, they do send ACKs while waiting for a reply immediately
+  after sending a frame. The driver maximizes this time to make the
+  controller as useful as possible.
+
+  Starting with version 1.4b, the ELM327 supports the "``AT CSM``"
+  command, and the "listen-only" CAN option will take effect.
+
+
+- Versions prior to 1.4
+
+  These chips do not support the "``AT PB``" command, and thus cannot
+  change bitrate or SFF/EFF mode on-the-fly. This will have to be
+  programmed by the user before attaching the line discipline. See the
+  data sheet for details.
+
+
+- Versions prior to 1.3
+
+  These chips cannot be used at all with can327. They do not support
+  the "``AT D1``" command, which is necessary to avoid parsing conflicts
+  on incoming data, as well as distinction of RTR frame lengths.
+
+  Specifically, this allows for easy distinction of SFF and EFF
+  frames, and to check whether frames are complete. While it is possible
+  to deduce the type and length from the length of the line the ELM327
+  sends us, this method fails when the ELM327's UART output buffer
+  overruns. It may abort sending in the middle of the line, which will
+  then be mistaken for something else.
+
+
+
+Known limitations of the driver
+--------------------------------
+
+- No 8/7 timing.
+
+  ELM327 can only set CAN bitrates that are of the form 500000/n, where
+  n is an integer divisor.
+  However there is an exception: With a separate flag, it may set the
+  speed to be 8/7 of the speed indicated by the divisor.
+  This mode is not currently implemented.
+
+- No evaluation of command responses.
+
+  The ELM327 will reply with OK when a command is understood, and with ?
+  when it is not. The driver does not currently check this, and simply
+  assumes that the chip understands every command.
+  The driver is built such that functionality degrades gracefully
+  nevertheless. See the section on known limitations of the controller.
+
+- No use of hardware CAN ID filtering
+
+  An ELM327's UART sending buffer will easily overflow on heavy CAN bus
+  load, resulting in the "``BUFFER FULL``" message. Using the hardware
+  filters available through "``AT CF xxx``" and "``AT CM xxx``" would be
+  helpful here, however SocketCAN does not currently provide a facility
+  to make use of such hardware features.
+
+
+
+Rationale behind the chosen configuration
+------------------------------------------
+
+``AT E1``
+  Echo on
+
+  We need this to be able to get a prompt reliably.
+
+``AT S1``
+  Spaces on
+
+  We need this to distinguish 11/29 bit CAN addresses received.
+
+  Note:
+  We can usually do this using the line length (odd/even),
+  but this fails if the line is not transmitted fully to
+  the host (BUFFER FULL).
+
+``AT D1``
+  DLC on
+
+  We need this to tell the "length" of RTR frames.
+
+
+
+A note on CAN bus termination
+------------------------------
+
+Your adapter may have resistors soldered in which are meant to terminate
+the bus. This is correct when it is plugged into a OBD-II socket, but
+not helpful when trying to tap into the middle of an existing CAN bus.
+
+If communications don't work with the adapter connected, check for the
+termination resistors on its PCB and try removing them.

Documentation/networking/device_drivers/can/index.rst

@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ Contents:
 .. toctree::
    :maxdepth: 2
 
+   can327
    ctu/ctucanfd-driver
    freescale/flexcan
 

MAINTAINERS

@@ -7315,6 +7315,13 @@ L:	[email protected]
 S:	Maintained
 F:	drivers/net/ethernet/ibm/ehea/
 
+ELM327 CAN NETWORK DRIVER
+M:	Max Staudt <[email protected]>
+L:	[email protected]
+S:	Maintained
+F:	Documentation/networking/device_drivers/can/can327.rst
+F:	drivers/net/can/can327.c
+
 EM28XX VIDEO4LINUX DRIVER
 M:	Mauro Carvalho Chehab <[email protected]>
 L:	[email protected]

drivers/net/can/Kconfig

@@ -113,6 +113,24 @@ config CAN_AT91
 	  This is a driver for the SoC CAN controller in Atmel's AT91SAM9263
 	  and AT91SAM9X5 processors.
 
+config CAN_CAN327
+	tristate "Serial / USB serial ELM327 based OBD-II Interfaces (can327)"
+	depends on TTY
+	select CAN_RX_OFFLOAD
+	help
+	  CAN driver for several 'low cost' OBD-II interfaces based on the
+	  ELM327 OBD-II interpreter chip.
+
+	  This is a best effort driver - the ELM327 interface was never
+	  designed to be used as a standalone CAN interface. However, it can
+	  still be used for simple request-response protocols (such as OBD II),
+	  and to monitor broadcast messages on a bus (such as in a vehicle).
+
+	  Please refer to the documentation for information on how to use it:
+	  Documentation/networking/device_drivers/can/can327.rst
+
+	  If this driver is built as a module, it will be called can327.
+
 config CAN_FLEXCAN
 	tristate "Support for Freescale FLEXCAN based chips"
 	depends on OF || COLDFIRE || COMPILE_TEST

drivers/net/can/Makefile

@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ obj-y				+= usb/
 obj-y				+= softing/
 
 obj-$(CONFIG_CAN_AT91)		+= at91_can.o
+obj-$(CONFIG_CAN_CAN327)	+= can327.o
 obj-$(CONFIG_CAN_CC770)		+= cc770/
 obj-$(CONFIG_CAN_C_CAN)		+= c_can/
 obj-$(CONFIG_CAN_CTUCANFD)	+= ctucanfd/