FAQ

BlackBird

  • Do I need two Blackbirds to establish one wireless CAN connection?

    No, you only need one Blackbird.  A Blackbird can connect to an existing wireless router network in infrastructure mode or directly to a PC in ad hoc mode.  The PC will use our standard Windows drivers to configure the Blackbird and select the Blackbird for use.

  • Can Kvaser’s wireless Blackbird products provide cell (i.e. 3G/4G/LTE) connectivity?

    No, Kvaser does not have this connectivity at this time.

  • Can I programatically setup my BlackBird?

    Yes, by using our supporting library kvrlib.

    Kvrlib can be used to connect to units connected to the host computer, scan for networks, and all other configuration that is usually done trough the Kvaser Hardware -> Tools -> Setup a Kvaser Blackbird / Select Kvaser BlackBird from the Network configuration tools.

    Once a BlackBird or Blackbird v2 is configured and setup for use on a specific computer, Canlib can be used as usual, just as if the unit was connected on USB.

    Kvrlib comes with the canlib install.

  • How can I use my mobile device to access a CAN bus?

    For mobile access, we recommend our BlackBird v2, which provides a REST api , which means that you can wirelessly connect to, and get data from, a BlackBird v2 from any device that has a web browser, such as an iPhone, Windows Phone or Android device.

    You can find some examples and specifications in the REST api download in the download section of the Kvaser website.

    If you want to stay on USB, it get’s a bit trickier.
    We have an old Windows CE driver, but it’s not actively developed any more, so that is not a path we generally recommend, but it still works on some CE based operating system.
    We do have an open sourced Linux driver, which can be used as a basis for creating you own driver for any platform.

  • What delay can I expect from using a wireless unit?

    Of course, with wireless you don’t get any guarantees, but we typically see a round trip time of less than 10 ms using a Kvaser Blackbird.

  • Can I use my Blackbird as a USB-to-CAN interface?

    Yes, the Kvaser Blackbird v2, Blackbird Semipro HS and Kvaser Blackbird Semipro HS/HS can all be used in either WLAN mode or in a direct USB-to-CAN mode.

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