One of the first questions engineers ask when starting with SAE J1939 development is: “Which hardware platform should I use?” The good news is that there is no shortage of choices. Over the years I have worked with numerous embedded platforms, development environments, and operating systems. They all have their…
Posts tagged as “J1939 tutorial”
In this post, I would like to address what is arguably the most important concept in the SAE J1939 standard: the Parameter Group Number (PGN). PGNs are the heart and soul of J1939. Every application you design, whether it transmits engine speed, requests a VIN, or reports diagnostic information, revolves…
When I published Comprehensible Guide to J1939 several years ago, I honestly didn’t know what to expect. Today, it continues to sell well, and I still receive emails from engineers telling me it helped them finally understand SAE J1939 after struggling with the official documentation. That feedback has always meant…
If you are new to SAE J1939, the first thing you will probably do is search for the official standards documents. That usually leads to an immediate moment of confusion. You discover that SAE J1939 is not a single document. It is an entire collection of standards. Hundreds of pages.…
SAE J1939-22 is the CAN FD evolution of the J1939 family. In SAE’s own high-level description, it brings CAN’s flexible data rate capability into J1939 to support higher efficiency, parallel transactions, functional safety, and cybersecurity-oriented extensions, while preserving the J1939 application model built around PGNs, SPNs, source addresses, requests, diagnostics,…
I have long been a vocal critic of the barely readable standards issued by SAE International. And to be fair, SAE is hardly alone—standards bodies, as a species, seem united by a peculiar compulsion: the need to prove their intellectual worth by rendering their documents as impenetrable as possible. Clarity,…
Have you ever wondered how a heavy-duty truck knows something is wrong—before the driver even notices? Behind that quiet intelligence sits a structured conversation between electronic control units (ECUs), all speaking the same language: SAE J1939. It’s the backbone of communication in modern trucks, buses, construction equipment, and industrial machinery—and…
This article is part of our comprehensive SAE J1939 online documentation. The SAE J1939 Standards Collection serves as the comprehensive framework for communication and control within truck, bus, and off-road vehicle networks. It defines how electronic control units (ECUs) exchange data over the Controller Area Network (CAN), detailing message structures,…
