Chapter 15 CANopen Overview│CP2000 
 
15-5 
SDO (Service Data Objects) 
Use SDO to access the Object Dictionary in every CANopen node using the Client / Server model. 
One SDO has two COB-ID (request SDO and response SDO) to upload or download data between 
two nodes. There is no data limit for SDOs to transfer data, but it must transfer data by segment 
when the data exceeds four bytes with an end signal in the last segment.   
The Object Dictionary (OD) is a group of objects in a CANopen node. Every node has an OD in the 
system, and OD contains all parameters describing the device and its network behavior. The access 
path in the OD is the index and sub-index; each object has a unique index in the OD, and has a 
sub-index if necessary. 
PDO (Process Data Object) 
PDO  communication  can  be  described  by  the  producer  /  consumer  model.  Each  node  of  the 
network listens to the messages of the transmission node and distinguishes whether the message 
has to be processed or not after receiving the message. A PDO can be transmitted from one device 
to one another device or to many other devices. Every PDO has two PDO services: a TxPDO and 
an RxPDO. PDOs are transmitted in a non-confirmed mode. All transmission types are listed in the 
following table: 
Type Number 
PDO 
Cyclic  Acyclic  Synchronous  Asynchronous  RTR only 
0 
 ○  ○     
1–240 
○    ○     
241–251 
Reserved 
252 
  ○    ○ 
253 
    ○ ○ 
254 
    ○   
255 
    ○   
Type number 0 indicates the synchronous aperiodic message between two PDO transmissions. 
Type number 1–240 indicates the number of SYNC message between two PDO transmissions.   
Type number 252 indicates the data is updated (but not sent) immediately after receiving SYNC.   
Type number 253 indicates the data is updated immediately after receiving RTR.   
Type number 254 indicates that Delta CANopen does not support this transmission format. 
Type number 255 indicates the data is an asynchronous aperiodic transmission. 
All PDO transmission data must be mapped to index via Object Dictionary.   
EMCY (Emergency Object) 
When errors  occur  inside  the  hardware,  an  emergency  object  is  triggered.  An  emergency 
object is only sent when an error occurs. As long as there is nothing wrong with the hardware, there 
is no emergency object warning of an error message.