What is SENT (SAE J2716)?

SENT (Single Edge Nibble Transmission) is the SAE J2716 / ISO 21097 single-wire digital protocol used by many modern automotive sensors - pressure, position, throttle, MAP and angle - to transmit data to an ECU. Each frame is a stream of 4-bit nibbles separated by falling edges, with a status nibble, data nibbles and a CRC.

What is the cheapest USB SENT analyzer?

The uCanDevices SENT USB Converter is an open-source SAE J2716 / ISO 21097 dongle around USD 23. It enumerates as a USB CDC virtual COM port on Windows 10+, Linux and macOS with no proprietary driver, and decodes 4, 6 and 8 nibble SENT sensors with both DATA_ONLY and STATUS_AND_DATA CRC modes.

Can it auto-detect SENT tick period and CRC mode from an unknown sensor?

Yes. Sending the control frame t600104 (CAN ID 0x600, DLC 1, data 0x04) puts the device in Learn mode. It auto-detects tick period (in 0.1 us units), nibble count (4, 6 or 8) and CRC mode, then replies once with a 0x601 result frame and stops RX. Send O afterwards to resume with the learned configuration.

Can it transmit SENT frames to simulate a sensor?

Yes. TX mode is started with t600102 (control frame, data 0x02). Frame data is then sent as 0x520 CAN frames where B0 is the status nibble, B1 to B4 are the data nibbles packed big-endian, and B5 to B6 are optional pause ticks in little-endian.

Which sensors are known to work?

Confirmed presets include MLX90377 angle sensor (3 us tick, 6 nibbles, DATA_ONLY, seed 0x03), the 04L 906 051 L VW/Audi DPF sensor (~3 us, 6 nibbles, STATUS_AND_DATA, seed 0x05) and the GM 12643955 MAP sensor (~3 us, 6 nibbles, DATA_ONLY, seed 0x05). For other sensors, use Learn mode to auto-detect.

Is the firmware open source?

Yes. Firmware runs on an STM32F042K6 (48 MHz HSI48) and is open source at https://github.com/ucandevices/SENTToUSB. A USB DFU bootloader is available for firmware updates. SENT Viewer 1.0 is a free GUI client.

SENT (SAE J2716) USB Converter

Name: SENT USB Converter (SAE J2716)
Brand: uCanDevices
SKU: SENTUSB
Price: 23.00 USD
Availability: InStock

Decode automotive SENT sensors over USB. Auto-learn tick and CRC, 4/6/8 nibble support, TX mode. Plug-and-play on Windows, Linux and macOS.

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