Skip to content

Nvidia Jetson Setup

Many (maybe all) NVIDIA Jetson boards include an onboard CAN-FD controller. However, very few NVIDIA Jetson carrier boards include a CAN-FD transceiver. The former manages the logic level CAN-FD protocol, the latter translates to the electrical wire interface and both are required.

There are three major options for communicating with moteus controllers from an NVIDIA Jetson board:

  1. USB Adapter: A mjcanfd-usb-1x or similar USB adapter can be used. This is simple and relatively convenient, although is bulky and can be unreliable in systems that experience physical vibration or EMI.

  2. PCIe/m.2 Adapter: Many Jetson boards have an accessible m.2 slot. These can be used with adapters like the PEAK m.2 CAN-FD adapter. Do note that some Jetson carrier boards have an m.2 adapter, but it is physically mounted in such a way that precludes using the PEAK adapter specifically because mechanical interference would result.

  3. Onboard Jetson Controller: To use this, you either need a carrier board with a CAN-FD transceiver, or you must connect an external transceiver to the appropriate pins.

For option 2 or 3, you then configure the CAN-FD interface using the same method as for any socketcan device. That reference is here: