# PiCCANTE

> Raspberry Pi Pico firmware and hardware designs for a low-cost CAN bus interface aimed at exploring and reverse engineering vehicle networks. It runs two CAN 2.0B channels on RP2040 boards or three on RP2350 boards through the PIO-based can2040 library and exposes them over USB as a GVRET device for SavvyCAN and as per-channel SLCAN devices for Linux SocketCAN via can-utils. A configuration shell, a partial ELM327 emulator for OBD-II PID requests with ISO-TP multi-frame replies, and Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and a web interface on Pico W boards complete the firmware, alongside perfboard and KiCad PCB designs with 3D-printable cases for an OBD-II dongle.

- Type: Tool
- Targets: Protocol
- Category: Protocol analysis tools
- Relationship: Foundation tool
- Sources reviewed: 2026-10-20
- Added to the catalog: 2026-11-02
- Original resource: <https://github.com/Alia5/PiCCANTE>
- Primary source: <https://github.com/Alia5/PiCCANTE/blob/62ede82f56ae1cc4addf9ef7b7bf20d447d8d712/Readme.md>
- Catalog page: <https://awesomerea.org/resources/piccante/>
- Record JSON: <https://awesomerea.org/resources/piccante/record.json>
- Chinese version: [简体中文](https://awesomerea.org/zh/resources/piccante/index.md)

## Requirements & limits

- Only release at review: v0.0.1, published 2025-05-03 with UF2 and ELF firmware for Pico, Pico W, Pico 2 and Pico 2 W; a dev-latest pre-release is rebuilt from main and was built from the reviewed commit of 2026-01-26. The README marks the ELM327 emulator as partial, lacking CAN setup, protocol auto-detection and filters, and lists SD-card logging and software CAN filters as planned. CAN FD and CAN XL are not supported.
- Hardware is any Raspberry Pi Pico or Pico 2 board with one to three 3.3 V CAN transceivers such as the SN65HVD; the Pico 2 W is recommended for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. The README warns that the 120-ohm termination resistor on most transceiver breakout boards must be removed before joining an existing, terminated bus, and urges caution when connecting to vehicle systems. The OBD-II dongle can add a buck converter, an SD card slot and a voltage divider for battery voltage.
- Source builds need the Raspberry Pi Pico SDK, CMake 3.13+ and the GCC ARM toolchain, with FreeRTOS-Kernel, a can2040 fork, littlefs, TinyUSB, pico-extras and FreeRTOS-FAT-CLI as submodules; PICO_BOARD defaults to pico2_w, and the web interface is a separate Svelte project in Web/. CI builds firmware for the four Pico boards on pushes to main and on pull requests, and no test suite is documented.
- GPL-3.0-or-later per LICENSE.txt and the README notice; the README attributes the CAN 2.0B-only limit to can2040's licensing, and the bundled DHCP server code carries an MIT notice. No separate license is stated for the KiCad, STL and STEP hardware files.

## Primary sources

1. <https://github.com/Alia5/PiCCANTE/blob/62ede82f56ae1cc4addf9ef7b7bf20d447d8d712/Readme.md>
2. <https://github.com/Alia5/PiCCANTE/blob/62ede82f56ae1cc4addf9ef7b7bf20d447d8d712/.gitmodules>
3. <https://github.com/Alia5/PiCCANTE/blob/62ede82f56ae1cc4addf9ef7b7bf20d447d8d712/CMakeLists.txt>
4. <https://github.com/Alia5/PiCCANTE/blob/62ede82f56ae1cc4addf9ef7b7bf20d447d8d712/.github/workflows/build_base.yml>
5. <https://github.com/Alia5/PiCCANTE/blob/62ede82f56ae1cc4addf9ef7b7bf20d447d8d712/.github/workflows/PR_check.yml>
6. <https://github.com/Alia5/PiCCANTE/tree/62ede82f56ae1cc4addf9ef7b7bf20d447d8d712/hardware/PiCCANTE-OBD-Dongle>
7. <https://github.com/Alia5/PiCCANTE/tree/62ede82f56ae1cc4addf9ef7b7bf20d447d8d712/src/ELM327>
8. <https://github.com/Alia5/PiCCANTE/blob/62ede82f56ae1cc4addf9ef7b7bf20d447d8d712/LICENSE.txt>
9. <https://github.com/Alia5/PiCCANTE/releases/tag/v0.0.1>
10. <https://github.com/Alia5/PiCCANTE/releases/tag/dev-latest>

## More in Protocols

- [VanBus](https://awesomerea.org/resources/vanbus/index.md) · Tool
- [Apple Continuity Reverse Engineering Toolkit](https://awesomerea.org/resources/apple-continuity-tools/index.md) · Tool
- [Cabana (standalone openpilot-cabana)](https://awesomerea.org/resources/openpilot-cabana/index.md) · Tool
- [eCapture](https://awesomerea.org/resources/ecapture/index.md) · Tool
- [USBPcap](https://awesomerea.org/resources/usbpcap/index.md) · Tool
- [cantools](https://awesomerea.org/resources/cantools/index.md) · Tool

## About this entry

The description was reviewed against primary sources.
Original editorial content: MIT. Linked projects, papers and assets retain their own rights and licenses.