CAN Info Mail

This monthly email is for all CAN fellows.
November 2021

A word from the CiA Managing Director

Chip shortage and broken supply chains are the challenges, which are faced by many manufacturers of electronic control modules, sensors, and actuators. The automotive industry is affected heavily. Carmakers stopped production temporarily, because ECU (electronic control unit) deliveries are delayed or even stopped. Some ECU providers are really in trouble.

Micro-controller units (MCU) with CAN on-chip are not sufficiently available. Especially, automotive-qualified MCUs are rare. One of the reasons is the Covid-19 caused lockdown in Malaysia in the first half of this year. Another reason is a fire-accident in one of the Renesas chip plants in May. According to OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) and chipmakers, this situation will remain in the next year and perhaps longer. Tier1s such as Bosch increase investment in plants producing their own integrated circuits. Additionally, the traditional chipmakers try to build new facilities in the near future. Read the CAN Newsletter Online report for more details.

In these days, many electronic development departments are busy to substitute the missing components by available ones. To replace an MCU is not that simple. It can require a redesign of the printed-circuit board, if the available substitute is not pin-compatible. In many cases, also the software needs to be re-written. Tesla has done this successfully for one ECU within some weeks.

This situation causes also delays in the development of new products. Having this in mind, I do not expect so many new devices shown on the SPS tradeshow in Nuremberg this month. Everybody is happy to be able to satisfy existing orders of customers. Nevertheless, CiA has made some progress in respect to new and improved specifications. Especially, CAN XL and CAN FD Light have seen the light of day. But there are also several updated CiA profiles mappable to CANopen, CANopen FD, and some also to J1939.

The CiA team lead by Reiner Zitzmann would be happy to discuss the above-mentioned topics with you on the CiA booth at the SPS fairground. The CiA stand is in hall 5/410. I will also be on the fairground to provide background information on the future of CAN and the upcoming CiA specifications. If you like, I can come to your SPS booth to give you first-hand information about CAN technology news. Appointments are scheduled and coordinated by the CiA office.

 

Meet CiA representatives at SPS 2021

At SPS 2021, CiA has a booth in hall 5, stand 410. The CiA team lead by Reiner Zitzmann would be happy to discuss the above-mentioned topics with you on the CiA booth at the SPS fairground. CiA is looking forward to assisting you in case of any CAN-related technical or marketing-oriented questions. CiA appreciates meeting you in person again. Holger Zeltwanger will also be on the fairground to provide background information on the future of CAN and the upcoming CiA specifications. If you like, he can come to your SPS booth to give you first-hand information about CAN technology news. Contact CiA office for arranging appointments at SPS 2021, with Holger Zeltwanger, or further CiA representatives.

SIG fire-fighting vehicles inaugurated

CiA members have established the special interest group (SIG) fire-fighting (for example, aerial working platform, liquid/foam container, and vehicle stabilizer). It is going to develop profile specifications for fire-fighting equipment. The SIG intends to support the standardization activities for fire-fighting equipment as standardized in DIN 14700 (CANopen-based). Additionally, the group specifies dedicated requirements for in-vehicle gateways as already provided by CiA 413 (CANopen) and DIN 14704 (J1939).

CAN Newsletter with record download numbers

The full magazines of the June and September issues of the CAN Newsletter have been downloaded more than 9 200 times (June) and 6 300 times (September), retrieved on October 25. The single articles have been downloaded more than 4 400 times (June) and more than 2 900 times (September). The two-part article “Comparing CAN, CAN FD, and Ethernet” seems to be of high interest for the CAN community. In Part 1, the test environment setup as well as the evaluation criteria for the comparative analysis are introduced. Part 2 provides related results and discussion.

First face-to-face CANopen Lift plugfest

CiA hosted the first CANopen Lift plugfest after the Covid19-caused pandemic on September 28, 2021. Host controller manufacturers tested successfully the interoperability of CANopen devices supporting the application profile for lift control systems (CiA 417). The valuable results allow all participants to improve their devices. The gained feedback can also be used for improvement of the CiA 417 specification on one of the next SIG Lift meetings. The CANopen application profile for lift control systems, also known as CANopen Lift specification, defines the communication interfaces for different virtual devices.

CAN Newsletter magazine

The September issue provides several CAN and CANopen application reports, e.g. about rescue stairs, an autonomous transport shuttle, and pharmacy picking systems.

The articles can be downloaded individually or you can download the entire magazine.

Recommended CAN Newsletter Online articles in October

CiA 601-4: CAN SIC transceivers for vehicle platform
NXP Semiconductors announced the ramp-up of its TJA146x CAN signal improvement capability (CAN SIC) transceivers into Changan’s (China) latest vehicle platform.

Technical documents

CiA develops and publishes technical documents. CiA documents in Public Available Specification (PAS) or Technical Report (TR) status can be downloaded free of charge by CiA-members and non-members after registration. CiA documents classified as Draft Specification (DS) are accessible for CiA members and non-members can subscribe them. Draft Specification Proposal (DSP) documents are limited to CiA members requiring a login (only for CiA-members).

Online seminars

Webinars

1 in English language
2 in Russian language
3 in Chinese language

New CiA members since the last CiA Info Mail (CIM)

CiA has 726 members (November 02, 2021).

CiA Product Guides

Renewed entries

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© CAN in Automation (CiA) e. V.
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