No. 15 - October 25, 2024
A word from the CiA Managing Director
CiA participated with a small booth in the Innotrans fair in Berlin, Germany. It is the largest trade fair for transport technology, which set several records at its 14th edition from 24 to 27 September 2024. It occupied all the exhibition halls and the entire outdoor and track area of the Exhibition Grounds of Messe Berlin and offered the largest exhibition space since its foundation in 1996. In total, there were 2940 exhibitors from 59 countries and around 170 000 visitors from 133 countries.
Although CAN solutions were not prominently showcased, there were several advanced CAN-based networks embedded in locomotives, coaches, and other rolling stock applications. While these systems were not visible to visitors or explicitly highlighted, there was still considerable interest. At the CiA booth, several visitors engaged with CiA representatives in meaningful discussions about CAN applications in the railway sector, extending to infrastructure devices. According to Reiner Zitzmann, CEO of CiA GmbH, there was a notable interest in functional safety and cybersecurity solutions suitable for CAN and CANopen. However, despite fewer inquiries about CAN FD and CAN XL, the overall engagement reaffirmed a strong and ongoing interest in CAN technology in rolling stock applications, both now and in the future.
From October 8 to 10, 2024, CiA exhibited at the Embedded World North America fair in Austin (Texas), U.S.A. This trade show took place for the first time. There were 180 exhibitors and about 3 500 visitors. This means, it was more or less a regional event. CiA exhibited a CAN XL demonstrator. The conference presentation by Thilo Schumann was attented by about 40 engineers. Some of them visited the CiA booth to get more information about CAN XL. The next Embedded World North America will take place in Anaheim, California. The date is November 4 to 6, 2025. The decision, if CiA will participate with a booth will be taken by the CiA Business Committee in the December meeting.
The next exhibition in this year, in which CiA will participate with an own booth (hall 5/410) is the SPS (Smart Production Solutions) in Nuremberg. It takes place from November 12 to 14. According to the organizer, more than 1600 exhibitors are registered. On the CiA booth, some members exhibit CAN products by means of the well-known CANopen walls. As usual, this tradeshow is a good opportunity to discuss the latest developments in CAN technology with CiA representatives. Interested parties are welcome to make an appointment in advance by email.
End of November (26 to 29), CiA participates in the Bauma China trade fair in Shanghai. CiA is a sub-exhibitor on the German pavilion (N2/727). This exhibition addresses construction machines and vehicles, building material machines, mining machines, etc. CAN-based networks are used in many of such vehicles and machines.
J1939-based specifications and standards
SAE International has released a new version of the J1939DA (digital annex), specifying parameter groups (PG) and suspect parameters (SP) for heavy-duty road vehicles and other applications. ISO has started the revision of the ISO 11992-2 standard (J1939-based PGs and SPs for braking and running gear), which is referenced by European legislation for the communication between towing and towed heavy-duty road vehicles. It is intended to merge this standard with ISO 11992-3 (PGs and SPs for other than braking and running gear functions).
HMS acquires Peak-System
CiA member HMS Networks (Sweden) sees several synergies between its Ixxat business unit and Peak-System (Germany), when it comes to product development and cross-selling, utilizing the sales channels of both companies. CiA member Peak-System offers mainly CAN interface devices and has developed its own CAN CC/FD/XL cores.
Monolithic CiA 408 profile released as DS
CiA has published the CiA 408 version 2.2.0 as draft specification (DS). It specifies the CANopen communication and application functions for hydrostatic transmissions (e.g., drive, axis), hydraulic proportional valves, and hydrostatic pumps. It can also be applied to pneumatic devices. The document is now available for non-members as part of the CiA specification subscription.
CAN Newsletter magazine
The September issue contains an article about physical layer options in CAN XL networks by Magnus Hell (Infineon), the CiA Technical Director. He explains in detail the scalability of CAN physical medium attachment (PMA) options as specified in ISO 11898-2:2024.
The articles can be downloaded individually or you can download the entire magazine.
The editors of the CAN Newsletter magazine are calling for latest product news to be reported in the December issue. Deadline is November 8, 2024.
Onsite seminar for CAN and CANopen newcomers
On November 7 (9:00 to 17:00, UTC+1), CiA organizes an onsite seminar in German language. The seminar takes place at the CiA office in Nuremberg (Germany). Participants learn the basic principles of CANopen CC (CiA 301), additional CANopen CC functions, and CANopen device/application profiles. As CANopen is a CAN-based higher layer protocol, the onsite seminar covers also CAN physical layer and CAN data link layer aspects. Additionally, an introduction into the CANopen FD protocol (CiA 1301) is given. Interested parties are welcome to register via email.
CAN XL webinar organzied by Hongke
CiA participates in the CAN XL webinar organized by CiA member Hongke (China). In addition to the presentations given by the organizer and CiA, the SIG CAN XL chairperson, Dr. Arthur Mutter (Robert Bosch), and the chairperson of the IG lower layers as well as SIG CAN XL TF physical layer, Magnus Hell (Infineon), also present details on CAN XL. More information about the CAN XL webinar, the agenda, and registration options can be found here.
Controlling cameras via CANopen
Camera data is normally not communicated via CAN networks. However, controlling cameras via CAN-based interfaces is an interesting option. In order to do so, the CiA 462 profile for item detection devices is an option. But this profile does not provide features to move the camera or to adjust the focus. If you are interested in specifying the controlling of cameras, please contact CiA office.
Greenhouse automation
SO/TC 347 (data-driven agrifood systems) has established the AHG (ad-hoc group) 3, which is going to standardize a framework for communication systems to be used in greenhouse automation. This could include dedicated profiles, which can be mapped to CANopen, for example. CiA office is participating in the AHG 3. Parties interested in more details should contact CiA office. In the September issue of CAN Newsletter magazine, an article reports about a CANopen solution for greenhouses.
CiA activities
- CiA education and information events
- CiA groups
New CiA members since the last CCN
- Ematic (IT)
- Hamad Bin Khalifa University (QA)
- KdG University of Applied Sciences and Arts (BE)
- ULC Technologies (US)
- Ultima Automatyka (PL)
CiA has 773 members (October 25, 2024)
CiA Product Guides
Renewed entries:
- CANopen: esd electronics, Kübler Group
Editors: Olga Fischer, Holger Zeltwanger (responsible according to the press law)
Advertising: Birgit Ruedel (responsible according to the press law)
CAN in Automation (CiA) e. V.
Kontumazgarten 3
90429 Nuremberg (Germany)
Tel. +49-911-928819-0
www.can-cia.org
AG Nuremberg VR 200497
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