No. 2 - January 24, 2025

A word from the CiA Managing Director

The CES technology trade show is the first indicator, which consumer electronics technology is on the year’s agenda. More than 150000 visitors travelled to Las Vegas, Nevada. Some 10000 more than in January 2024. The trade show is the key innovation event, setting the agenda for the year ahead. It offers a glimpse into what is shaping the future of technology in the next years.

For the automotive industry this exhibition is an important event to showcase technology trends. Of course, CAN technology is somehow hidden, because it is embedded or even deeply embedded in vehicles. Nevertheless, this year we saw some first announcements regarding zonal control units (ZCU) with multiple (up to 20) CAN FD ports. Such powerful ZCUs are intended for zonal E/E (electric/electronic) architectures, which feature optionally AI (artificial intelligence) processors. Increasingly, such products are based on system-on-chips (SoC) jointly developed by chipmakers and automakers (or Tier-1 suppliers). Honda and Renesas announced in Las Vegas an agreement to cooperate in SoC developments, for example.

In Las Vegas, CAN FD was also a topic in respect to radar sensors. Infineon and Novelic announced radar sensor products with optional CAN FD connectivity. The increasing number of CAN FD connectable products requires more and more CAN SIC (signal improvement capability) transceivers. Already in November at the electronica trade show in Munich, several chipmakers presented their SBCs (system-base chips), integrating CAN SIC transceivers. An SBC comprises several electronic components in order to simplify device and electronic control unit (ECU) designs. SBCs with CAN FD functionality are available from Elmos, Infineon, Microchip, NXP, and Texas Instruments, for example.

The next important trade show for the CAN community is the Embedded World Nuremberg. It takes place from March 11 to 13. For CiA, it is a home game. This year, CiA plans to demonstrate CAN FD light. CAN FD light is a commander/responder communication approach for price-sensitive network applications. It is internationally standardized in ISO 11898-1:2024. The original demand came from smart LED-based taillights for road vehicles.

By the way, CiA also shows CANopen products of CiA members. There are still opportunities to book product panels for the CiA product wall. This is an easy way to present your CANopen products and services to the CAN community.

Open workshop on Ethernetification of CAN

This two-hour workshop is embedded in the CiA Member Days event on February 26. It is a hybrid workshop (Zoom and face-to-face) starting at 14:00 (UTC+1). It presents a secure communication approach using MACsec frames mapped to CAN FD or CAN XL data frames. This is a new solution using a mature security approach on a reliable CAN data link layer (CAN FD/CAN XL) and a robust CAN physical layer. If you are interested to participate in this workshop, you need to register via email. There is no fee to pay.

CAN Newsletter magazine

In the December issue, you find an article about a host controller with integrated inclination sensors and an article about 30 years CANopen among others. There is also an article about a motion controller supporting PDO cross communication.

CiA webinars

CiA has scheduled several 1-hour webinars introducing briefly a specific topic. The next one is scheduled on January 30, discussing the CiA 710 generic CANopen bootloader specification, which will be published in the first quarter of 2025.

CiA MG (marketing group) CANopen

On February 4, 2025, CiA has scheduled a (Zoom) meeting to establish a CANopen marketing group. The proposed scope of the MG CANopen is to develop a joint marketing strategy for CANopen CC (classic) and CANopen FD. This includes the organization of joint marketing activities on trade shows, CiA events, as well as in CiA-owned and third-party publications (including social media such as LinkedIn and YouTube). Registration by email is required.

Released as draft specification proposal (DSP)

CiA has released the CiA 702 version 1.0.0 as DSP. The document specifies implementing of LSS FD (layer setting services) in a CANopen CC (classic) network and describes its usage. It also provides hints with regard to implementation and usage of LSS (FD). The document is only available for CiA member companies and can be downloaded from CiA website.

Call for experts: SIG drives and motion control

CiA calls for experts to participate in the IG03 SIG02 drives and motion control, as the CiA 402 documents have reached the maintenance date. Additionally, the next version of the IEC 61800-7-201/-301 (CANopen profile for drives and motion control) standard series has to be prepared by the group.

To start the work on these issues, CAN in Automation plans an online meeting in the first week of March 2025. Interested parties should contact CiA office until January 31.

Embedded World China

In June 2025, the Embedded World China trade show takes place in Shanghai. CiA members get a 10-percent discount on the booth fee, if they book a stand in the "CiA area", which is located close to the conference facilities. There is also a dedicated CAN session on the Embedded World conference. The deadline for abstract submissions is February 28, 2025.

Bauma panel booking deadline extended

CiA is exhibiting at Bauma trade show for construction industry in Munich (Germany) from April 07 to 13, 2025 in hall A2, booth 337. Member companies have the possibility to show their CAN-based solutions on the CiA CANopen product panel walls. The new deadline for booking is February 10, 2025. Interested parties should contact CiA office.

CiA member statistics

Twice a year, CiA provides some statistical figures about its members. End of last year, CiA had in total 773 members. Some 30 companies discontinue membership in 2025. It is expected that about 36 members are excluded due to not having paid the membership fee. CiA is still an association of small and medium-sized companies (527 members have less than 100 employees). The largest CiA community is headquartered in Germany (312 members) followed by USA (76), and Italy (61). Most of the CiA members are device suppliers (477). Some members are original equipment manufacturers (77) and 3 are end-users. The most supported standardized higher-layer protocol is CANopen (441 members) followed by J1939-based solutions (round 100 members).

The complete CiA member statistic is available for members on request.

CANopen interface for forklift battery chargers

The DIN/VDE standardization body is developing a smart connector for chargers and batteries to be used in forklifts. This includes a CANopen-based profile specification, standardizing process data and configuration parameters as well as diagnostic information accessible by means of SDO (service data object) and PDO (process data object) services. The standard proposal written in German language is going to be voted, soon. Interested parties can contact CiA office for more details.
 

CiA activities

New CiA members since the last CCN

  • Copeland (US)
  • Macome (JP)
  • SafeTTy Systems (GB)

CiA has 737 members (January 24, 2025)

CiA Product Guides

Renewed entries:

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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.
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AG Nuremberg VR 200497

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