No. 13 - September 13, 2024
A word from the CiA Managing Director
This is the 13th issue of the CAN Community News distributed on Friday, September 13. In ancient cultures, the number 13 represented femininity, because it corresponded to the number of lunar cycles in a year. The theory is that, as the solar calendar triumphed over the lunar, the number thirteen became anathema. Additionally, Friday the 13th is considered an unlucky day in Western superstition; this likely comes from the Christian religion: For example, in the Bible, Judas – a person who is said to have betrayed Jesus – was the 13th guest at the Last Supper. Also in the Bible, many unfortunate things happened on Fridays.
But the number 13 is also often associated with transformation and new beginnings. While change can be intimidating, it is essential for growth and personal development. Embrace the changes happening in your life with optimism and enthusiasm, knowing that they are leading you toward greater fulfilment and success.
Anyway, I am not superstitious. I am looking more to those things, which I need to consider to be successful. One of them is to respect the power of laws and regulations, if I like them or do not like them. An example: The government of the United States of America has placed Mornsun on a sanction list, because the company is accused to supply directly to the Russian military industry. Some of their power supply equipment is used in combat drones. The Chinese company also offers CAN transceiver chips. If you would use those in your products, your company might also end on a sanction list. Digikey, a former distributor of Mornsun, has reacted immediately: “We have suspended all dealings with Mornsun, and immediately blocked all shipments of Mornsun product to customers.”
This means you need to watch carefully and permanently the U.S. and other sanction lists, in order to avoid that your offered products are not “clean”. This could save your company’s reputation and business opportunities. The CiA Board of Directors has released the CiA Code of ethics and conduct, deriving from IEC/ISO equivalents, to clarify the expected behavior of CiA members. Additionally, I like to draw your attention to the recently published CiA editorial guidelines, respecting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations and the editorial independency of CiA’s publications.
By the way, the fear of Friday 13 is also known as paraskevidekatriaphobia. It was introduced by Dr. Donald Dossey, who told his patients that "when you learn to pronounce it, you're cured!"
CAN Newsletter magazine: September issue is published
The September issue’s cover story informs about pressure sensors with CAN connectivity. These sensors are used in diesel engines powering vessels, heavy-duty vehicles, and many other industries. There are also two further articles about CAN-connectable sensors in this magazine: PLd-compliant inclinometers and CANopen sensor systems for urban gardening.
The articles can be downloaded individually or you can download the entire magazine.
Call for experts: CAN support for the Rust language
The open-source Rust language is a general-purpose programming language. It enforces the memory safety, meaning that all references point to a valid memory, without a garbage collector. The programming language was influenced by ideas from functional programming, including immutability, higher-order functions, and algebraic data types. It is popular for systems programming. Currently, there is no severe support for CAN communication. There were few attemps to implement CAN support, but none of them have been finalized.
If there are parties in the CAN community wanting a CAN support (similar to SocketCAN, for example), CiA could be the platform to jointly develop a solution respecitvely a specification. Please contact CiA office.
CiA 408 series reviewed
CiA has updated the CiA 408 profile for fluid power devices. The profile specification has been split into three parts: Part B contains the funtional device description and specifies parameters, Part C provides the mapping to CANopen CC (classic), and Part F specifies the mapping to CANopen FD. The parameter specifications are based on the profile “Fluid Power Technology”, version 1.6.4, developed by the VDMA, the German association of machine builders. The CiA 408 profile series is intended for hydraulic proportional valves, hydrostatic pumps, and hydrostatic transmissions. It can be applied on pneumatic devices, as well.
CiA 406 and CiA 410 as Public Available Specifications (PAS)
CiA has made the CiA 406 version 4.1.0 (CANopen CC encoder profile) and the CiA 410 version 1.3.0 (CANopen CC inclinometer profile) specifications public available. They can be downloaded free of charge from the CiA website. The access to succeeding profile specifications for encoders and inclinometers is limited to CiA members.
CiA 611-1 and CiA 611-2 as Draft Specification Proposals (DSP)
CiA has released the CiA 611-1, version 2.0.0 (CAN XL higher-layer functions – Part 1: Service data unit types) and the CiA 611-2, version 1.0.0 (CAN XL higher-layer functions – Part 2: Multi-PDU protocol) as Draft Specification Proposals.
CiA 611-1 specifies the usage of the service data unit type (SDT) field of the CAN XL data link layer. The SDT identifies the type of service data mapped to the data field of the CAN XL logical link control (LLC) sub-layer. CiA 611-2 covers the multi-PDU protocol, which supports the mapping of multiple messages (PDUs) compliant to different higher-layer protocols into a single CAN XL data frame.
The two documents are of particular interest for the use of CAN XL as a backbone technology in multi-layered networks.
DIN 14700 workshop: CAN in rescue and firefighting vehicles
CiA, DIN (FNFW), Haensch, Magirus/Iveco, Rosenbauer, and Ziegler are jointly organizing the online workshop about the DIN 14700. It is scheduled on October 8, 2024 (9:00 to 12:00, UTC+2). The agenda and more details are available here. The obligatory registration is possible by October 1 via email to events(at)can-cia.org.
Meet CiA staff at tradeshows
CiA has its own stand on the Innotrans tradeshow in Berlin (Germany), taking place from September 24 to 27. The booth number in the hall 27 is 290. CiA also participates in the Embedded World fair in Austin, Texas (USA). The stand number is 1758. The exhibition takes place from October 8 to 10. On both tradeshows, visitors can meet CiA technical staff to discuss the latest news on CAN technology.
CiA's tradeshow participations in 2025
The CiA Business Committee has decided, in which tradeshows CiA is going to participate. Additionally, it was agreed that CiA members may be sub-exhibitors on CiA stands. Interested members should contact CiA office for details.
CiA activities
- CiA education and information events
- CiA groups
New CiA members since the last CCN
- ATEK Drive Solutions (DE)
- IKERLAN (ES)
- Kappa optronics (DE)
- LuxSpace (LU)
- MinebeaMitsumi (JP)
- STIGA (IT)
CiA has 764 members (September 13, 2024)
CiA Product Guides
Editors: Olga Fischer, Holger Zeltwanger (responsible according to the press law)
Advertising: Birgit Ruedel (responsible according to the press law)
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