CAN Info Mail

This monthly email is for all CAN fellows.
March 2023

A word from the CiA Managing Director

(Source: Adobe Stock)

CAN is an important embedded communication technology in heat pumps. Some heat pumps use CANopen as higher-layer protocol. Therefore, it makes sense to provide a standardized CANopen diagnostic interface. A standardized diagnostic interface would support the “right to repair” and would also allow to check the heat pump efficiency as well as performance by third-party service suppliers and legal authorities. This is similar to the car industry, which has developed and standardized the on-board diagnostic (OBD-II) interface for road vehicles.

The heating seasonal performance factor (HSPF) or the coefficient of performance (COP) indicate the efficiency of a heat pump depending on the type. It's the ratio of heat output to electricity used over a heating season. The higher the HSPF, the greater the energy efficiency. You should look for heat pumps with HSPF ratings of between 8 and 10. The heat pump's cooling efficiency is measured by means of the seasonal energy efficiency ratio (SEER). Of course, these factors and ratios can change over the lifetime of the heat pump and should be observed by the end user.

When the heat pump is not working right, you need trouble-shoot it. A standardized diagnostic interface would simplify this providing appropriate diagnostic trouble codes (DTC) like in the automotive industry. Generic tools could interpret them and guide the maintenance staff to repair the system.

CANopen provides with SDO services and EMCY services appropriate communication mechanisms. However, related data objects for HSPF, COP, and SEER needs to be specified in a dedicated device profile. Additionally, emergency error codes (ECC) should be defined. ECCs for the power supply, the thermostat, air filters, outdoor units, etc. would be nice to have on one interface.

CiA is calling for interested parties in standardizing such a CANopen profile for heat pump diagnostics. If you are interested, please do not hesitate to contact me. I expect that national and international legal entities will request such a standardized heat pump diagnostic interface in the near future. This is, of course, a political question. But I think, we should be ahead and develop such an interface, before it is mandated by politics.

CiA at Embedded World 2023

The CiA booth (203) is located in hall 1. NXP and Vector show each one CAN XL demonstrator (Read more in the CAN Newsletter). Additionally, there are several CANopen products presented by CiA members on the CiA stand. If you would like to discuss technical issues in detail, please feel free to make appointments with CiA engineering staff by email. On the first day, March 14 at 16:00 (UTC+1), at the Embedded World conference, there is one session on CAN technology with CiA's CAN experts. Yao Yao gives a presentation on 'Scalability of CAN Physical Layers', Holger Zeltwanger on 'CAN XL as Backbone Network in Commercial Vehicles', and Thilo Schumann on 'Next Generation Networking in Agriculture and Off-road Vehicles'. At the end, there is a discussion forum to answer all CAN-related questions.

June issue of the CAN Newsletter magazine is released

The first issue of the CAN Newsletter magazine 2023 has been released. It includes a series of articles related to CAN XL. These are ‘CAN XL ecosystem and product availability’ by CiA, ‘CAN SIC XL proof-of-concept transceiver’ by NXP, ‘SIC or SIC XL – this is not the question’ by Infineon, ‘The automotive industry is waiting for CAN XL’ by Vector, and ‘CAN XL as backbone for body application’ by Holger Zeltwanger, CiA.

Other topics comprise ‘Free tools for setup and operation of CAN’ by ESD, ‘Efficient diagnostic simulation on CAN FD’ by Softing, and ‘Virtual commissioning for industrial machines’ by Machineering. Two further articles report about ‘Implementation requirements for secured gateways’ by Canis Automotive Labs and two co-authors as well as the ‘Choosing criteria and usage of telematic gateways’ by Iwave. Brief news is provided in the section ‘Standards and specifications’.

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

CiA workshop: CAN in satellites

Since several years, CAN networks are used for different purposes in satellites. On March 8, a two-hour workshop takes place and is intended to identify profile specifications for CANopen-connectable devices suitable for satellites. The free-of-charge workshop is open for all CiA members. Non-members may participate on request (secretary(at)can-cia.org). One topic of the workshop is the evaluation of the CAN hardware radiation resistance requirements.

CAN Newsletter Online

On-board computer: Receive your bus ticket through CAN

IVU Traffic Technologies has launched the fifth generation of the on-board computer IVU.ticket.box. The all-in-one device provides functions needed for processing of ticket sales and inspections as well as coordinating the vehicle operation. The integrated IVU.box.gateway enables CAN access.

On-site seminar in Nuremberg

On March 30, CiA organizes an on-site seminar with the topic "CAN and CANopen for newcomers" in Nuremberg. The seminar addresses development engineers, system integrators, as well as decision-makers, who want to learn more about the Classical CAN and the CAN FD protocol respectively about the higher-layer protocols such as CANopen and CANopen FD. All CiA seminars are device- and manufacturer-independent. For registration and more details, contact events(at)can-cia.org.

CiA Member Day – For members only

After the success of CiA’s 30th anniversary event in June last year, CiA decided to integrate the CiA General Assembly in a CiA Member Day scheduled in Nuremberg (Germany) on March 28. CiA fellows discuss current CAN-related developments and challenges. The event includes a range of interesting presentations from CAN experts. It is for members only. Find here more information on how and why to become a member. For event participation, please contact ruedel(at)can-cia.org.

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CAN- and CANopen-related educational training

Onsite seminar

  • 2023-03-30: CAN and CANopen for newcomers1

Webinar

  • 2023-03-07: CAN XL ecosystem2

Technology day

  • 2023-04-26: CAN XL2

1 in German language
2 in English language

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

  • 3Peak (CN)
  • Contelec (CH)
  • Delta Computer Systems (US)
  • Lufthansa Technik (DE)
  • WEG Automation Europe (IT)
  • Yanmar (JP)
  • Zolitron (DE)
  • Zoomlion Heavy Industry, NA (US)

CiA has 745 members (March 01, 2023)

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