Leading Controller Area Network (CAN) interface specialist, Kvaser AB, is pleased to announce that its CAN with Flexible Data-Rate (CAN FD) IP was put through rigorous bit rate tests at the second CAN FD plugfest event between 6th & 7th April 2016 in Detroit, USA, and passed with flying colours!

The event gathered many of the CiA member companies that are implementing CAN FD in silicon to test the interoperability of their CAN FD implementations using different topologies and transmission speeds. After testing basic functions such as sending and receiving messages, the data-phase bit-rate was increased in steps from 2 Mbit/s to 8 Mbit/s. Kvaser’s IP implementation has been designed to support CAN FD bit-rates up to 8 Mbit/s with 80MHz clock frequency, so it met the tests with ease.

Kvaser’s Research Manager, Kent Lennartsson conducted the tests on Kvaser’s CAN FD FPGA, as used in Kvaser’s CAN FD compliant interfaces. Talking about the event, he reported: “About 20 different solutions were tested and no major problems were found. Proof of the robustness of CAN FD technology was that the shortening and lengthening of some critical bits didn’t result in faults. This bodes well for the roll-out of CAN FD in the near future.”

A complete set of Kvaser IP modules for CAN FD (Flexible Data Rate) is available to non-strategic customers through Synective Labs. Synective can supply either a bus interfaceable core bundled with demo software, or a BSP (Bit Stream Processor) block, stripped of buffers and other features, making it very small. The IP is available for Xilinx, Altera, and other FPGA vendors.

CAN FD is an extension to the original CAN protocol as specified in ISO 11898-1:2015 that responds to increased bandwidth requirements in automotive networks. CAN FD allows for a flexible data rate and larger packet size that makes it ideally suited to new, data intensive automotive applications such as body electronics and in-car networking.

Kvaser made an early start in CAN FD and its CAN FD implementation was one of the few to run all test cases without any problems at the CAN FD Plug Fest in Detroit in March 2015.

Kent Lennartsson is an active member of the ISO 11898-1 and ISO 16845-1 committees, which cover both CAN and CAN FD.

With 30 years of CAN development experience and more than 60 CAN-to-PC related products to its name, Kvaser AB (www.kvaser.com) is the CAN expert, bringing its deep knowledge in the field of CAN to industries that include Automotive, Avionics, Building Automation, Domestic Appliances, Hydraulic Equipment, Industrial Automation, Maritime, Medical, Military, Railway, Telecoms and Textiles.

A powerful and easy to use API that is common to all Kvaser interfaces has made Kvaser products popular among systems, as well as tool designers. Meanwhile, end users value Kvaser’s high quality, reliability and comprehensive third party support. OEM versions of Kvaser products are also available, making a cost efficient alternative to in-house development for many companies.

Kvaser is headquartered in Mölndal, Sweden, with regional offices in Mission Viejo, CA in the United States, and in Shanghai, China. Kvaser AB also has a global network of highly knowledgeable Qualified Sales Representatives and Technical Associates. To find the nearest Kvaser supplier to you, please visit www.kvaser.com

Synective formed in 2003 by a group of experts who worked with FPGA technology for calculations with very high performance. The company has over the years expanded and is today an internationally recognized partner in the field of heterogeneous systems and acceleration software, which FPGAs and GPUs are the two key components that are used.

Synective Group has 24 employees with offices in Gothenburg, Stockholm and Linköping.
www.synective.se

For media enquiries, please contact:
Jesse Paliotto, Director Marketing, Kvaser AB
Tel: 001 (805) 701 5633 E-mail: sales@kvaser.com
or
Vanessa Knivett, Kvaser Media Relations
Tel: 0033 (0) 618 609 287 E-mail: vk@kvaser.com

Magnus Peterson, CTO, Synective Labs
Tel: 0046 708688442 E-mail: magnus.peterson@synective.se
or
Håkan Dahlbom, Marketing & Sales, Synective Labs
Tel: 0046 733675118 E-mail: hakan.dahlbom@synective.se

Are you planning to visit Embedded World 2016 between 23 and 25^th February? Nuremberg’s embedded world trade fair unites everything for and about embedded systems under one roof, including our CAN interface modules and partner’s software!

Among the attendees are Kvaser Qualified Sales Representatives and Technical Associates:

emtas Gmbh | Embedded solutions for CANopen and EtherCAT systems.

Micromax | Embedded solutions for harsh environments.

REC – a GlobalLogic Company | Software engineering solutions from Poland, Slovakia and Croatia.

There’s nothing like hands-on experience, and getting your hands dirty once in a while. The Formula Student Competition is about just that – giving students a chance to test their theoretical knowledge, alongside practical skills such as project management and team working. And perhaps never before in the history of Formula Student has there been as much opportunity for this theoretical knowledge and practical experience to transfer so freely into real-world vehicle applications, as with today’s Formula SAE Electric Collegiate Design Competition.

In June 2016 Caltech’s Sustainable Vehicle Club, which was founded in Autumn 2014, will represent the University for the first time at the Formula SAE Electric event. The club has set itself the mission of transforming two go-carts into EVs – one battery powered and the other a fuel cell vehicle. With just a year to design and build a rules-compliant race car, rather than the 2 years taken by most teams, the Caltech team has a sizeable task before it.

Caltech Racing’s team is split into four subteams: Mechanical, Energetics, Operations and Support. Santiago Navonne, who’s studying for a degree in Electrical Engineering, is Energetics Division Lead. According to Navonne: “We spent our first term exploring the project, identifying requirements and laying out a complete design. For most of us, this is the first project of this magnitude and level of complexity, and as our team grew from 7 people to 70, we had to reorganize the team structure. The goal was to ensure that everybody had a thorough understanding of the component they were designing, but also how that fit into the vehicle as a whole.”

CAN provides the foundation for the Caltech Racing car’s communication system. Navonne recounts: “On the electrical side, our vehicle uses a fairly distributed system architecture, in which a control core receives and sends information to a number of modules spread out across the vehicle. Integrity of the communication between all devices is vital, which is why CAN was the ideal choice. We use two CAN networks, one for messages between devices fully designed by us (allowing us to use a completely customized messaging protocol), and one for off-the-shelf devices like the motor controller and battery management system.”

Kvaser is supporting the Caltech Racing team with a Kvaser Blackbird Wifi to CAN interface and a Memorator Light HS standalone datalogger, which will be used in two separate stages of the project. According to Navonne: “During development, we use them for bring-up, troubleshooting, and quality assurance of our design, ensuring specifications are met. The devices will then be installed on the vehicle for testing in the field, providing us with a way to monitor the vehicle’s status in real time, and at the same time saving that information to permanent storage for failure analysis. It is imperative that this system be very reliable, as it needs to function when anything (or everything) else fails; Kvaser’s devices accomplish this beautifully.”

As it stands, the first revision of the design for each component, and how they fit with one another, is complete. Says Navonne: “Each component is being prototyped individually, and we expect to have a working version of all parts by mid-February. The vehicle will then be assembled from all the individual components through mid-March; this will leave three months for testing and revisions, which puts us on track to be ready for race day in June.”

Acknowledging Caltech’s previous lack of participation, Navonne said: “Caltech is known for excelling at science and theoretical research, and while its name is known to engineers, the Institute’s interactions with industry have always been weaker. The decision to participate in this competition, while supported by Caltech faculty, was driven by students entirely.” So why now and why this competition, begs the question. “The answer is really a combination of finding the right people at the right time: a group of students with a passions for cars and engineering willing to undertake an incredibly ambitious challenge, at a time when electric vehicle research and design is finally making a strong appearance in the industry,” enthuses Navonne.

As these students attest, the fast developing market for sustainable vehicle technology means that for all involved, sponsors included, it really is the taking part that counts.