The technology evening was once again hosted virtually and this time it was the turn of Albert Louw from ifm electronic, presenting on the topic: Systems for mobile machinery.
One could ask the question, why would one need specialised hardware for mobile control applications? The answer is that for mobile control one needs a compact design that must adhere to certain standards, for instance, conformance to CAN protocols. These systems can be used on vehicles ranging from construction machines and municipal vehicles, to mining and agriculture.
Controller Area Network or CAN was developed by Bosch in 1983 and production vehicles have featured CAN-based network systems since the late 80s. Albert went further and gave an overview of the various CAN protocols.
CAN messages are manually sent and received by control units and are completely defined by the user. Furthermore, CANopen, a communication protocol describing layers 3 to 7 in the ISO/OSI reference model, was discussed. CANopen allows communication between products from multiple vendors. A typical application might be communication between a controller or display and multiple sensors, a joystick, drives and even remote control, making CANopen a perfect choice for mobile machinery applications.
Looking ahead
The branch plans to host the following exciting events in 2021:
• Training days – throughout the year.
• Ladies celebration – Friday 20 August.
• Golf day – Friday 8 October.
• Year-end function (quiz night) – Wednesday 10 November.
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