CiA Association to Showcase CAN Technology at Germany Tradeshow

The nonprofit CAN in Automation (CiA) association plans to host a booth and Bosch, NXP and Vector plan to present running CAN XL (extra long) open-standard communication networks at the Embedded World tradeshow at NürnbergMesse in Nuremberg, Germany, on March 14-16. Control Area Network (CAN) technology is widely used in automotive and industrial automation applications and is the basis for communicating with CANopen and DeviceNet protocols. CiA Managing Director Holger Zeltwanger tells ELEVATOR WORLD CANopen Lift, the CAN communication platform for elevator control systems, is currently based on Classical CAN, the first generation of the CAN protocol. CAN XL is based on the third generation of the protocol and is still in the prototype phase, which means only engineering samples for protocol controllers and transceivers are available. Mass production of CAN XL is expected by 2026. According to CiA, CAN XL, like any CAN technology, is applicable to the elevator industry, but will first be used by the automotive industry (which was the case with Classical CAN and the second generation, CAN FD (flexible database). At the Nordic Lift Expo 2023 in January, Zeltwanger said he heard about U.S. elevator companies wanting to learn more about CANopen lift specifications. Organizing a seminar to educate the North American elevator industry about this open specification, which “enables users to easily integrate devices from different manufacturers,” is a possibility.