Connecting sensors

Suppliers and road construction OEMs have teamed to develop an application profile for sensor interfaces.

In most road construction equipment, operators need similar types of measurement data from sensors, including position, level, machine speed, distance, roughness, material core temperature, mass flow, and climate data. The sensor controller, a programmable device that processes the sensor values, normally collects the sensor information. In the European research project OSYRIS (Open System for Road Information Support) the participating companies chose the CANopen application layer.

Supported by the European Asphalt Pavement Association, the pre-developed profile specification has been handed over to the international users and manufacturers group CAN in Automation (CiA) for further development and maintenance. To improve the sensor interfaces, several CiA members have developed the CiA 415 CANopen sensor system application profile for road construction equipment. One of the original requirements was a high degree of off-the-shelf plug-and-play capability. Other requirements from equipment builders included dedicated sensors and the specification of set points. First prototypes of sensors are now available and implementation into construction equipment is under development.