Focus on electronics

OEMs and their suppliers are developing vehicle systems for improved vehicle operation and reliability/durability with the help of electronics. The latest building blocks for greater efficiency, productivity, and simplified operation include applications that integrate Global Positioning System (GPS) and wireless communications technologies for tasks such as precision farming, autonomous mining-vehicle control, and golf cart navigation. Innovations in the form of electronic handheld devices are being developed to capture vehicle data quickly and conveniently in the field for improved customer support and better maintenance and repair practices. These and other electronics systems rely on improved building blocks such as connectors that are more rugged to withstand the severe off highway environments. In addition, suppliers are developing an array of integrated sensor technologies for networked systems that accommodate a number of digital protocols, including SAE J1708 and J1939. The following pages review some recent industry advancements.

Kavlico has developed integrated sensing technologies that are networkable to provide OEMs with a total, cost-effective system approach to meeting their sensing requirements. Many digital output formats-including SAE J1708 and J1939, CAN, RS485, and RS232-can be accommodated for manufacturers' applications to sense diverse physical properties such as pressure, oil quality, temperature, tilt, and level using a digital network. Typical applications include “smart” boats, cranes, booms, scissor lifts, and agricultural machinery. The network minimizes harnessing costs, increases data throughput, improves data integrity, and provides greater design flexibility and expandability than systems using sensors with analog outputs.

Key to the success of these networkable sensors is the bundling of each sensing module with microprocessor technology. This allows implementation of multiple network protocols having data-processing capability, self-diagnostics, and multi-sensing potential within the same device. The inherently low susceptibility of digital signals to electromagnetic interference, combined with peer-to-peer communications and data sharing, substantially enhance overall data reliability and speed of data acquisition.