CAN in Automation's (CiA) CiA 462 CANopen profile for item detection devices, which include 2-D and 3-D optical cameras, has been released. Item detection devices are often used in mobile machines to detect obstacles. They collect environmental data by some physical effects like light, radar, ultrasonic sound or others. This data is “pixel”-oriented or organized like a matrix. The devices process the row data through an item detection algorithm. The output is a list of items that were detected. The 79-page profile also specifies how the coordinate system can be configured.  

Once the profile has been implemented, the device manufacturer can supply diverse application fields using the same electronic CANopen interface implementation and simply adapting the required application functionality. A system designer may choose between CANopen devices from different manufacturers while implementing the same profile-compliant functionality. For development, analysis, and maintenance of the devices, off-the-shelf CANopen tools may be used.

Profile-compliant devices support a bit-rate of 500 kbit/s (and optionally others) and emergency messages. For dynamic bit-rate assignment, automatic bit-rate detection has to be supported. Dynamic node-ID assignment (if required) is done via LSS.

“This profile is unique and it is the first time that such sophisticated products use a standardized interface,” said Holger Zeltwanger, CiA Managing Director. “Its application is not limited to mobile machines.”