e-Bike Telematics with CANopen Data Logger [+ Dashboards]
Case Studies / Biketec
Biketec
The FIT E-Bike System is a CANopen-based application profile by Biketec. The company maintains the related FIT specifications and also offers system integration services for OEMs.
What problem did you solve?
We needed to track CAN bus data from e-bikes (pedelecs) and have the data streamed in near real-time to R&D colleagues for analysis, with the goal of aiding development and diagnostics across our test fleet. Since we do not have a lot of space (like in a car for example) we required small deployment to be compact and mobile. Having the data flow in near real-time was important, so that we did not have to wait until a CAN logger came back to R&D. No matter where the test ride was performed, R&D should have access to the data.
How did you solve it?
We use the CANedge3 (2 x CAN/LIN data logger with 3G/4G and GPS/IMU) in our e-bikes, deploying it in waterproof mounting bags (as illustrated). The CANedge3 connects to our own AWS S3 bucket and automatically uploads log files in near real-time. The files are automatically processed and integrated with Grafana dashboards for visualisation.
As part of our integration we also create trip summary dashboards. These enable us to quickly filter for specific events/tags/properties - and provide a direct link to more detailed trip dashboards.
The communication protocol is based on CANopen (PDO, SDO, NMT, TIME, HB, EMCY services). We deploy a custom Python script on a virtual machine (VM) with outset in the CANedge Grafana-InfluxDB integration [CSS: This was the recommended integration method for Grafana prior to the Grafana-Athena integration]. We customize the integration to both DBC decode our PDO data, while also re-formatting our raw SDO request/response frames into a more readable structure (as per the screenshots). The DBC decoding is achieved by creating a DBC based on our CANopen EDS file.
Data is aggregated to trip level summaries and enriched with meta tags
SDO requests/responses are visualized in a more readable manner
"The CANedge3 delivers a plug-and-play solution for CAN logging - while CSS guides you to the perfect cloud solution"
Learn more about CANopen telematics in our EDS intro
What benefit has this led to?
Having the CAN bus data from our e-bike trips helps our team in development. Further, it helps us a lot in finding errors in special cases on series bikes.
Why did you choose the CANedge3?
The CANedge devices provide the CAN logging functionality in a robust and small case for an affordable price and with the freedom to choose your own cloud solutions with no recurring license fees. And the support is outstanding.
— Janis Ita, Head of Embedded Development
Comments by CSS Electronics
Biketec's use of the CANedge3 has inspired our team in multiple ways. First, Janis' detailed technical knowledge of the CANopen protocol has been instrumental in guiding updates to our CANopen intro - in particular sections on multiframe SDO transfer methods like SDO segmented transfer and SDO block transfer. Further, his insights on CANopen EDS files (Electronic Data Sheet) have helped fast-track our intro to EDS files.
In addition, Biketec's clever implementation of trip summary aggregation in Grafana served as the 'spark' that inspired us to design our 'trip summary aggregation' methodology, which is now one of the plug & play extensions that end users can add to their default Grafana-Athena dashboard integrations. For details on this, see our intro to CAN telematics at scale and our CAN telematics webinar.
As a result, users can now deploy CANopen telematics much faster than previously - in large part thanks to the excellent work done by Biketec!
Ready to collect your CANopen data?
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