Blackbox: WiFi CAN Data Logger for Mobile Crane Equipment

ematec

ematec are specialists in machine and gripping technology, including developing hoisting equipment for manufacturers/operators of wind turbines and wind farm facilities.

What problem did you solve?

We needed a 'flight data recorder' for our Rotor Blade Clamp with its 8 independent CAN bus networks, covering all sensor data from the 5 PLCs.

How did you solve it?

We use 5 CANedge2 devices in parallel to store all the CAN traffic across 8 CAN buses into a ring buffer on the 32 GB SD cards. This results in a 'rolling window' of 5 x 32 GB = 160 GB of data stored on the devices. If an incident happens, we can remotely access each individual CANedge2 unit via VPN and download the files based on the recording time. This lets us understand (and prove) exactly what happened in the rotor blade clamp application.

"The CANedge2 is small but powerful - with outstanding support from CSS Electronics"

What benefit has this led to?

With the CANedge2 we are able to make operating errors fully traceable and document incorrect operation by end users.

Why did you choose the CANedge2?

We needed a small, compact, powerful and standalone device - the CANedge2 delivered.

— Tobias Blattner, ematec

Comments by CSS Electronics

Here, ematec uses the CANedge2 web server interface. In this mode, the CANedge2 connects to a WiFi network, making it accessible to all devices on the same network (or remotely via VPN access). In this setup, users can access a device via their browser (or the REST API) to download/delete log files of interest, or perform OTA updates. This mode is ideal when you only want to collect data 'ad hoc' - but still need remote access.

CANedge2 WiFi modes S3 Web Server Interface

Note also that today the CANmod.router could be useful in this type of case study, as it allows a single CANedge to record 5 CAN channels (or beyond via daisy chaining).

The 8 x CAN can be recorded via 1 x CANedge2 + 2 x CANmod.router devices, though there may be considerations related to the physical cabling, the total #frames/second and the preferred size of the SD storage that may still make it practical to use more than one CANedge2 (though probably less than five).