Product category:
Networking Hardware
News Release from: Meikon | Subject: E2CA
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 04 March 2005
Ethernet provides missing link from PC
to CAN
The E2CA from Meikon is an industrial Ethernet to CAN fieldbus bridge designed to overcome many of the limitations associated with fitting internal PC expansion cards.
The E2CA from Meikon is an industrial Ethernet to CAN fieldbus bridge designed to overcome many of the limitations associated with fitting internal PC expansion cards Most PCs, SBCs and embedded boards now contain one or more Ethernet interfaces, which makes it possible to use this universal connection to control external devices and other networks
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 25 Jan 2006 at 8.00am (UK)
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Previously, expansion possibilities were controlled by the number of free slots available in the host computer.
To compound the problem, a different type of expansion card had to be used depending on the bus architecture such as PCI, ISA, VME or cPCI to name a few.
With the E2CA systems designers can connect as many CAN interfaces to you host computer as they need just through the Ethernet interface, and only one type of module is needed no matter what the bus architecture.
For occasions when one computer is controlling the CAN network and another is monitoring it, then both may be connected to the E2CA and it will communicate with them independently.
When a CANbus is running at its highest speed the length of the bus is reduced; but using the E2CA bridge means that the potential problem of distance from the host computer is also addressed by the Ethernet network.
Meikon supplies client software in C source code for integration into the customer's application code to simplify development and shorten time to market With a cost comparable to that of an intelligent PCI board, the E2CA is both rugged and more flexible and would bring its benefits to users in many industries such as industrial automation, lifts, conveyor systems and process control.
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