Embedded Systems Academy

The number of product developments supporting the automotive standard for ‘add-on devices’ CiA447 is on the rise.

The standard supports electronic devices used in taxis, emergency response vehicles and other governmental service vehicles. Typical components include roof bars (light & sound), radios, control units, taximeters, printers and similar devices.

Using a CiA447 gateway, automotive manufacturers like Daimler already provide access to the vehicles internal data today. The standard allows sharing some of the car’s resources like switches and displays with CiA447 devices. A steering wheel button can be used as the PTT (push to talk) button for a radio, which in return can use the car’s display to show channel numbers, volume settings or such. Read more…

Texas Instruments have released a lost cost evaluation board for their MSP430 microcontroller family and Value Line series. Utilizing free code-limited compilers, the board with cables costs $4.30 direct from Texas Instruments, with free shipping. This represents a very low-cost way to get started with this microcontroller family.

Visit the Texas Instruments site MSP430 LaunchPad (MSP-EXP430G2) to learn more.