CleANopen - Why It Matters for Your Business?

Garbage truck plug & play!

In everyday life, you are surrounded by objects, especially in the field of modern electronics, which, thanks to standardisation, can be used regardless of their manufacturer, repeatedly connecting various products without having to consider how they work (and without having to consult the device supplier/manufacturer). Here are a few examples:

You can connect any laptop to any router via WiFi.
You can use any USB drive with any computer that has a USB port.
You can call your loved ones or an employee from any mobile phone using a SIM card from any operator.

All of this works, and you don't have to wonder how, thanks to the fact that in each of the above situations, manufacturers have applied international open standards described in regulations. Moreover, thanks to standardization and regulations, continuing with the above examples:

If you change your Internet provider and WiFi router, you don't have to replace your laptop.
If you change your computer, you can still read your data from the USB drive on the new computer.
If you change your mobile network operator, you can still use your existing phones.

Convenient and economical. You have the freedom to make purchasing decisions. Right?

Is there a similar situation for vehicles and their additional equipment in the waste collection industry? Yes! The answer is the CleANopen standard described in the European norm EN 16815.

Illustration: The use of the CleANopen protocol (within CANopen) allows for the integration of individual functional modules of additional equipment and vehicle body components with any telematics system from providers compliant with CleANopen. This includes situations where multiple providers simultaneously connect their recording devices to the vehicle's equipment.

IMPORTANT: Ensure that your chosen provider is a member of CAN in Automation - the creator of the CANopen standard. XTrack has been a member of the organization since 2021 and actively develops the CANopen standard.

Imagine a situation. You order new garbage trucks, and to optimize the purchasing process and the value of the investment, you ask the vehicle supplier to equip them with an RFID container identification system compliant with the EN 14803 standard and/or a system for weighing waste collected from residents. However, you have not yet chosen a supplier for the "GPS system and software" for your company (or you are considering a potential migration to another supplier).

How does CleANopen help your business in such a situation?

When defining the vehicle specification for additional components, such as the RFID container identification system and/or the waste weighing system, require that these components comply with the CleANopen protocol. After the delivery of the vehicles, you can use the additional systems installed on the vehicle with any "GPS systems" provider that is compatible with CleANopen! Since, especially in the case of weighing systems integrated with the garbage truck's loading mechanism, the cost of such a component often constitutes 80 to 90% of the value of the entire telematics equipment of the vehicle, the ability to use the scale with any "GPS service" provider becomes even more important.

This approach also protects your company from vendor lock-in. This is a situation where all telematics equipment and software (including the aforementioned) come from a single supplier, often using closed communication standards for devices, making it increasingly difficult to change solutions over time. Additionally, the development of such a system often relies on financial conditions that are unfavorable to you.

If you have any questions – contact us!

Also, explore XTrack solutions compliant with CleANopen:

The illustration includes elements created by macrovector on Freepik.