MechChem Africa October 2017

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Connected car Innovator Nebula Systems has confirmed the release of its NC1701 Enhanced Vehicle Communications Controller (EVCC), a new hardware solution to greatly increase access to valuable vehicle data. Enhanced vehicle communicator for the connected car CAN buses and ISO lines, making it com- patible with more vehicle models and ECUs than standard offerings.

Altair...............................................................................IBC BI (Bearings International)..........................................3 Bonfiglioli........................................................................ 12 Engen................................................................................ 33 Festo.............................................................................. OFC Gemü Valves.................................................................. 25 Marthinusen & Coutts............................................... 29 Omron.................................................................. 27, OBC productONE..................................................................IFC RTS Africa Engineering.............................................. 19 SMC Pneumatics............................................16, 21, 39 Varibox CVT Technologies....................................... 11 Index to advertisers Industry diary October 2017 PROPAK Cape 2017 24-26 October 2017, Cape Town The Cape Town International Convention Centre Keraysha Pillay +27 10 003 3057 kerayshap@specialised.com November 2017 Fundamentals of Process Safety Management 6-10 November 2017, Boksburg courses@icheme.org / saiche@mweb.co.za Wearcheck 2017 Oil Analysis Training Courses Oil Analysis 1 – Understanding oil and its analysis 7-8 November 2017, Northern Cape Oil Analysis 2 – Report interpretation 9 November 2017, Northern Cape When combined with Nebula’s Mech5 cloud platform, it “truly connects the vehicle by creating a gateway to anunlimitednumber of applications,” concludes Rubel. q Kay Meyrick 031 700 5460 training@wearcheck.co.za • Mech5 X-Link full remote diagnostics: Once NC1701 has established a secure connection to theMech5 cloud platform– when thevehicle is stationary– full remote vehicle diagnostics can be performed. • Enhanced OEM data trouble code: DTC readings from the vehicle ECUs can be stored locally after initial lookup. The NC1701 is fully compatible with OBD2 standard protocols and layered security pre- vents any unauthorised access to the vehicle diagnostics (OBD) by embedding encrypted scripts within the unit upon configuration, thereby preventing any hacking.

T he NC1701 is a dedicated vehicle communications solution capable of extracting OEM data from any vehicle, and accessing vehicle OEM datawithout requiringprevious knowledgeof the vehicle’s engine control unit (ECU) com- municationprotocols.Itcanbeembeddedinto any telematic device and has been designed from the ground up with a focus on telematic applications. Roman Di Lullo, CEO of Nebula Systems says: “We realised that the complexities of OEMcommunication protocolswere holding backmany companies in the telematics space fromexploiting thewealthof data available in modern cars. NC1701 enables easy access to this data, which we expect will lead to some exciting new applications.” TheNC1701chip is alreadybeingdesigned

intonextgenerationtelematicsdevicesinclud- ing RAC units, which is building powerful solu- tions around this capability. RAC director of marketingandinnovationDanRubeladds:“The release of this new hardware is an important step byNebula Systems for the sector, and the RAC will be utilising the chip in our next gen- eration telematics devices. “We are confident aboutitsmarket-leadingdataaccesscapability and we see this device providing the breadth and depth of vehicle diagnostics that has pre- viously been unavailable in telematics units.” With standard features suchas: automatic VIN reading; advanced low power and wake- up modes; and smart ignition detection for electric and hybrid vehicles, the NC1701 has the potential to transform telematic device capabilities. The NC1701’s core data capability al- lows simple access to thousands of OEM data points such as: fuel level and odometer; battery condition; tyre pressure monitoring systems (TPMS); service information; and vehicle occupancy, to name but a few. The NC1701 can be applied across a wide range of connected-car applications that are interestedinexpandingtheirdataaccessabili- ties: rental, UBI, fleet, roadside recovery, fuel rewards, market research, in car displays; car driver apps and many others. Features and benefits include: • OEM VIN reading: The system can ac- cess VIN numbers that are not available through standard onboard data (OBD2) requests. • Securityfirst: TheNC1701doesn’t require a direct communications channel with the Mech5APIs and relies on the host to com- municate on its behalf, which is done via a secure channel (HTTPS). Also, all commu- nications–upgradingfirmware,download- ing configuration files, etc – are encrypted using enterprise-grade encryption. • Advanced ignitiondetection: TheNC1701 overcomesmany ignition detection issues facedwhenworking with newer or hybrid cars. • Enhanced performance information data (PID) reading: When connected to the Mech5 cloud platform, the NC1701 can beconfigured to readOEMspecificparam- eters (PIDs) from any local ECU. • Live firmware updates: The firmware can be updated whilst still in use in normal operation mode. • Fully multiplexed reference design: NC1701 is capable of handling multiple

The NC1701 chip is already being designed into next generation telematics devices including RAC units.

2017 PRASA-RobMech The 28 th annual Symposium of the Pattern Recognition Association of South Africa (PRASA), along with the 10th conference of Robotics and Mechatronics (RobMech) will be held from November 30 to December 1, 2017 at the Department of Electrical, Electronic andComputer Engineering at Central University of Technology (CUT) in Bloemfontein. The main conference will be preceded by a day of workshops/ tutorials on 29 November 2017. “This is a great opportunity to meet other like-minded scientists in the inter- disciplinary fields of pattern recognition, roboticsandmechatronics,”saysorganis- ing committee chair Nicolaas Luwes of the Central University of Technology. www.rgems.co.za/Home/Prasa_Robmech

40 ¦ MechChem Africa • October 2017