WO2011028096A1

WO2011028096A1 - Zigbee-can integrated system for precision agriculture

Info

Publication number: WO2011028096A1
Application number: PCT/MY2010/000161
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ibrahim Bin Mat; Ahmad Nizar Bin Harun; Abdul Rahim Bin Abdul Hamid; Ahmad Rizal Bin Ahmad Bokhari; Wan Hasmi Bin Wan Kamal; Ismail Bin Mat Yusoff; Rosli Bin Mohd Din; Siti Sarah Binti Ramli; Badrul Hisham Bin Ibrahim; Mohamad Faisal Bin Jaafar Ng; Shamsul Effendy Bin Kamaruddin; Mohamed Rawidlean Bin Mohd Kassim
Original assignee: Mimos Berhad
Priority date: 2009-09-07
Filing date: 2010-09-06
Publication date: 2011-03-10

Abstract

The present invention relates generally to a communication architecture (304) comprising at least one improved controller area network (CAN) system (206) which is able to communicate with other improved CAN systems (206) through wireless signal protocol such as ZigBee network and controlled by wireless signal coordinator (302).

Description

ZIGBEE-CAN INTEGRATED SYSTEM FOR PRECISION AGRICULTURE

1. TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to a communication architecture comprising at least one controller area network (CAN) system which is able to communicate with other CAN systems through wireless signal protocol such as ZigBee network and controlled by wireless signal coordinator.

2. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Controller area network (CAN) is used substantially in the automotive industry, whereby it is a serial bus network of microcontrollers connecting devices, intelligent sensors and actuators in a system for real time control applications. In automotive application, the network is able to monitor the whole system, based on the array of sensors, in order to operate the automotive according to the needs of the user and provides safety measures to the user.

Besides automotive applications, CAN system can also be used as a general communication system for microcontrollers.

In agricultural industry, a type of CAN network called ISO 11783 or ISOBUS, which is based on the SAEJ1939 protocol is used. The said CAN network is used in agricultural automotives such as tractors; implements and excavators.

CAN system typically comprises a CAN controller, a plurality of CAN cables, CAN connectors, CAN caps, sensory means, terminators and a power source. The CAN controller controls the operation of the CAN system. In another words, it processes the signals from the sensory means and performs respond actions accordingly. The terminators are to ensure minimum reflection to the signals being transmitted within the network. Reflections will distort the signals and create noise to the said transmission in the network. The information exchange is fast and reliable.

Another standard developed by the National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA) is also based on the CAN network to transfer data of positioning and navigation data between the separate electronic devices.

ZigBee is a type of wireless sensor network, which is typically used in embedded applications requiring low data rates and low power consumption. It utilizes a wireless mesh networking standard. The common applications for ZigBee network is radio-frequency (RF) applications, which requires low data rate, low power consumption and secure networking. ZigBee network is used in the agricultural industry, whereby the sensory means at placed at different positions of the crops to capture data of the crops such as the presence of viruses, level of soil nutrients and soil conditions; and further transfer data back to the ZigBee controller for monitoring purposes. There are three types of ZigBee devices, namely ZigBee coordinator, ZigBee router and ZigBee end device. The ZigBee coordinator monitors and controls the operation of the network, the ZigBee router passes data from one device to another while the ZigBee end device contains the sensors to relay data back either directly or through the ZigBee router to the ZigBee coordinator.

Current CAN system is useful for applications that are wired within a confined area such as a vehicle. There is limitation in terms of expandability when there is a need to add more sensors or devices to the CAN system. More wires are needed in order to expand the CAN system, which incurs higher cost and in some instances hazardous to implement due to inappropriate conditions for wires such as water terrains. It is hazardous because exposing wires to water terrains will expose it to short circuits, which will damage the said system.

Expanding wires are the only possible way if the current CAN system is needed to be expanded. This leads to less modularity whereby the size of every CAN system will be different for different applications. Applications with more end devices or sensors will have more wires to the CAN system. This low level of modularity projects higher manufacturing cost due to customization.

Besides that, there is also a limited scope of integration with other CAN systems, whereby the only way currently is to connect several CAN systems through wires in order for them to communicate among each other. This is made harder to implement if those mentioned CAN systems are separated within a long distance or across hazardous terrain, which makes it inappropriate for wirings to be placed.

Another current problem with the CAN system is the difficulty to maintain the said CAN system if the user is far from the CAN system. There is no method for the user to monitor or control the said CAN system remotely.

For the ZigBee network, communication is only done wirelessly between the components of the ZigBee network, namely the ZigBee coordinator, ZigBee router and ZigBee end device. There is no capability to communicate between the ZigBee network and a CAN system.

It would hence be extremely advantageous if the above shortcoming is alleviated by having an invention that provides capability whereby the said CAN system is able to communicate with other CAN systems wirelessly through a certain protocol such as ZigBee network. The communication between the CAN systems is controlled by a ZigBee coordinator.

3. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, it is the primary aim of the present invention to provide a communication architecture wherein CAN systems are able to communicate with other CAN systems wirelessly by means of wireless signal protocol such as ZigBee network. It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a communication architecture wherein CAN systems are robust to be deployed for site development.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a communication architecture wherein CAN systems can be easily expanded by means of creating a similar CAN system and communicating wirelessly.

,It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a communication architecture wherein CAN systems can be easily downsized by eliminating similar CAN systems in the field without affecting the wires in the CAN system.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a communication architecture wherein said CAN systems can be separated with other CAN systems remotely to eliminate need for wire deployment.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a communication architecture wherein wireless communication between CAN systems can prevent system malfunction due to rain and flood.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a CAN system comprising a CAN controller which can communicate with the ZigBee wireless signal transceiver, which can further communicate with the ZigBee coordinator. Other and further objects of the invention will become apparent with an understanding of the following detailed description of the invention or upon employment of the invention in practice.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention there is provided,

A communication architecture (304) comprising at least one communication system (206), comprising controller area network (CAN) communication bus; at least one CAN controller (202); at least one CAN cap (104); at least one terminator (112); at least one sensory means (106); at least one power source (114); characterized in that said communication system (206) further comprises at least one wireless signal transceiver (204) for wireless communication with other communication systems (206); said communication architecture (304) further comprises at least one wireless signal coordinator (302).

In another aspect of the said invention there is provided

A communication system (206), comprising: controller area network (CAN) communication bus; at least one CAN controller (202); at least one CAN cap (104); at least one terminator (112); at least one sensory means (106); at least one power source (114) characterized in that said communication system (206) further comprises at least one wireless signal transceiver (204) for wireless communication with other communication systems (206).

4. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other aspect of the present invention and their advantages will be discerned after studying the Detailed Description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a CAN system.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a CAN system further comprising ZigBee wireless signal transceiver (204).

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of several CAN systems communicating with ZigBee coordinator.

5. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. However, it will be understood by those or ordinary skill in the art that the invention may be practised without these specific details. In other instances, well known methods, procedures and/ or components have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the invention.

The invention will be more clearly understood from the following description of the embodiments thereof, given by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings which are not drawn to scale.

Referring to the drawings in which like numerals indicate like parts throughout the views shown, FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a controller area network (CAN) system (116). CAN system (116) is a serial data network for control and communication which can be applied in many industries, including automotive, agriculture and others. It comprises at least one CAN controller (102), a plurality of sensory means (106), CAN communication buses comprising CAN- cables (110) and CAN connectors (108), a plurality of CAN caps (104), a plurality of terminators (112), actuators and power source (114).

The CAN controller (102) is the main operating system of the CAN system (116), whereby it receives information from the CAN sensory means (106) constantly and provides the necessary actions to the actuators corresponding to the needs to the user. CAN caps (104) comprises of a CAN transceiver and acts as an interface between said sensory means (106) and said CAN cables (110), which represents the CAN bus. The said CAN transceiver provides the capability to transmit differential signals to the CAN bus and the capability to receive differential signals from the said CAN controller (102). The said CAN transceiver further acts as the interface between said CAN controller (102) and the CAN cables (110). CAN sensory means (106) are used to collect observations from the environment and target objects while converting those observations into electronic data. Examples of CAN sensory means (106) are proximity switches, temperature sensors, pressure sensors, weight sensors, lift distance sensors, positional sensors and optical sensors. CAN sensory means (106) that are typically used in the agriculture industry are temperature sensors and positional sensors. They can be used to measure the temperature of the environment, level of soil nutrients, level of viruses available at crops, and others. After the collection of observation from the environment and targeted objects, the sensory means (106) will convert the said observations into electrical data, which will be sent through the CAN cables (110) and connectors (108) to the CAN controller (102). The CAN cables (110) and connectors (108) are used to connect between the CAN sensory means (106), CAN controller (102) and power source (114). Terminators (112) are used at ends of the CAN cable (110) in order to minimize the reflections of the data signal passing through the CAN cables (110). Typically, the power source (114) used in the CAN system is battery.

Referring now to FIG. 2, there is shown a block diagram of an improved CAN system (206) further comprising a ZigBee wireless signal transceiver (204). The said ZigBee wireless signal transceiver (204) communicates with an improved CAN controller (202) by means of any agreeable communication interface such as SPI interface. Both said ZigBee wireless signal transceiver (204) and said improved CA controller (202) communicates among each other through agreeable protocol between them such as a proprietary protocol, which will define the data in the communication data stream. In this interface, the ZigBee wireless transceiver (204) acts as the master while the improved CAN controller (202) acts as the slave. The improved CAN controller (202) collects data from the CAN sensory means (106) and waits to be eventually transmitted out of the improved CAN system (206) through the ZigBee wireless signal transceiver (204) after supplied with instruction from said ZigBee wireless signal transceiver (204). The said ZigBee wireless signal transceiver (204) processes the data from said improved CAN controller (202) before transmitting to the ZigBee coordinator (302).

Referring now to FIG. 3, there is shown a block diagram of several improved CAN systems (206) communicating with ZigBee coordinator (302). The said ZigBee coordinator (302) communicates with the said improved CAN systems (206) through the ZigBee wireless signal transceiver (204) attached to the improved CAN controller (202) of each improved CAN system (206). The ZigBee coordinator acts as an integrator among all the- ZigBee wireless signal transceivers (204) in the improved CAN systems (206). The communication protocol between said ZigBee coordinator (302) and ZigBee wireless signal transceiver (204) is by means of IEEE 802.15.4-2006 standard/ The ZigBee coordinators (302) are usually placed remotely near the user whereby the user can monitor the progress or environments of the crops remotely without needing to be physically in the field.

In this arrangement, only one ZigBee coordinator (302) is needed to communicate with the plurality of improved CAN systems (206) in different positions of the field. If there is a need to add another improved CAN system (206) to the field, the user only needs to add another similar improved CAN system (206), which comprises the ZigBee wireless signal transceiver (204) attached to the improved CAN controller (202) in said improved CAN system (206) so that the new improved CAN system (206) can communicate with the ZigBee coordinator (302) remotely. Through this arrangement, any reduction of improved CAN system (206) is also easy because of the modularity of the improved CAN system (206) in nature.

While the preferred embodiment of the present invention and its advantages has been disclosed in the above Detailed Description, the invention is not limited thereto but only by the spirit and scope of the appended claim.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A communication architecture (304) comprising at least one communication system (206), comprising controller area network (CAN) communication bus; at least one CAN controller (202); at least one CAN cap (104); at least one terminator (112); at least one sensory means (106); at least one power source (114); characterized in that said communication system (206) further comprises at least one wireless signal transceiver (204) for wireless communication with other communication systems (206); said communication architecture (304) further comprises at least one wireless signal coordinator (302).

A communication architecture (304) as claimed in Claim 1, wherein said CAN communication bus comprises at least one CAN cable (110) and at least one CAN connector (108).

A communication architecture (304) as claimed in any of Claim 1 or 2, wherein said wireless signal transceiver (204) communicates with said CAN controller (202) by means of handshaking signal.

A communication architecture (304) as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said handshaking signal is serial protocol interface (SPI) interface.

A communication architecture (304) as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said wireless signal transceiver (204) performs as master in said communication between wireless signal transceiver (204) and CAN controller (202).

A communication architecture (304) as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said CAN controller (202) functions as slave in said communication between wireless signal transceiver (204) and CAN controller (202).

7. A communication architecture (304) as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said wireless signal coordinator (302) communicates wirelessly with said wireless signal transceiver (204).

A communication architecture (304) as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein wireless communication protocol between said wireless signal coordinator (302) and wireless signal transceiver (204) is IEEE 802.15.4-2006 standard.