The award winning SenseNet Telematics Module features all of the connectivity required to implement powerful and inexpensive Telematics  solutions for military and commercial vehicle applications.  SenseNet is currently in use in commercial and military vehicle applications requiring both wired and unwired sensor network connectivity and support in Condition Based Maintenance projects.  Commercial applications for SenseNet provide Vehicle Network connectivity with 802.11b WiFi wireless networks as well as direct connection with GPS receivers, vehicle sensors and operator display and data entry consoles.  For example, the SenseNet Telematics Module can also be connected directly to the vehicle electrical system to place knob values, switch positions and meter values on a CAN or Wireless Network for connectivity with on board and off board systems.

Vehicle Network Connectivity

SenseNet configured with 802.11b wireless network support, CAN, Analog and Digital I/O, Isolated Power Supply and cables is priced at only $995.00 in single piece and low volume quantities!  Custom versions of SenseNet are available for customers with unique requirements or price sensitive applications.  Additionally, OEM licensing of SenseNet is available for customer re-branding or manufacturing purposes.

In 2005 Cubic Labs’ celebrates its 12^th year of providing its innovative SenseNet™ technology for the transportation, automotive test and telematics marketplace. Comprised of uniquely powerful hardware building blocks, network and software protocols, SenseNet™ has allowed OEM's to leverage Cubic Labs’ existing technology to realize powerful embedded applications in a fraction of the time required for engineering new products from ‘scratch’, at costs well below industry norms.

OEM software which has been written for the SenseNet™ command protocol may be easily re-used for new projects developed using SenseNet™ hardware modules. Systems may be quickly developed with off the shelf hardware and then optimized for production purposes using an appropriate hardware subset for the lowest possible bill of materials cost. Software applications using the SenseNet™ API may be written in Java, C, VB, or any other language of choice. SenseNet™ embedded hardware modules have been developed for many 8, 16 and 32 bit microcontroller platforms, allowing the developer to scale up or down the price and performance of target applications while maintaining systems and software compatibility across product lines.

Because hardware platforms running SenseNet™ have real-time device drivers already written for them, engineers developing new applications can focus on the application itself, instead of writing and debugging low level drivers for new (and often unfamiliar) hardware. The SenseNet™ device driver suite includes support for vehicle network protocols such as CAN, J1850, KW2000, J1939 and ISO-9141. This built-in support inherent in the SenseNet™ API relieves the developer from writing highly specialized software for these protocols in order to be productive. Likewise, analog and digital I/O support which is built in to the SenseNet™ architecture allows developers to control and monitor complex systems without having to master the creation of low level device drivers required for implementation.

Applications written for Cubic Labs’ SenseNet™ technology has been incorporated in new telematics and sensor control applications in a variety of projects throughout 2004 and into 2005. The following overview of specific projects which utilize SenseNet™ is intended to offer concrete examples of the ease with which powerful applications may be effectively developed utilizing SenseNet™ technology.

Throughout 2004 Cubic Labs worked under the auspices of the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences to deploy sensor control and asset management systems designed to extend the service life of the USMC Light Armored Vehicle, which is currently deployed worldwide.

Under a mandate to upgrade the Light Armored Vehicle with new technology to enhance its lethality, survivability and maintainability, Cubic Labs worked to provide advanced sensor control and J1939 network functionality for a wide variety of critical Light Armored Vehicle systems. SenseNet™ hardware modules were employed to monitor and report system health and functionality for many LAV subsystems as well as providing the primary interface to the entire LAV 1939 network. SenseNet™ capabilities which were exploited for this project included:

A newly designed Oil Soot Sensor was used for oil quality and engine health monitoring. This smart sensor is microprocessor controlled and features a serial interface for connection to a host system.

The SenseNet™ platform used for the Oil Soot Sensor acted as the host system for the sensor, and contained all of the application firmware necessary for control and operation of the sensor. The specialized application firmware used SenseNet’s built in command language to speed application development and improve system reliability.

TTL Serial Sensor Interface

SenseNet’s built in TTL level serial port allowed direct connection to the sensor without requiring the addition of serial line drivers to the sensor’s electronics, thereby reducing sensor cost and keeping the sensor PCB footprint to a minimum.

Isolated Power for Sensor

SenseNet’s built in DC to DC converter offers electrical isolation of the sensor from the vehicle power system. SenseNet™ provides isolated excitation for the Oil Soot Sensor electronics, thereby eliminating the need for a dedicated isolated power supply for the sensor.

Sensor Control Firmware

The Oil Soot Sensor uses a proprietary command set for operation and control. SenseNet™ hosts a dedicated sensor command interpreter which specifically addresses the command structure and performs all command parsing needed to command the sensor and interpret the results.

Engineering Units Conversion

SenseNet™ performs all operations on raw sensor data, such as applying scale and offset values required to convert the data into useful engineering units.

J1939 Message Formatting

All J1939 CAN messaging for the Oil Soot Sensor is performed using the SenseNet™ J1939 standard protocol stack. Data report rate and messaging format is fully customizable.

FLASH Firmware Updates

Oil Soot Sensor application firmware is fully programmable in circuit, without having to replace chips or remove the SenseNet™ from it’s sealed enclosure.

All Vehicle systems are monitored and diagnosable using a dedicated SenseNet™ configured as a J1939 diagnostic access point.

Control and monitoring software written in Java resides on a Windows based Tablet PC which is used as a device console to provide the human interface for Light Armored Vehicle system diagnostics.

SenseNet™ provides a built-in J1939 CAN network to 802.11b wireless bridge. This allows for monitoring of any system network packets without having to physically connect to the J1939 network. Additionally, CAN packets may also originate from data received by the wireless bridge from any authorized node on the 802.11b wireless network.

Networked Radio Control

The primary interface between the SenseNet™ based Asset Network Diagnostic Interface (ANDI) is an 802.11b (WiFi) digital radio port built in to SenseNet™. For security purposes the wireless network module may be enabled or disabled via J1939 CAN network commands or an actuator switch provided for physical control of 802.11b radio functionality.

Built In Voltage Measurement

SenseNet™ provides direct connection to the Light Armored Vehicle electrical system. SenseNet’s built in signal conditioning allows measurement of low level signals, such as provided by Thermocouples, Current Shunts, sensors, and electrical subsystems under test.

Test Lead Connector

SenseNet™ provides a BNC test lead connector on it’s cable assembly, which is suitable for use with test leads. This provision allows SenseNet™ to provide measurement functionality which would otherwise require a meter or oscilloscope.

Current Shunt Connector

SenseNet™ provides a current shunt connector to allow service technicians easy measurement of current values of circuits under test.

RS-232 & USB Interface

SenseNet™ provides these standard wired interfaces in addition to it’s built-in 802.11b wireless network support for direct connection to computers or other sensor systems.

FLASH Firmware Updates

Application firmware is fully programmable in circuit, without having to replace chips or remove the SenseNet™ from the sealed enclosure.

Can Be Directly Connected to LAV Sensors, Gauges and Switches

SenseNet™ has all of the signal conditioning required for direct connection to any analog or digital system on the Vehicle.

Automatically Generates 1939 CAN Messages From Any Input

SenseNet™ is easily configurable to format and transmit J1939 CAN messages from any connected analog or digital source, without requiring custom firmware or software of any kind.

 

SenseNet™ may be configured to report raw sensor, gauge, or switch data, or to perform any scaling and offset calculations required to transform raw data into more useful engineering units.

data reporting is customizable and may be configured to broadcast J1939 messages at any rate or in response to a specific query.

SenseNet™ systems are configurable to generate J1939 messages appropriate for any error or fault condition detected by the system.