CiA Board of Directors re-elected

The general assembly of the CiA (CAN in Automation) international users and manufacturers group re-elected the Board of Directors. Heinz-Jürgen Oertel (Port GmbH) is the Technical Director chairing the Technical Committee (TC). Members of the TC are C & S Group, Vector, and Wachendorff. The Business Director, Arnulf Lockmann (Janz AG), is the convener of the Business Committee (BC). In the BC are ESD, Port, Schneider Electric, Vector, and Wachendorff.

Holger Zeltwanger, the Managing Director, and the CiA office with 12 employees organize all CiA events and edit the CiA specifications, in particular the CANopen profiles. CANopen is the standardized embedded control network for many applications including medical devices and off-road vehicles.

"In times of weaker economies, it is very important to develop and improve interface standards," said Holger Zeltwanger, "in order to be prepared for a higher level of standardization, when economies go better." Therefore CiA is increasing its activities for system designers. The scheduled free-of-charge CANopen Application Days in Helsinki, Berlin, and Palma de Mallorca should help machine builders to discuss CANopen solution from the standpoint of system integration.

Another new activity is plug-fests: They are used to prove interoperability of CANopen products. The first plug-fest took place in March, in summer additional will follow. CiA has also a representative in India organizing seminars and presentations about CAN and CANopen.