Last Sunday, we had a very successful CAN (Controller Area Network) trial. We were able to simultaneously transmit and receive CAN message packets between three of our BRAINS and the Tritium motor controller. We tried two setups. one where the Tritium sent messages and all three BRAINS flashed lights to indicate receiving the message, and one where one BRAIN communicated with the Tritium while the other two talked between themselves on the same network. Both tests were successful.
The skeleton boards worked great. To set up everything for the tests, it was just a matter of pushing a brain into each board and connecting them all via DB9 cables. It’s looking like our goal of modularity will be achieved. All of the controlling components of our car should be easily swappable.
We’re almost ready for our second run of PCBs. At this point, we have tested all the functionality of our original run. The wiring schematics are done, the box and backplane for them all is nearly designed, and we just have a few tweaks to the layouts to do before we can send this second run out for fabrication. We expect to be able to send out the order before we get out for Berkeley’s winter break.