Space avionics systems are witnessing a change from highly centralized intelligence to distributed autonomous functions, thanks to the availability of high capacity FPGAs and microcontrollers that offload tasks alternatively concentrated in the on-board computer. The glue of this change are the command and control buses, and a similar process led in the late 80s to the development and successive adoption of CAN as an automotive and industrial automation bus.

Following the ever-increasing success and industry interest ESA is organising a dedicated ‘CAN in Space’ workshop hosted in SITAEL Headquarters.

The CAN workshop will include tutorials, exhibits together with presentations on CAN bus physical and protocol layers. With the arrival of the QML-V qualified radiation tolerant CAN bus transceivers, and the impending qualification of several CAN-able rad hard microcontrollers, the availability of larger and larger Rad-Tolerant FPGAs, space communications engineers are now able to implement a CAN bus network for spacecraft on-board communications and controls of the same level of complexity than a terrestrial CAN-based embedded system.

Topics include (but are not limited to and the term CAN includes CAN FD and classical CAN):

• CAN implementations
• CAN device design
• CAN system design
• CAN diagnostic and tools
• CAN higher-layer protocols
• CAN-related research studies
• CAN applications in space or ground support equipment
• CAN applications in space industry

Discover More visit and Register at the Event page on ESA website : bit.ly/canspace