Jennic Limited and Kvaser AB Announce Technology Partnership on BlueCAN Wireless CAN Solutions

Jennic Limited and Kvaser AB Announce Technology Partnership on "BlueCAN" Wireless CAN Solutions

Jennic Limited ("Jennic"), headquartered in Sheffield, England and Kvaser AB ("Kvaser") headquartered in Kinnahult, Sweden have today announced "BlueCAN", the world's first wireless controller area network ("CAN") solution combining Bluetooth and CAN technology.

A Memorandum of Understanding ("MoU") was signed by the parties on December 12th 2000. The parties have been cooperating with each other to develop intellectual property ("IP") and system-on-chip ("SoC") solutions featuring Jennic's Bluetooth IP and Kvaser's CAN IP. The parties have been sharing systems knowledge and merging their respective IP to enable CAN to function over a wireless link.

The CAN protocol is an ISO standard (ISO 11898) for serial data communication and was originally developed for automotive applications.

"Automotive manufacturers are continually under pressure to reduce vehicle emissions," says Brian Bennett, Head of Marketing at Jennic. "anything that can be done to remove heavy wiring will bring benefits. This is where BlueCAN fits in."

Although BlueCAN utilises standard Bluetooth technology, additional functionality was required in order to make it suitable for wireless CAN systems. "Jennic's Bluetooth controller incorporates our innovative Streaming Data Controller ("SDC") architecture which enabled us to incorporate time-triggering in the baseband device," says Norman Thompson, Jennic's Head of Wireless Engineering. "Time-triggering is particularly important for wireless CAN in automotive applications, it's essentially a priority interrupt for time-critical systems. This feature is not supported in the standard Bluetooth specification (v1.1)," he adds.

"Jennic is pleased to be working with Kvaser on BlueCAN," states Jim Lindop, Jennic's CEO. "They are a world leader in CAN technology and I am confident that this is just the beginning of what will become a long and successful partnership".

This sentiment is echoed by Kvaser. "We see Jennic as an important extension to our own capability. With Jennic, we can expand opportunities for Kvaser's CAN technology by opening up new markets," states Lars-Berno Fredricksson, Kvaser's President and CEO.

For further information regarding this press  release please contact:
 

Brian Bennett
Head of Marketing
Jennic Ltd
Sunrise Parkway
Milton Keynes MK14 6LS
United Kingdom

Tel: +44 1908 295 700
Fax: +44 1908 295 800
E-mail: brian.bennett@jennic.com