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Turn Your Raspberry Pi into a Smart Marine Hub with OpenPlotter and Signal K
The world of marine electronics is evolving. Once dominated by expensive, closed systems with limited flexibility, there’s now a shift toward something more open, more personal, and—frankly—more exciting. At the heart of this movement is OpenPlotter, a Linux-based operating system tailored for Raspberry Pi computers, and Signal K, an open data standard designed to bring [...]
The PiCAN Advantage: High-Performance CAN Interfaces for Raspberry Pi
The PiCAN series is a comprehensive line of CAN Bus interface boards (HATs) developed specifically for the Raspberry Pi platform. Designed and manufactured by Copperhill Technologies, these boards offer robust support for both Classical CAN (2.0A/B) and the more advanced CAN FD protocols. The product line is engineered to meet the diverse needs of automotive, [...]
Mastering SAE J1939: Real-Time Simulation & Monitoring Made Easy
The SAE J1939 ECU Simulator Board by Copperhill Technologies is a high-performance, low-latency vehicle network adapter designed for SAE J1939 applications. It allows any host device with a USB COM port to monitor SAE J1939 data traffic and communicate with the SAE J1939 vehicle network. The board supports the full SAE J1939 protocol, including J1939/81 [...]
Unlocking the Sea: Popular Applications of NMEA 2000 in Marine Systems
In the world of marine electronics, seamless communication between devices is not a luxury—it’s a necessity. Enter NMEA 2000, a marine data network standard developed by the National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA). Based on the Controller Area Network (CAN) protocol, NMEA 2000 provides a plug-and-play system that allows electronic devices to talk to each other [...]
J1708 to J1939 Conversion Made Smarter: The Truth Behind Protocol Gateways
I regularly receive inquiries about converting from SAE J1708/J1587 to SAE J1939. Most often, the goal is to bridge old and new technologies—for example, connecting a modern J1939-based dashboard to a legacy J1708-based diesel engine. There are other scenarios, but this one comes up frequently. The logical next step is to look for a protocol [...]
Error Reporting in SocketCAN with Specific Reference to the MCP2515 CAN Controller
SocketCAN is a set of open-source CAN drivers and a network stack, included in the Linux kernel, which allows CAN devices to be accessed via standard socket APIs. It provides a flexible and extensible framework for CAN communication, diagnostics, and application development. One powerful feature of SocketCAN is error reporting via special CAN frames, which is [...]
Unlocking Vehicle Intelligence: A Practical Guide to CAN and LIN Bus Networks
Modern vehicles contain dozens of electronic control units (ECUs) that must communicate reliably to coordinate engine, transmission, braking, body functions, and more. Two key networking technologies enabling this in-car communication are the Controller Area Network (CAN) and the Local Interconnect Network (LIN). CAN and LIN buses each have distinct architectures and roles: CAN is a [...]
Accelerate Automotive Development with the Teensy 4.0 OBD-II CAN-Bus Simulator
The Teensy 4.0 OBD-II CAN-Bus ECU Simulator by Copperhill Technologies is a compact and powerful tool designed by Copperhill Technologies for automotive diagnostics, embedded development, and CAN bus prototyping. The board comes with a pre-programmed Teensy 4.0 microcontroller and simulates a vehicle’s ECU by generating OBD-II data over the CAN bus, making it highly suitable [...]
CAN Bus Development for Embedded Systems: With and Without an Operating System
The Controller Area Network (CAN) Bus has become an essential communication protocol in automotive, industrial, marine, and robotics applications due to its robustness, efficiency, and real-time capabilities. When it comes to embedded systems, developers have multiple hardware and software platforms to choose from—some with full operating systems (OS), others running bare-metal (without OS). At Copperhill Technologies, [...]
CAN Bus Applications in Automotive, Marine, Robotics, and Industrial Systems Using the PiCAN Series of HATs for Raspberry Pi
The Controller Area Network (CAN Bus) is a resilient, lightweight, and highly efficient communication protocol originally developed by Bosch in the 1980s for automotive systems. Today, CAN Bus has evolved far beyond its automotive roots, extending into marine electronics, robotics, industrial automation, and more. One of the most accessible and flexible ways to prototype or [...]