Timloto Project Day - 13 March 2009 Seventh Project Day - course year 2008-2009 Location: DAF Trucks, Eindhoven, The Netherlands Host: Peter van de Laar Guest Speakers: Howard Tan and Marc Otters Participants: see attendance list.

1. Peter van de Laar's position at DAF has been changed from technical trainer to troubleshooter.
For today's project day, he invited two guest speackers. The morning session on telematica was provided by Howard Tan and the afternoon session presented by Marc Otters covered the 'lane departure warning system'.

2. Howard Tan explained the use of telematica in DAF vehicles.
Planners can view the location of the vehicles online, can communicate with the driver, and if necessary change the route. A GSM system is used for this. Specifically developed for the transport industry, the navigation system uses a special GPS system and a TSM system to report traffic congestion. It is a 'be to be' control system. For these special functions, it is necessary that the vehicle be equipped with a VIC (Vehicle Intellect Centre). Information from the vehicle such as engine temperature and fuel consumption can be read out online. An application for the FMS (Fleet Management Standard) must be registered with DAF and set through the VIC. The DAVIE, DAF's diagnosis tester, also makes use of this system. A demonstration was given with a vehicle on DAF's parking lot.

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3. After lunch Ep spoke about the progress of MegaSquirt.
In the April edition of Elektor, an article appeared on a newly developed print with the AT90CAN32 controller. This print costs 62.50 euros excluding the 'underprint' and the ISP interface. These can be ordered separately. The print works with an external power supply. It is now time to consider the development of an automotive electronics lab with the AU2 and AU3 boxes from Steppe and Pulles. This can be followed by the new controller (tasks are already on the site) and finally the programable MegaSquirt management system. Costs should not be a problem. The MegaSquirt is 250 euros and the engine simulator is 150 euros. The software is open source and is available for both Linux and Windows. This will, however, involve the necessary research and lesson material needs to be written.

4. At 15:00, Marc Otters began instructing the group on the lane departure warning system. The American/German system Iteris is used as the base. Mercedes and Scania, among others, also use this system. At DAF, the system is known as LDWA (lane departure warning assistent). Marc also gave us a DAF memory tip: the yelLOW colour of the CAN wire is the CAN-LOW wire. The group was provided with handouts in which all the information could be read and reviewed.

5. The day ended with a discussion and a request to DAF to provide an inservice training course for new teachers. There are too many information gaps in the current teachers' training institutes. Peter promised to investigate the possibilities.

6. At 16:40 everyone left the premises with a feeling of satisfaction after a very instructive day.


The next project day will be held on 17 April at Eurogas in Zeewolde.

Report by Kees van den Berg

Photos by Willem Tulp