Today, agricultural vehicle and implement manufacturers need to incorporate more and more electronic devices and components into their machinery in order to increase efficiency and productivity while at the same time reducing fossil fuel dependency and pollutant emissions. To meet these challenges, OEMs expect complete solutions rather than single products from their suppliers.
EN ISO 25119:2018 and ISOBUS
OEMs face changing and increasing requirements regarding functional safety and must handle them adequately: An updated EN ISO 25119:2018 will be harmonized soon and will replace the current EN 16590:2014 as the safety standard for control systems in tractors and agricultural machinery.
Also, ISOBUS (ISO 11783:2017) developed into an industry-standard communication protocol for agricultural equipment manufacturers that allows tractors, implements and electronic equipment to communicate with each other independently of their manufacturers.
TTControl’s new controllers HY-TTC 508 and HY-TTC 590
(photo credit: TTControl)
TTControl, a joint-venture company of TTTech and HYDAC International, is a proven leader in functional safety, offering safety certified software and hardware platforms. The solutions enable equipment manufacturers to develop highly reliable electronic control systems quickly and economically, reducing development time and risks.In order to meet the above mentioned requirements specifically asked for by agricultural machinery manufacturers, TTControl’s high-end and field-proven HY-TTC 500 controller family was recently expanded by two more electronic controllers named HY-TTC 508 and HY-TTC 590.
The new ECUs quickly became important components in agricultural machinery designs, especially for implement-ECUs as they fulfil the EN ISO 25119 AgPL d safety requirements and comply with the ISOBUS standard (listed in the Agricultural Industry Electronics Foundation (AEF) compatibility database). Also, the flash size on the HY-TTC 590 was increased to 32MB to provide enough storage capacity for the continuously growing size of the ISOBUS object pools. All objects displayed by the ISOBUS Virtual Terminal (VT) are stored in this pool.
A 100BASE-T1 BroadR-Reach® interface is available on both new devices. 100BASE-T1 BroadR-Reach® is the evolution of traditional Ethernet, using unshielded single twisted pair cable that helps to reduce connectivity costs and cabling weight. Its 100Mbit/s allow much higher data throughput between different electronic devices (compared to traditional CAN interfaces and compared to the recently introduced CAN-FD standard). The 100BASE-T1 interface is also available for debugging and application download, reducing the time needed during the application development process or machine installation and commissioning significantly.
Featuring a powerful ARM dual-core lockstep, a rich set of communication interfaces (up to 7x CANs, LIN) along with an integrated Real Time Clock, the new controllers can handle complex algorithms used in agricultural applications.
HY-TTC 508 in customer applications
As customer of TTControl’s Joint-Venture Partner HYDAC International, the engineers at Maschio Gaspardo chose the new HY-TTC 508 controller among the models of the HY-TTC 500 controller family because of the Real Time Clock and a larger storage capacity, i.e. Flash and EEPROM, that are essential features for higher level ISOBUS applications.
The Maschio Gaspardo group uses TTControl’s electronic controllers for all new products that require ISOBUS compliance and functional safety capabilities, such as the Primo series, a mounted implement commonly used for spreading fertilizer. All machine operations, from work to comfort functions, are electronically controlled, increasing effectiveness, precision and efficiency in every use case. The electronic models of Primo implement a variable rate technology (VRT) that enables the application of fertilizer at a precise rate, time and position. It is designed to reduce wastage and increase yields from the same size of land in compliance with the regulation. These benefits are provided to the end user by means of the ISOBUS technology through the TC-BAS, TC-GEO and TC-SC functionalities that have been implemented on the HY-TTC 508 controller.
The HY-TTC 500 family enables greater fertilizer application control (photo credit: Maschio Gaspardo)
Supporting innovative OEMs, shaping the future of agriculture
TTControl’s product portfolio also includes mid- and small-size electronic controllers and I/O modules, rugged operator interfaces and connectivity solutions ready for advanced future use cases.
Vision 3, TTControl’s latest generation of powerful rugged operator interfaces, as well as TTConnect 616, an advanced connectivity device that combines and manages all in-vehicle communication interfaces such as CAN-FD, LIN and 100BASE-T1 BroadR-Reach®, also fulfil the ISOBUS standard compliance regulations.
TTControl’s engineering services support customers in fast and efficient software application development. TTControl offers high levels of quality, safety and performance for innovative mobile machinery. Relying on proven partnerships, customers gain the flexibility and agility necessary to quickly respond to specific market requirements.
Join us at Agritechnica 2019
You can find TTControl at Agritechnica in Hanover at booth H21 in hall 17. TTControl experts will provide you with more detailed descriptions and showcases of TTControl’s complete product portfolio and look forward to creating new strong partnerships.
Author: Lucian Badescu is product manager in charge of the ECU portfolio at TTControl.
The article was first published in the iVT Magazin, September 2019.
