Remote monitoring and control via the intelligent database gateway for the CAN-based wheelchair

CAN bus is an adequate choice with respect to stability, real-time performance, and cost for modern automotive and industrial applications. Moreover, CAN-based systems can be integrated with the Ethernet to achieve remote monitoring and control (RMC) systems. In this paper, an intelligent gateway to bridge two different network protocols, the industrial CAN bus and the Ethernet, are proposed to achieve the RMC system. Furthermore, to improve its reliability and efficiency of the RMC systems, three message transfer modes in the database gateway are defined to prevent the possible blocking of the remote command on the network and to minimize the abuse of the CAN bus resource. The developed intelligent database gateway is successfully applied to a CAN-based electrical wheelchair to prove the feasibility of the proposed RMC system.