Bangalore : Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions Ltd. (RBEI) and Entwicklungs- und Applikationswerkzeuge für elektronische Systeme GmbH (ETAS) jointly published a free open source software named Busmaster that addresses the design, monitoring, analysis, and simulation of CAN (Controller Area Network) bus systems. It has applicability wherever CAN is utilized – for instance onboard vehicles, in industrial automation systems, in medical systems, in avionics, and so on.

Busmaster welcomes contributions from research, industry, and the academic/student community to extend its functionality and efficiency. The intent is to provide a sufficiently large number of developers with opportunities for adding extensions to bus systems, protocols, hardware interfaces, and to provide multiple platform support to the larger community  Following the practices of the open source community, Busmaster can be both developed and maintained by means of free software programs such as Microsoft Visual Studio Express.

About Open Source Software: The term Open source software (OSS) points to software that is ‘open’ and ‘free’ for all. This means that the software is available in public domain and one has the freedom to use, or modify, or distribute this software. Ever ready to embrace new things, RBEI’s engagement with the Open Source community is here to stay. Anybody who has an innovative idea to contribute for the Busmaster product now has a chance to see it being incorporated.

Busmaster was conceptualized, designed, and developed by RBEI, before rolling out the open source version as a joint project with ETAS. ETAS is the interface for providing support and engineering services, including customization, coaching, and training in the product. The move to the open source platform will facilitate continued development as well as shorter development cycles of the product.