Audi Infotainment: CAN Bus & RNS-E System

Hello everyone,

'Today, I finally had some time to experiment a bit. For testing, I used an A4 B6 KI (instrument cluster), an RNS-E (navigation system), a multimedia adapter (for video input), and a CANUSB adapter. The entire process took place outside the vehicle, and there were only a few data packets on the infotainment CAN bus, which is usually quite full. I accessed these signals at the RNS-E using connector D, pin 9 (high) and pin 10 (low), which corresponds to pin 7 (high) and pin 12 (low) on the 20-pin connector I.'

In addition to the addresses already mentioned, 261h (upper FIS row) and 263h (lower FIS row), and the time/date information in 623h, I have...
can be assigned to other functions as well:

461h (in TV mode):
37 30 01 01 00 00 previous track
37 30 01 02 00 00 next track
37 30 01 40 00 00 MMI, top left.
37 30 01 80 00 00 MMI link below.
'MMI button pressed.'
37 30 01 00 20 00 Press the MMI button to the left.
37 30 01 00 40 00 Press the MMI button on the right side.
37 30 01 00 02 00 Return pressed.
37 30 01 00 01 00 Setup pressed.

These seem to be all the values that are possible in TV mode. When the button is released, the third digit changes from 01 to 04, allowing you to track which button was last pressed.

The selected audio source is also displayed.

661h
81 01 12 A0 00 00 00 AM/FM (or FM/MW/LW)
81 01 12 2F 00 00 00 00 SAT (SDARS in the USA, possibly DAB in Europe)
81 01 12 37 00 00 00 00 TV (Video Input)
81 01 12 A4 00 00 00 00 MP3
81 01 12 A5 00 00 00 CD

I had actually assumed that I would be able to select the audio source via CAN. However, I haven't been successful with that yet. For some reason, I haven't been able to send any packets correctly so far, for whatever reason. Perhaps someone with a radio could check the data being sent for the audio source.

Actually, I was trying to figure out how to activate the TV mode. But since I haven't been able to send a packet yet, I've put that on hold for now. I could see some packets being sent from the MM interface, but that's all I've managed so far. Maybe someone here can give me a tip.

Next on my to-do list is to figure out what happens when a CD changer is connected (in my case, an IceLInk). The question of whether 'next track' and 'previous track' commands are also sent via CAN bus hasn't been answered yet, has it?

And finally, here are a few more pictures, although they actually belong in the 'projects' section.

Windows XP running on an RNS-E system (via RGB connection at a resolution of 720x540 interlaced).
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h57/AudiA4B6US/RNSE-XP.jpg

Test skin in RoadRunner (without functionality, just to see how the quality is).
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h57/AudiA4B6US/RNS-E-RR.jpg

Regards,
Dirk.

'It looks pretty good so far. The pictures are a bit blurry, are you satisfied with this image quality? I'm interested because I'm still considering whether to equip my A3 with an RNS E or an 8-inch monitor. I only know the image quality from the infotainment screen in a Bentley GT, and it was completely unsatisfactory there. I retrofitted a digital tuner there, and the text display within that tuner's menu was very poor, although strangely enough, the TV picture was excellent. Thanks in advance.'

The text isn't really blurry, but it's missing some dots, which makes it unreadable. With the black background and large font size, it was actually quite good; there was just a slight flickering occasionally, but otherwise, the black was as dark as in the other menus.

You could write a program that allows the mouse to be moved using the right buttons .

It already looks very promising what you've done!

It's really beautiful... What does the graphic quality depend on, and what could be improved there?
I recently sold my 7' monitor and was actually planning to install an 8' one, but this solution also looks very good.
What is the actual size of the display in inches?


Edit: Okay... I found it myself... 6.5'... and then there's the 16:9 aspect ratio... somehow not ideal, but visually it fits well with the rest of the Audi design... so what to do *grumble*

Hello,

How about the data that is being sent to the lower display?
With the RNS-E, there's a possibility to 'cruise' in compass mode and see what's being displayed. In this mode, only the direction (compass) and the currently driven road are shown on the screen.
It is possible that, if the data are not encoded, one might be able to obtain access to the IDs.

Next on my to-do list is to figure out what happens when a CD changer is connected (an IceLInk in my case). The question of whether 'next track' and 'previous track' commands are also sent via CAN has not yet been answered, has it?
No, nothing about CAN is transmitted via that.
Perhaps you eventually figured out how to activate the TV mode? I would be very interested to know .