8-bits of Processing Goodness

The last semester of my undergrad program in CSE is finally here! This semester I have a Senior Design course where students form their own groups and come up with an idea related to the curriculum and implement it. Now if only I had an idea of what to design...

I've been participating in autocross events for years and have always wished I could afford a data acquisition system like those you see used in Formula 1, Indy, Le Mans, and/or NASCAR. With a DAQ, I'd be able to see exactly what my car is doing at an event and use that information to help me drive the course faster on my next run. Hopefully.

That got me thinking. Surely I'm not the only amateur autocrosser wishing for an affordable data acquisition system made for the weekend warrior. In fact, LOTS of people across the nation, and across the globe would probably love such a system. I didn't know of any that existed on a college student budget, so I figured why not make one? It just so happens this senior design semester is the perfect time to get started. But where to begin?

I began looking at professional systems to see what they were doing so I could get an idea where to start. After looking at a few of the products out there, most of them seemed to be doing some sort of GPS tracking as well as logging all the sensor data the user needs (or can afford). I started looking into using a USB GPS plugged into a laptop and use software to track and log the position data so the user could review it later. In the midst of looking for a GPS, I discovered most of the professional units were boasting GPS units with 5-20Hz refresh rates, but the units I found were all 1Hz. Hmm, I know I want to go cheap, but it also needs to do it's job well. I had to find something better. I eventually stumbled upon a 10Hz GPS chip that sounded like it would do the trick, but how in the world was I going to get data off a lone circuit chip? I also want to use an accelerometer to measure precise movements of the car, but USB versions were expensive. Chip-only models were vastly cheaper, but how do I connect one to a computer? Time for some more research.

That's when I met the Arduino.

[caption id="attachment_78" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="So many possibilities in such a tiny package."][/caption]

I think the Nintendo was the last time I used an 8-bit processor, but I have a feeling I'm going to have so much more fun with this thing! Could your Nintendo convert an analog voltage into a 10-bit digital value? I didn't think so.

The Arduino Duemilanove is the latest board to come from the open hardware Arduino project. The beauty of Arduino is it's openess and ease of use. The design schematics are openly available; ready for people to adapt and improve, or to integrate directly into their own projects. The microcontrollers used also come pre-programmed with the Arduino bootloader which makes it a piece of cake to write some code, plug the board in via USB, click a button to upload the code and make it run. The Arduino drastically lowers the learning curve necessary to start using a microcontroller.

With my Arduino, the possibilities are endless. This little board has opened the door wide open to this project and should be able to handle everything a motorsport data acquisition system should need. Now it's time to fire this thing up and see what it can do! Stay tuned.