Custom F1 in Schools Data Logger

We decided to undertake a project in a field no other Stem Racing team has had in the past, Telemetry. We know how much telemetry data and data logging are used in full scale racing and we believed we had a shot at making something light enough to get useful data out of. We begun by defining the components for our system:

RP2040 zero: We chose this micro- controller due to its compact size and small weight as well as compatibility with micro-python.

MPU6005: This is the accelerometer we used for logging acceleration values, something we choose due to its cheap cost and small size.

Lightweight Li-Po battery

We assembled the prototype system and started coding. initially running at just 30 Hz, eventually optimized to reach a polling rate of 320 Hz while writing results to onboard flash memory. This is the device that we used for the majority of the development cycle of our car.

Once the prototype was up and running we started designing a custom PCB that would fit into the car’s Halo pocket, a standard feature mandated to be the same across all cars according to the regulations, meaning that it would be a perfect fit for any design we ever create.

Simultaneously, we started gathering data and developing an analysis solution. This data was of course very noisy, considering the rapid acceleration, so a smoothing algorithm was developed and built into a custom data analysis tool, through which we were able to calibrate the sensors to the readings before launch, set the time window we want to observe, compare accelerations and finally, through integration, calculate approximate velocity and verify our results by approximating distance covered

The final product: