USC Racing

USC Racing is a student organization based in Los Angeles at the University of Southern California Viterbi School of Engineering. Each year the team designs and builds an FSAE race car to compete in Michigan against other universities at the end of the year. The 90+ person team is made up of primarily  engineers but our team is open to everyone, regardless of skill sets or experience. 

The electronics subteam is currently focused on improving data acquisition capabilities on the car to collect valuable data at test days and more informed,  data driven design decisions. One of the major projects of the electronics subteam is a custom dashboard to display sensor information to the drivers while testing or during competition. 

The PCB acts as a display controller by communicating with the car’s ECU over CAN bus, identifying addresses and converting the desired data, and then displaying the information onto an LCD screen. Additionally,it features RPM and warning LED lights to supplement the LCD display.

A hand wired and soldered version of the dashboard has been used previously but a PCB design would allow for even smaller and lighter packaging in a tight space area and enhance its capabilities and robustness. Motorsports is a harsh environment and increasing reliability of our electronics system is essential. A more robust Dash would be pivotal in ensuring our drivers always have access to the data they need to drive on the limit. The team is trying to focus on PCB development to take our race car to the next level of competition and help us in our technical development for our future after graduation. A sponsorship from PCBWay would be transformative in achieving these goals.