my cycle racing project

The competition I am preparing for is the SAE Collegiate Design Series. I'm a part of UMSAE, the University of Manitoba chapter of SAE International, a team which designs and builds a formula-type racecar each year to take to this competition. This year's car is known as “PBR2017” (Polar Bear Racing 2017). I'm the leader of my team's electrical section. Here's a photo of us from our most recent competition in Lincoln, Nebraska. I'm in the middle.

My team's electrical system is actually very unique among other SAE teams. We design each component of our system in-house, which is difficult but very rewarding. 

Project Introduction:

I am a member of UMSAE – the University of Manitoba chapter of SAE International, and I work on the formula team, which competes in the FSAE Collegiate Design Series. Our current project is the system which relays information to the driver. Our design consists of an electronic dashboard and an indicator module which will be located in the steering wheel of our car. This year's design is an iteration on last year's design. This year, we have fixed all the minor problems that crept up last year, while adding some new functionality.

A.   Project Details

I will summarize the function of our driver interface:

Dashboard

• Designed to inform the driver of only  the most important information, mainly:

◦     Gear position

◦     Shift timing

◦     Failure or damage to critical systems

• Contains 64-bit LED dot-matrix. This  will display the current gear (and possibly some mini-games).

• Contains four RGB LEDs located around  the dot-matrix to warn the driver about the health of critical systems on      the vehicle.

• Connects to buttons and switches to  allow the driver to control some vehicle systems

• Connects to the CAN network to  communicate with the rest of the vehicle's systems

Indicator Module (IM)

• Designed to provide the driver with  more detailed information about the vehicle, like:

◦     Coolant temperature

◦     Fuel level

◦     Acceleration

◦     Oil pressure

◦     Battery voltage

• Contains two four-digit 7-segment LED banks for displaying accurate numbers

• Contains two RGB LEDs whose colour will indicate the meaning of the displayed data

• Connects to four buttons to change the displays, as well as change the vehicle's traction

• Connects to the CAN network to communicate with the rest of the vehicle's systems