Project Goal
The goal of this project was to develop a custom hardware and software solution to the Formula Motorsport team’s inflexible and outgrown data-acquisition system.
More specifically, the project exists to allow for data to be collected from more sensors, as well as non-proprietary sensors, and for that new data to be visualized in a GUI.
Figure 1: CANDAQ and connected systems block diagram
Existing System
The existing system relies heavily on the functionality of the LifeRacing F88R Engine Control Unit (ECU). This ECU provides direct connection between the analog sensors and the analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) via an 88-pin connector. The on-board analog-to-digital converters are then read in to the ECU, where sensor inputs can be used for live decisions by the ECU or simply logged and stored into the internal memory.
Expanded System
The expanded system adds an additional board, labelled as CANDAQ. This board adds sensor inputs external to the ECU. This creates the need for off-board ADCs, Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) communication protocol to a central microcontroller, and Controller Area Network (CAN) controller and transceiver infrastructure. With this board, sensor data is sampled from ADCs, which are read over SPI protocol into the microcontroller. The microcontroller then assigns the data to the associated CAN message, which is sent on the CAN bus. The ECU then parses the incoming messages from the CAN bus.