Newsletter April 2018

newsletter April 2018

DRIVERLESS

Pushing ELD Text: Marcus Engebretsen, ROS-Architect and Processing Responsible

Imagine a rainy, frigid spring evening on an empty parking lot in the northern parts of Norway. A team of students decide to push their semi-finished racing car around a gravel track with several hundred thousands Kroners worth of sensors mounted on. Why do these ambitious students decide to go through the strain of setting up all this hardware and walk around in circles all evening, rather than working inside the homely workshop at Valgrinda?

The reason for pushing Eld is mainly to bag data for the autonomous systems. To bag is, in this context the ROS (Robot Operating System), the equivalent of recording sensor data for later use within the safe testing confines of the full autonomous driving pipeline. These recordings can seamlessly be downloaded and played on each computer, and are easy to use when we want to test, say the cone detection module. Furthermore, setting a Eld pushing deadline gives the team a milestone to work towards and pushes everyone to have their part of the pipeline ready.

SUSPENSION

Front Calipers during mechanical testing at the MTP Laboratory.

Br(e)aking Barriers Text: Brage Vasseljen, Brake & Pedalbox Since the brake calipers came back from production in March, most of my time has been used to prepare them and the rest of the brake system for the big assembly. Brake hoses had to be designed around the internal space of the monocoque, whilst fittings had to fit both the brake calipers and the pedal box. We have also been pushing the calipers’ boundaries in mechanical testing. Fear not - they have sustained far worse cases than they will sustain during braking!

Boundaries on the personal level have also been pushed, as I’ve been presenting my work in Gothenburg at the annual NAFEMS Nordic Conference. I’ve met a lot of smart people with expertise within the world of simulation. Hopefully I can take advantage of all the smalltalk I’ve been doing during the past years.

As April is coming to an end and we are getting closer to a driveable car, the brakes will soon have to slow us down while we go faster. There will be long days and longer nights, but nothing is going to stop us from breaking new barriers - not even my brake caliper design.

ELECTRICAL

Safe and Sound Text: Bo Willem Woelfert, Vehicle Team Leader Formula Student is not only about being fast, it is also about being safe. Thus, to ensure that all electric vehicles comply with the rules and conform to good engineering practices, each competition requires us to hand in an ESF, also known as ”Electrical System Form”. This document, which in the case of FSEast is limited to 100 A4-pages, has to envelop all safety critical parts of our electric system - from the high voltage accumulator to the brake light. As one might expect, this takes a lot of time and effort from everyone working with electronics in an already hectical period. Nevertheless, it is vital for a quick scrutineering of the car, and handing it late is not an option, as every 24 hours costs us 10 points, points that quickly could drag us down multiple spots on the competition results.

The ESF is not, however, only a distraction to keep us from finishing the car before the unveiling. It also serves as a thorough documentation for teams to come, explaining the electrical schematics, how the car handles any error or emergency that might occur, how the high voltage componenta - tractive system as we call it - is built up and how critical signals are handled throughout the vehicle. If we need to know what battery cells were used four years ago or how our first all-wheel drive system installed the motors, it is all there.

Either way, the ESFs and other required competition documents have been delivered, and both teams are back to building race cars and one step closer to the summer’s racetracks.

EVENT

The Unveiling Text: Nadia Chaudry, Event Manager On the 3rd of May, we finally get to show the world what we have spend the last 8 months working on. Since September, 70 students have designed, reviewed, redesigned, and produced parts and systems that together make up two incredible projects: our seventh electric vehicle (EV), and our first driverless vehicle (DV).

Taking on a driverless project, in addition to a new EV project, is no easy task. By doing so, Revolve NTNU really pushes the limit. We see no reason why we shouldn’t do that on other fronts as well. For the first time we have moved the unveiling from an auditorium on campus, to Studentersamfundet. We look forward to hosting family, friends, sponsors, and others at this iconic venue. We can promise an entertaining programme, with speakers from Revolve NTNU, NTNU, Kongsberg Group, and Bertel O. Steen, a short concert by Pirum, and not least, a light serving of food and cake. We can’t wait! Hope to see you there.

The unveiling of ELD last year.

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