To start things off, this is the aim of Slip Angle Dynamics:
Driver and Car Analysis - Improving your driving and setup through DAQ
The racing scene today is getting more and more competitive. To give an idea on how competitive it is, just look at the top 5 drivers in any Formula 1 race. Chances are that the 1st and 5th are off by less than a second with the top 3 having a difference measured in tenths of a second. In a typical circuit, there are an average of about 15 turns. 1 second over 15 turns would represent an average of 0.06 seconds per corner difference between the driver who finishes first or fifth. To be able to extract maximum performance from the car, testing, development and simulations are key essentials in any team. The ability to know how a component is going to function, or how the car is going to drive even before the car sets foot on the track is the difference.
An example of how the professionals do it - source: racetechmag, testing done by OptimumG
In order to gather valuable feedback and information on the performance of the car for benchmarking, recording and predicting the future, professional (and now amateurs) rely on Data Acquisition Systems. These systems can monitor everything from the movement of the damper, to engine temperatures, even tyre temperatures and aerodynamic loads. However they can also cost up to the tens or hundreds of thousands.
Slip Angle Dynamics aims to take a technology previously reserved for professional race teams, and bring it to local car enthusiasts, specifically the occasional track visitor looking at improving his/her timings, driving skills, ability and techniques through a definitive way.
Driver and Car Analysis - Improving your driving and setup through DAQ
The racing scene today is getting more and more competitive. To give an idea on how competitive it is, just look at the top 5 drivers in any Formula 1 race. Chances are that the 1st and 5th are off by less than a second with the top 3 having a difference measured in tenths of a second. In a typical circuit, there are an average of about 15 turns. 1 second over 15 turns would represent an average of 0.06 seconds per corner difference between the driver who finishes first or fifth. To be able to extract maximum performance from the car, testing, development and simulations are key essentials in any team. The ability to know how a component is going to function, or how the car is going to drive even before the car sets foot on the track is the difference.
An example of how the professionals do it - source: racetechmag, testing done by OptimumG
In order to gather valuable feedback and information on the performance of the car for benchmarking, recording and predicting the future, professional (and now amateurs) rely on Data Acquisition Systems. These systems can monitor everything from the movement of the damper, to engine temperatures, even tyre temperatures and aerodynamic loads. However they can also cost up to the tens or hundreds of thousands.
Slip Angle Dynamics aims to take a technology previously reserved for professional race teams, and bring it to local car enthusiasts, specifically the occasional track visitor looking at improving his/her timings, driving skills, ability and techniques through a definitive way.
What is DAQ?
Data Acquisition (DAQ) is simply the process of acquiring, recording and displaying data. This data is acquired via various sensors which translate temperature, pressure, position, acceleration, etc into signals representative of the actual parameters. This data is usually processed in a data logger, which collects these signals from the sensors at varying intervals or rate, and is usually represented in Hertz (Hz), or cycles per second, and converts them into a digital format. Each signal from an individual sensor is collected in a dedicated allocation in the logger known as a channel. For example, an 8 channel data logger can support up to 8 inputs from up to 8 different sensors. A logger which logs data at 20Hz is collecting data from the sensors at a rate of 20 times a second, or once every 0.2 seconds. Most loggers are able to have different sampling rates for each channel.
Example of a Data Logger and GPS receiver. Now what's needed are sensors...
Data Acquisition (DAQ) is simply the process of acquiring, recording and displaying data. This data is acquired via various sensors which translate temperature, pressure, position, acceleration, etc into signals representative of the actual parameters. This data is usually processed in a data logger, which collects these signals from the sensors at varying intervals or rate, and is usually represented in Hertz (Hz), or cycles per second, and converts them into a digital format. Each signal from an individual sensor is collected in a dedicated allocation in the logger known as a channel. For example, an 8 channel data logger can support up to 8 inputs from up to 8 different sensors. A logger which logs data at 20Hz is collecting data from the sensors at a rate of 20 times a second, or once every 0.2 seconds. Most loggers are able to have different sampling rates for each channel.
Example of a Data Logger and GPS receiver. Now what's needed are sensors...The rate of collection of signals from the sensor is an important consideration when logging data. A rate that is too slow would miss out changes that happen in between the collections. A rate that is too quick would produce a lot of 'noise' and take up unnecessary memory and processing capacity.
After these signals are collected from the sensors, it is then conditioned and converted into useful values via mathematical functions or equations. The signals that are collected are usually in the form of voltage, although they can be in the form of frequency, pulse, current, or even serial data. This is where the resolution of the data logger comes in, in the form of bits (e.g. 12 bit, 14 bit, etc.) This is not entirely important as most loggers available today perform decent in this aspect.
The converted signals are now displayed in more useful parameters such as degrees Celsius, km/h, 'g', metres, etc. This is where the manipulation of this data comes in. The data can be synchronized to show several parameters simultaneously, or presented in various charts and graphs for easy interpretation.
After these signals are collected from the sensors, it is then conditioned and converted into useful values via mathematical functions or equations. The signals that are collected are usually in the form of voltage, although they can be in the form of frequency, pulse, current, or even serial data. This is where the resolution of the data logger comes in, in the form of bits (e.g. 12 bit, 14 bit, etc.) This is not entirely important as most loggers available today perform decent in this aspect.
The converted signals are now displayed in more useful parameters such as degrees Celsius, km/h, 'g', metres, etc. This is where the manipulation of this data comes in. The data can be synchronized to show several parameters simultaneously, or presented in various charts and graphs for easy interpretation.
Why DAQ?
The traditional way for drivers to judge their driving performance is via a lap time. However a lap time is a time averaged summary of the many events that happen during an entire lap. It does not tell the full story. As mentioned before, a lap difference of 1 second (considered an eternity by some), with 15 corners, would mean an average of 0.067 seconds difference per corner. Less than than the time it takes to blink.
For an amateur driver who is more likely to be not very consistent, it becomes difficult for him to identify areas to improve on and to find the missing seconds. The times lost in one sector could be unknowingly made up in another, leaving the driver clueless on what is going wrong. It is also difficult to know whether the driver is fully maximising the performance of the car in the most efficient manner. A corner has 3 essential phases, the corner entry, corner, and corner exit. In a lap of 15 turns, this means that there are 15x3 = 45 moments for a driver to make a mistake per lap.
For example, it is a common problem that many novice drivers brake too early before entering the corner, then release the brake pressure after realising that, or are not applying the brakes hard enough. As driving is a closed loop feedback activity, the driver's inputs are largely based on his interpretations of the feedback (acceleration or 'g' forces) he feels, which are largely influenced by the current state of mind as well. This results in a very opinionated method of evaluating a driver's performance. The driver might think that he is applying the brakes hard, but if the car is unable to achieve a reference deceleration rate, it means that he is not making full use of the car.
More recently, video logging has become popular with car enthusiasts as well with some providing additional information such as position on the track via GPS, speed, lateral and longitudinal Gs. However they do not present information as a whole, allowing the entire lap to be seen at a glance. It also takes some interpretation skills to decipher the information on the graphs.
How can DAQ improve your driving?
For an amateur driver who is more likely to be not very consistent, it becomes difficult for him to identify areas to improve on and to find the missing seconds. The times lost in one sector could be unknowingly made up in another, leaving the driver clueless on what is going wrong. It is also difficult to know whether the driver is fully maximising the performance of the car in the most efficient manner. A corner has 3 essential phases, the corner entry, corner, and corner exit. In a lap of 15 turns, this means that there are 15x3 = 45 moments for a driver to make a mistake per lap.
For example, it is a common problem that many novice drivers brake too early before entering the corner, then release the brake pressure after realising that, or are not applying the brakes hard enough. As driving is a closed loop feedback activity, the driver's inputs are largely based on his interpretations of the feedback (acceleration or 'g' forces) he feels, which are largely influenced by the current state of mind as well. This results in a very opinionated method of evaluating a driver's performance. The driver might think that he is applying the brakes hard, but if the car is unable to achieve a reference deceleration rate, it means that he is not making full use of the car.
More recently, video logging has become popular with car enthusiasts as well with some providing additional information such as position on the track via GPS, speed, lateral and longitudinal Gs. However they do not present information as a whole, allowing the entire lap to be seen at a glance. It also takes some interpretation skills to decipher the information on the graphs.
How can DAQ improve your driving?
DAQ is like a black box that records every reaction the car makes. These reactions are caused directly by the driver, although it is also possible to record the direct inputs of the driver also and compare the difference. When the driver brakes, accelerates or turns the steering wheel, forces generated by the tyres change the acceleration and direction of the car. Every bit of change is recorded by this black box, thus it is easy to pin point the exact moment (technically there is some delay) the driver makes these inputs.
The main advantage of DAQ is the ability to quantify real world parameters, such as the amount of steering, brake, throttle, cornering and straight line performance, into definitive values which can be synchronised, analysed and compared between different drivers (of the same car), and on different days. This allows the driver to realise or visualise his performance in an easy to understand numerical or graphical form, and identify key improvement areas.
This is an example of the kind of information DAQ provides to what the vehicle and driver is doing. From the above graph, we are able to see at a glance the speed, lateral and longitudinal accelerations of the car vs distance, or at every point on the circuit. These information and more are essential to helping the driver identify whether he is maximising the ability of the car and himself. There are several ways to rate a driver's performance with data. These will be discussed in the following posts, however the most fundamental way is via lap times and speed. With DAQ, an entire lap can be broken down into its various turns or corners, with each turn including its corner entry and corner exit is known as a sector. The split times and time slip for each individual sectors can be recorded as well. This data is collected over several laps, and can be displayed in a single page.
In a single glance, the driver can see and compare his speeds and times on multiple laps. He can see where time was lost, how consistent his driving was, what his best sector times were, and which sector needs improvement. He can also try out different lines to see which gives the best results. Also, a best theoretical lap can be obtained using the best sector times of all the laps. This represents a very motivating and realistic goal entirely within the driver's capacity, which can be physically achieved.
