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IMU logging/telemetry for traction circle analysis
Do any products exist (for RC) that monitor or log IMU (accelerometer & gyro) data for analyzing grip/friction/traction circles, etc?
A ton of products like this exist for other motorsports but I'm wondering if anything like this exists for RC racing. If not, any idea why? |
I use an accelero meter for measuring the G-forces on my homebuils telemetry system.
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https://www.eagletreesystems.com/
Looks like they are no longer in business but you may find old stock or a second hand example of their logger. I spent some time with the product in it's first iteration. It didn't provide any valuable data for car racing, for several reasons. I don't know whether the later versions were an improvement - they stopped marketing them as a car product - but they do have all the sensors you want. |
The other option for RC was the Novak Sentry, which has built-in accelerometers.
The data from the Sentry was a little noisy, due to cheap sensors and lack of precision on the data storage. But in general it worked well; I used one for years when we were running 13.5 boosted as it was really useful getting an RPM trace to adjust boost and turbo. Discontinued now, but you may find one around somewhere. |
Hey, I don't think there is a commercial solution available right now but someone is working on a project that you might find interessting here : https://www.facebook.com/testlogger and here https://twitter.com/testlogger_info.
I tried this summer a little data logging project myself based on a teensy 4.1 board. It's connected to a dc converter so it can connect directly to the receiver, a temperature sensor, and a accelerometer. https://images2.imgbox.com/cb/19/HtRzmfom_o.jpg https://images2.imgbox.com/5e/40/BuWXtqD5_o.jpg https://images2.imgbox.com/78/2d/ZJh5Eb9K_o.jpg And you can generate the graphs you're looking for: https://images2.imgbox.com/c7/07/OIHxrbQl_o.png It's a comparison of two brands of tires. |
That looks great! I love the Teensy, btw. So did you buy a bunch of the blue tire afterwards? :p
I was thinking about using an ESP32 and streaming the data wirelessly to an iOS/android/desktop app rather than logging into an SD card. A few questions: 1. Did you find the data useful and actionable? 2. Was the workflow fast enough to be useful on a regular basis? 3. What was your data sampling rate? 4. Did you do any other comparisons? For example, comparing other setup changes or experimenting with different driving styles? 5. Did you try mapping the physical track layout with the IMU data? I know there are issues with the data drifting due to double integrating the IMU noise but curious if it looked useful at all. 6. Did you try monitoring your throttle/steering input by relaying the esc/servo data lines through the Teensy? Love what you put together! Lastly, thanks for sharing testlogger. Looking into it a bit. |
What type of temp sensor do you use on the tires?
Here my project https://www.rctech.net/forum/nitro-r...mes-alive.html |
Originally Posted by JeffEmbracedDC
(Post 15747546)
That looks great! I love the Teensy, btw. So did you buy a bunch of the blue tire afterwards? :p
I was thinking about using an ESP32 and streaming the data wirelessly to an iOS/android/desktop app rather than logging into an SD card. A few questions: 1. Did you find the data useful and actionable? YES, selecting a tire or trying to see if a setup change works well throughout the entire run or just the begining (maybe it overheats the tyres...), the possibilities are truly great and this is only the beginning. 2. Was the workflow fast enough to be useful on a regular basis? NO, i was using excel and making graphs at the track. Didn't even have macros to make the graphs that i want faster. So now i'm trying to write a little program in python to display quickly the informations and graphs that i want from a run 3. What was your data sampling rate? Around 330 Hz. I struggle to optimize my code because i'm new at programming. one way to speed up the logging is to use a special sd library in the arduino code called "sdfat" but it's not fully compatible with the latest teensy 4.1 just yet.... A shame.... Also my code doesn't use buffers and interrupts that could speed things up... I'm just too much of a noob to make my code work with them. 4. Did you do any other comparisons? For example, comparing other setup changes or experimenting with different driving styles? YES, tyre brands, different geometry setup etc... 5. Did you try mapping the physical track layout with the IMU data? I know there are issues with the data drifting due to double integrating the IMU noise but curious if it looked useful at all. Not yet, but i'm planning too 6. Did you try monitoring your throttle/steering input by relaying the esc/servo data lines through the Teensy? I coded this part during this winter break and i'm eager to try it and log it during a run at the track. Love what you put together! Lastly, thanks for sharing testlogger. Looking into it a bit. @Roelof I'm using the mlx90614 temperature sensor on a easy to solder board : https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/32853...27426c37s7Q2K6 |
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