Datron GPS Speed & tracking technology makes blind-speed more accessible and achievable
You might not have heard of Mike Newman yet, but that could be about to change in the next twelve months. Mike is a bank manager from Sale in Cheshire, and has a thirst for speed and a deep-rooted passion for motor sports. He’s the three-time Guinness land speed record holder. That achievement is remarkable enough, but when you consider that Mike is completely blind, this record of achievement becomes all the more remarkable. In spite of this, Mike remains surprisingly modest about the numerous records he’s managed to collect and says that all he’s ever wanted to do is make blind-speed more accessible and achievable for people with a disability. Mike and his Speed of Sight team are hoping to emulate Sir Donald Campbell’s record in the next year and break both the World blind land speed and water speed records. Datron Technology is an integral part of this team effort and has every confidence that the Cheshire speedster will achieve his goals.
Datron began working with the Speed of Sight team in 2003. Mike contacted Mark Hargreaves, a director of Datron Technology Ltd, to see if we could help out with the measurement of a world record attempt for a blind person driving over a measured mile. Datron is Guinness-accredited, and was only too pleased to offer technical assistance using our GPS tracking and measurement technology. Our experience of vehicle testing helped Mike break the world record and set a record speed of 144.7 mph in a Jaguar XJ-R.
Since that time Datron has become a sponsor of the team and has worked closely with them and BMW UK to break yet another record in a de-restricted M5. Mike smashed his own record at Elvington, and recorded a remarkable speed of 178.5mph. Unfortunately the record has since been broken by the Turkish racer, Metin Sentirk, driving a Ferrari 430. However, Mike’s competitive spirit remains undaunted, and he and the team hope to reclaim the record in the next few months.
What are your immediate aims?
“We’re hoping to regain the blind land speed world record in spring next year. Nothing is completely settled yet, but we’re looking at two or three vehicles at the moment. We haven’t made any definite decisions, but the car we eventually choose will have to be capable of doing over 200 miles per hour. So, obviously we have to choose carefully, and make sure the car we eventually pick is capable of doing everything we need it to do.”
Has Datron’s technological expertise helped the team improve?
“Datron’s involvement has made a massive difference. They bring expertise to the team, and this expertise makes all the difference. Mark Hargreaves is a person I know particularly well, having worked with him over a number of years. His expertise and knowledge of vehicle measuring technologies, like vehicle slip and speed has made breaking records that much more do-able. He’s able to look at the car’s speed profile and match it to the test venue to optimise the car’s average speed. He knows how to squeeze the maximum out of the vehicle, and that makes a real difference.”
“We don’t have to worry about having timing lights or anything like that on the course, because everything that monitors what I do is in the car with me. Mark uses a software system that’s based on GPS tracking technology. Every thing is tracked and recorded inside the car itself, and this can also be monitored by Mark in the chase car, along with my father who takes care of the navigating for me... We can also have the software system vehicle tracking as well, so we can track exactly what’s happening when I’m doing the run. The beauty of using Datron’s system is that it makes my job easier and safer: there’s nothing else on the track for me to worry about. It’s all contained with me in the car. So as soon as I’ve completed my lap and stopped, we can use Datron’s technological expertise to find out how well I’ve done straight away which is such a great advantage.”
What are the plans for the next few months?
"We’ve got our eyes on breaking the world blind water speed record at Coniston Water this year, using a Silverline power boat.[Mike and the team hope to set the sightless water speed record at an amazing 100mph] The ultimate aim is to gain both the water speed and land speed record within the next 12 months, which will emulate the achievements of Sir Donald Campbell. If we can achieve this it really will be amazing. I can’t tell you how much we’re looking forward to it. Once again Mark will be there to help by fitting all the GPS tracking technology to the boat. He’ll be able to monitor all the things we do on the lake and help us squeeze out that extra bit of speed.”
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Aston Martin using Suchy
We have been working with Aston Martin for around 20 years, the latest SUCHY logging system has been installed and we had a nice message from Chris Golds regarding the installation.......
'Thought you might like to see some pictures of our latest Suchy installation. My "customers" are very pleased with the neatness of the installation and also the fact that we have the logger power and USB lead in the cabin of the car. Suchy is definitely the preferred option for my customers!'
'We have just started brakes testing in a One-77 with the 10Hz GPS. I will let you know how we get on.'
Regards,
Chris
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ADAS Newsletter
Verifying the accuracy of radar and other sensors can be performed objectively and with high precision. The RT-Range is used for the accurate measurement of the relative motion between vehicles and precise measurement of lane position. Typical applications include Adaptive Cruise Control, Lane Departure Warning and Collision Warning Systems.
Cost-effective ADAS test solution
OxTS has launched the new RT2002/RT2004 inertial and GPS navigation systems, a cost-effective component for testing advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). Combined with an OxTS RT-Range system, RT2002s can be used as a reference for radar, LIDAR and other sensors which are used for accident avoidance. By combining the new RT2002 with the RT-Range you will get a comprehensive, highly accurate and yet cost-effective ADAS testing solution. To read more, click here...
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GPS + GLONASS benefits ADAS testing on the road
In the area of vehicle testing most OxTS users work in open proving grounds with few or no trees and no buildings. In these conditions GPS works perfectly. For ADAS testing in real environments, however, engineers have to venture out to real roads where bridges, trees, high-rise buildings and urban canyons make accurate positioning difficult. The combination of GPS and GLONASS receivers, like in our RT3002G system, means RTK Integer can be maintained at times when GPS-only receivers cannot, giving you the highest levels of accuracy. To read more information and see some test data, click here...
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Lane position on curved roads
If you are developing lane change assistance and lane departure warning systems, then the OxTS RT-Range is the perfect solution for you. It is the only product which accurately measures lane position on straight and curved roads. With the RT-Range, lane position can be measured for three positions in the vehicle. It also measures velocity and acceleration compared to the lane markings and much more. To read more, click here...
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RT-Range - the most comprehensive ADAS test solution
The RT-Range from OxTS is the most comprehensive and sophisticated solution on the market for verifying and testing advanced driver assistance systems. We have already equipped more than 60 vehicles with RT-Range units worldwide. The RT-Range offers a huge list of unique features making it the leading solution for complicated ADAS tests. You can find a full list of all unique RT-Range features explained on our website...
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Exhibitions 2011
Visit us during the SIAT Expo (19th - 22nd January 2011) in Pune, India and see our RT systems for automotive testing as well as the RT-Range - the leading solution for ADAS testing. Our support engineer Steve Boyle will be in India during that week and show our products together with our local representative Automotive Test Systems. Please contact us, to find out more or arrange a meeting at the exhibition.
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Product demonstrations
The best way to convince yourself of the precision and quality of our products is by booking a product demonstration. Our demo systems can be shipped to almost all countries. If you are interested in testing the RT-Range systems, please contact us to arrange a suitable date for you.
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RT3000 Technology
At the heart of the RT3000 family of Inertial and GPS Navigation products is a six-axis Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU). The Inertial Measurement Unit uses three solid-state MEMS angular rate sensors and three servo (force-feedback) accelerometers. The three accelerometers are all mounted at 90 degrees to each other, and the three angular rate sensors are mounted at the same angles as their respective accelerometers. Together they give full 3D motion measurement of the body of the vehicle.
Careful calibration of the Inertial Measurement unit ensures that the normal bias and scale factor errors are reduced (the Kalman filter makes further corrections to them too). More critically, parameters such as misalignment are corrected. Misalignment parameters are critical to inertial measurements and are usually overlooked by people. (For example, if the roll gyro has a 1 degree misalignment angle with respect to the yaw direction and the vehicle rotates round a 360 degree circle then the integrated roll rate from the gyro will have an error of 6.3 degrees! 1 degree alignment is typical of how accurate the gyro is aligned inside its case and is irresective of how accurate you have aligned the case). In the RT3000 we align the gyros to better then 0.05 degrees, and the Kalman filter also removes errors as they accumulate; there is no degradation in performance while circling when using and RT3000.
A powerful, floating-point DSP provides 3D anti-aliasing filters for the inertial sensors. The algorithms on the DSP compensate for coning and sculling errors, allowing the products to work accurately in very high vibration environments. The DSP actually outputs changes in velocity and changes in angle, as is customary for Inertial Navigation Systems.
The survey-grade GPS receivers in the RT3000 use both L1 (civilian) and, optionally, L2 (military) frequencies to measure position, velocity and heading. The receivers have very fast reacquisition and, in the dual-antenna products, heading ambiguities are resolved by tight coupling with the solution from the inertial sensors. GPS is used to prevent the measurements from the Inertial Sensors from drifting.
The outputs of the Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) are integrated in a WGS-84 Strap down Navigator. The use of Strap down Navigation makes the system immune to effects of earth rotation, transport rate and Coriolis accelerations. The outputs of the Strap down Navigator are the position, velocity and orientation of the system. Together with the accelerations and the angular rates they are output from the Inertial and GPS Navigation System.
The measurements from the Inertial Sensors and GPS receiver(s) are combined to form a blended navigation solution. A 24-state extended Kalman filter, running at 33Hz, corrects the navigation outputs and the Inertial Sensors (for bias and scale factor errors). The lever-arm to the GPS antenna and the angle of the GPS antennas is estimated; the user does not need to survey these accurately. The Strapdown Navigator provides the real-time outputs while the GPS receiver and the Kalman filter work in arrears. This enables very low-latency measurements to be output.
The measurements from the Inertial Sensors and from the GPS can be stored internally, up to 2 GB on current models. The measurements can then be post-processed. The advantage of post-processing is that it is not necessary to transmit the Differential Corrections from the GPS Base-Station in real-time. Instead, the GPS Base Station's information can be combined with the measurements after the mission. Waypoint software is used to post-process the GPS information before combining it with the inertial sensor's information post-mission.
Differential Corrections can be used to improve the performance of the RT3000 products in real-time. The RT3000 has been tested using Beacon, SBS/WAAS and OmniSTAR corrections. We can provide an special GPS Base-Station, the RT-Base, which provides exceptionally good differential corrections.
The RT3000 also includes several algorithm technologies, which are not normally found in competitive systems. These are described below and they help give the RT3000 huge advantages over comparable systems.
Advanced Slip
To improve the Heading and Slip Angle performance, the products include an Advanced Slip algorithm. This algorithm runs a compact car model in the Kalman filter to improve the Slip Angle.
Heading Lock and Dual-Antenna
When stationary for long periods of time, the heading of an Inertial Navigation System tends to drift. In the RT3000 family this can be solved using a Dual-Antenna product or by selecting Heading Lock. The Dual-Antenna products use two GPS antennas and measure position at two locations. The difference in the position of the two GPS antennas gives the Heading of the vehicle. Dual-Antenna means that the heading is free from drift, even when the vehicle has very low dynamics. Heading Lock monitors the speed of the vehicle. When the vehicle becomes stationary, the Heading is locked to its current value and cannot drift. The vehicle can remain stationary indefinitely without the variables of the Inertial Navigation System becoming too inaccurate to use.
Garage Mode
Many vehicle tests require the vehicle to return to the garage in between tests for changes and alterations. Sometimes these alterations can take many hours. During this time the Inertial Navigation System's variables will drift and they may not be able to recover when GPS becomes available again. To solve this, the RT3000 family includes a Garage Mode option. Garage Mode identifies when the product is in the garage and applies special corrections to keep the internal variables stable, even though GPS is unavailable. Then when the vehicle leaves the garage it can recover to full accuracy very quickly.
GPS Anomaly Rejection
GPS receivers often make measurements that have very large errors in them. If these errors are used to update the Inertial Navigation System then they cause havoc and can make the system unstable. The RT3000 family identifies GPS measurements that are incorrect and rejects them. This leads to a more robust positioning solution.
INS Drift Recovery
There are times when the Inertial Solution and the GPS measurements cannot be matched together. When this happens, the GPS measurements are rejected. But when too many GPS signals are rejected it is important to suspect that there is a problem with the Inertial Sensors instead. The RT3000 family is able to recover from these situations by monitoring the GPS and Inertial Solutions when they disagree. Special algorithms force the two back together if there is a mismatch for too long.
Wheel Speed Aiding
For survey vehicles, particularly road survey and rail survey, the drift from the RT3000 family can be significantly reduced by using wheel speed. When GPS is not available, wheel speed can keep the velocity stable and prevent it from drifting. The products are able to identify wheel slip and discard the wheel information when the wheel is slipping.
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New RT2002 - Low Cost 2cm Accuracy
OxTS launches new 2cm accurate member of RT2000 family
OxTS is releasing the RT2002 inertial and GPS navigation system, a cost-effective component for testing advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). Combined with an OxTS RT-Range system, RT2002s can be used as a reference for radar, LIDAR and other sensors that are used for accident avoidance. Straight and curved roads can also be surveyed and then used to compute lane position. Used by itself the RT2002 is a reference for automatic parking applications.
Since the RT2002 can relate all its measurements to the heading direction of the radar, it will work equally well on curved and straight sections of road. This overcomes the problem GPS has, which always has the slip angle as an error. On curved roads GPS cannot give the correct lateral range.
Using new, cost-effective technology, the RT2002 is able bring the price point of a complete RT-Range package closer to a GPS solution while still maintaining all the benefits that an inertial navigation system brings. As well as solving the heading-slip angle problem, the RT2002 benefits from 100Hz or 250Hz update rates; low (3.5ms) latency; using roll and pitch angles calculations; having all the outputs delivered in real-time using the CAN bus; etc.
The RT-Range, coupled with our RT3000 and RT4000 products, is already used worldwide for verifying the accuracy of ADAS sensors. By combining the new RT2002 with the RT-Range you will get a comprehensive, highly accurate and yet cost-effective ADAS testing solution.
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Blind Speed Record - Broken 182.03 MPH
Turkish blind pop singer Metin Senturk has defied the odds by breaking the world speed record for driving by a visually-impaired person.
Metin reached a new record of 182.03 miles per hour, in his Ferrari F430, with a 600 horsepower engine.
The event took place at the runway of Sanliurfa airport in the eastern Turkish town of Urfa.
The speed was measured by a Datron MICROSAT system which utilises GPS technology to measure speed and distance.
The record protocol defines the record to be the average speed over a measured mile in both directions in order to negate wind and gradient effects. The two runs also have to be made within an hour of each other.
The first run measured an average of 183.14 mph (294.67 kph), the second run acheived 180.92 mph (291.10 kph). The combined speed attained over the two runs was 182.03 mph (292.89 kph). In addition to the average speed Metin got to a top speed of 188.7 mph (303.62 kph) during his first run.
Metin said "I don't think there are any words to describe this feeling. I am really happy. It was really hard, like a dance with death," said Metin, who has been blind since the age of three.
Following Metin in a separate vehicle was former rally driver Volkan Isik, who guided the blind man by sophisticated radio system supplied by Telsan.
There are a couple of news articles containing videos which are worth looking at:
BBC News
YOU TUBE
GUINNESS RECORDS STORY
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NEW DATA RECORDERS FOR 2010
DATRON are pleased to announce a new range of data recorders from ISAAC INSTRUMENTS INC.
Based on a wealth of experience and customer feedback ISAAC have completed a major redesign of their data recording systems and associated peripherals.
The NEW DRU900 series data recorders now have universally programmable sensor inputs so any sensor with digital or analogue signal output can be connected to any user specified input channel.If using a sensor from Isaac's extensive range then set-up and calibration is simply done by entering the sensor serial number into the configuration software.
All DRU recorders are supplied with 512MB of internal data memory which is upgradeable to 4GigaBytes.
Isaac Recorders are available in four basic versions.......
The DRU900 configured exclusively for Vehicle databus signal recording
The DRU908 which is the same as the DRU900 but has 8 universally programmable sensor inputs.
The DRU908-SLD (pictured right) which is an environmentally sealed IP67 version of the DRU908.
The DRU916 which has 16 universally programmable sensor inputs.
ALL Isaac data recorders have the following common specification........
2 x CAN2.0a/b inputs (SAE-J1939,SAE-J1979,ISO15765,OBD-II).
1 x SAE J1708/SAE J1587 inputs.
Memory 512MB memory (4GB option).
3 x internal accelerometers.
Sample Rate up to 4KHz on all external sensor inputs.
All data protected in case of power loss.
Operating temperature range minus 40 degC to plus 85 degC.
IP protection IP65 (IP67 on DR908-SLD).
Black Anodised Aluminium enclosure.
ALL Isaac data recorders have a wide range of compatible sensors,peripherals and communications devices.
Using CAN 2.0, the NEW Isaac Device Network (IDN) consists of modules such as a 20Hz GPS receiver,a Relay Controller,an 8 input Thermocouple signal conditioning module and several others.
Isaacs wireless communication options include transceivers for Bluetooth,WiFi,900MHz wireless and GPRS.
If you are involved in Vehicle Development Testing,Vehicle Durability Testing or Fleet Management contact DATRON
today for full details of these outstanding,feature rich ISAAC Instrument products.
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