I can’t say I am a die-hard F1 fan but I do love the technology. Besides the skill of the drivers, F1 technology and hardware is the backbone of the race.
Take the electronic control unit (ECU) for example; it might only be the size of a book, but it acts as the brain of a Formula 1 grand prix car. On the car there are a lot of sensors and processors producing data during tests, practices and races. The electronic system has to take all this information in and then process it in order to control different parts of the car. It controls the engine, the gearbox, the throttle-by-wire, the clutch and the differential.
As far as the engine is concerned it drives the primary actuators, i.e. the ignition coils which make the sparks, the injectors which supply the fuel and the pneumatic valve actuation. On the chassis it controls the actuators for the throttle, gearbox and clutch.
The ECU also logs information and sends it to the garage over the high-speed telemetry link. The system has to cope with two million words of data every second - then process and display it in a form that enables the race engineers to digest the information.
This process must be quick enough to provide the quality of information that allows proper decisions to be made. On a high revving Formula One engine, the process of calculating how much fuel to put in and when to ignite the spark is performed 1500 times per second.
Making an electronics unit that can deal with all this is not a simple task. If you take an ECU, there are roughly 3000 components including several extremely powerful microprocessors and logging memory which can store over 30 million values that come from 50 sensors all over the car. The black box has to be small, because there is not much spare space in the car’s tub. And they have to be 100 percent reliable as well.
That’s why I find F1 exciting; it is truly a good blend of heartware and hardware.
For those who missed the unofficial webcast of the race, you can view a short 5 mins recording below.
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