Systems Engineer Participates in SAE Formula 1 Car Design

May engineering schools participate in the Society of Automotive Engineer's annual student automotive design competition and race. This is typically the domain of Mechanical Engineering departments.



But what many people don't realize is that these days, your average car is stocked with more microcomputers that your average Best Buy. Today's cars use hundreds of feedback control systems, the heart of the systems engineering cirriculum. Everything from cruise control, to anti-lock breaks, an electronic stability control is regulated automatically using sophisticated sensors, and microchips.




Systems Engineer Midn Castenda's original Design Project was to design and implement an automatic, pneumatic shifter into the USNA Formula 1 car. The concept was to have a faster better shifter for the car that was always optimized to the engine and to relieve the driver from another chore that could be automated, and thereby let the driver concentrate on driving. The design worked well on up shifts, with Castenda getting inside the engine’s (Honda 600cc motorcycle engine) ECU and programming it to interrupt fuel for a few microseconds to relieve stress on the gear train to enable smooth up shifts.


For more on how instrumented car have become see for example NYT: 2007 Mercedes-Benz: Leave the Driving to the Microchips ...OK the article starts negatively, but just keep reading onto page 2