TFC - EMEA - wall comments

[FlavioStiffan]

32 schools and over 300 students have registered for the 2012/2013 Freescale Cup competition across 9 countries. 

This year the race will feature a choice of 2 MCU platforms:

• Qorivva's MPC5604B 32bit Automotive controller
• Kinetis ARM Cortex-M4 32bit Industrial microcontroller

Students are working to create the most intelligent race car to win the EMEA Finals that will be held end of March 2013 at the ESIEE Paris. Follow their progress and see their videos on this site.

[FlavioStiffan]

[FlavioStiffan]

[FlavioStiffan]

[FlavioStiffan]

[FlavioStiffan]

[FlavioStiffan]

In light of several comments around the number of laps to cover in the race, and to stay consistent with the Finals that will be held at FTF, we are validating if we will do a 2 laps race as per the current rules or a 3x1 lap race as done at FTF for the finals. Will get a final answer back quickly. In the meantime, focus on getting the cars to go as fast as possible on the track.

[FrantisekPech]

It's good to know. :-) We are preparing our car on 2 laps as say rules. OK, thanks.

[FlavioStiffan]

You will have 3 times 1 lap and the best time of each lap will be the one used to qualify for the next round. Does this help?

[TomasPavliek]

Flavio, thanks for your response. One last question: will we race on worlds finals on 2 laps as in EMEA? From videos I saw that China was racing only 1 lap.

[FlavioStiffan]

Tomas, not all the segments of the track are in the current rules as we keep adding elemtents. I will post pictures of both the speed bumps and tunnel when I am back in the office Monday. In regards to the camera, equivalent resolution is ok if you need to change the model. If you have doubts, please send me the specs of what you want to buy instead so I can validate. The main issue is that we have learned that the TAOS camera comes to end of production so we will have to change to another model next year. Finally, rules across the world are compatible with exception that china runs on a S12 16bit MCU as they have been racing since a longer time. You won't have to do changes to your hardware and software as track has the same components but will obviously have a different layout.

[RichardBalogh_n]

I've just create a wiki page with some notes to chassiss assembly. You may

find there also a CAD files (.dxf) to drill a baseboard for processor and interface board mounting. Comments welcomed.

Page address: http://freescalecupwiki.freescale.com/hints-and-notes-to-chassis-assembly

[TomasPavliek]

Hello, where can I find official EMEA rules with included speed-bump and tunnel properties? Furthermore, it was mentioned here on discusion board that we don't need to stick with the camera types listed in rules and we can use any type. So why rules says something else? And one more thing to note, will these rule changes be also applied to US finals rules? Or if we advance to US finals we will have to make extensive changes to our HW/SW within few weeks...? I don't have good feelings about EMEA / World finals rules compatibility :-/

[FrantisekPech]

Or you can use PEMICRO toolkit and set jumpers on virtual COM, but it doesn't works with Eclipse IDE (say google).

[Franti_ekPech]

Buy MAX 3232 (SMD) and 5 capacitors (100nF-1uF) and everything works fine. 

[MarekZeman]

there is a chance to run freemaster via USB or standard RS232 connector? I have a development board trk-mpc5604b. development board is not equipped with MAX232..

[FlavioStiffan]

@ Richard, you can connect directly. Amplifier is not needed.

[RichardBalogh_n]

Forwarded question from one of our teams (unfortunately, currently I am abroad

so I cannot review it):

One manual mentioned the camera amplifier (see attached image).  It was not the part of the kit we obtained... Do weneed it? Or can the camera be directly connected?

[FlavioStiffan]

@ Jaroslaw: I would recommend

1. look at our sensor Home Page for the ones you wish to use. Many of them are available to order online for free (only cost is shipping). 
2. You should have received some discount vouchers at Farnell to use. You can also use those for getting parts you need. 
3. If you still have trouble getting the samples you need through those 2 avenues, then drop me an email and I will see what I can do to help

Enjoy the competition

[JaroslawTyma]

We have one important question about optional freescale sensors. Should we buy them on our own from suppliers in our country or is there a possibility to receive them as samples?

[FlavioStiffan]

@Richard: glad they were found!! 

[RichardBalogh_n]

Kits just arrived (finally). Let's start to work!