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]

On the comment below, just to make sure we are clear: The MPC564B board cannot be changed and must be used. The only board that can be changed for the use of FETs is the Analog board. No other MCU or MPU can be added into the design of that replacement board.

Thanks!

[FlavioStiffan]

There have been reports of issues of motor stalling if the battery voltage drops below 7V as the H-Bridges on the board go into "sleep" mode and require a reset. Below is the solution implemented by Jens Pfeiffer from our Quality team in Munich. 

In case that you wish to replace the analog motor control board with your own version of the board using FETs, please let me know. I agree on the principle and to make sure that your car runs in a reliable way but it has to be clearly documented in the technical report that will be sent by 29Feb12 for all cars entering the race in Prague.

[RichardBalogh_n]

I've just upload some photos and videos from the Door Open Day at the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava. Four teams participated (that not necessarily mean that other teams are not working, but - you know, it's an exam period). Team 3.14 brought well tuned car with PID controller, team Pure Drive drives slowly but reliable. Other two teams solved technical problems. However, visitors were curious and enjoyed the presentation.

Videos: Video 1 Video 2 Video 3

Photos: See Album

[FlavioStiffan]

@Jan: the MC33931 board you are using is the one documented on the Wiki. We are working to improve this board for the next season. What have you found that is different?

[JanJakubik]

Hi, my question is: Why is hardware version of motor control board different than schematic? I download scheme from freescale wiki.

[JensPfeiffer]

Hi,

some of you have reported sporadic issues with the H-Bridges. When driving the cars it appears that one of the H-Bridges turns off. I put a workarround in place which addresses the issue. In order to check the status of hte H-Bridges you have to monitor the SFLAG signal. If the SFLAG goes low, it indicates, that the device is disabled. Once this occurs, toggling the enable pin of the H-Bridge does a restart and the system is running again.

Best Regards,
Jens

[FlavioStiffan]

The key dates have been sent to the coordinators today... good timing on your question.

Finals are scheduled as follows:

• 02April: Arrival in Prague
• 03April: Opening session, 1st round of qualifications
• 04April: finishing the 1st round of qualifications, final race and awards ceremony
• 05April: Departure from Prague

Key deadlines:

• 31Jan: verification on number of students attending the finals (for hotel booking)
• 29Feb: submission of 1 video per faculty/school (max 3 min) 
• 29Feb: submission of the technical report per section 10 of the rules

Let me know if you have any questions.

[SorinCracana]

Which are the important dates  ?

1. deadline for technical report submission

2. the dates for the finals 

3. anything else ? 

[FlavioStiffan]

3 universities will attend Embedded World and show their car developments in preparation for the European Finals. Come cheer for your favorite one

• 28Feb: University of Applied Sciences Deggendorf
• 29Feb: Czech Technology University Prague
• 01Mar: University of Applied Sciences Landshut

Do you have a Freescale Cup Car you wish to test on the track? Contact me for getting an invite! EW2012@freescale.com

[FlavioStiffan]

@Matthieu B: 

The Linux hosted MCU v10.x tools option is included in the academic suite.

Our Linux hosted (Ubuntu) version is available for download on the evals and special edition pages. The same academic license key is applicable as if you would be using the Windows version.

We support the following Linux versions today:

ed Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4, 32/64-bit Ubuntu 8.0.4 32-bit Ubuntu

9.10 32-bit Ubuntu 10.4 64-bit SuSE 11 32-bit

[FlavioStiffan]

@Matthieu: I did get you email and I am just waiting for our CodeWarrior support team to be back in the office today to ask them. Will keep you quickly posted.

[RichardBalogh_n]

Stefan, thanks a lot, we will work on it. In case of the success I will leave a note in the wiki system.

[MatthieuB_]

Hello everyone,

Is there a possibility to get a Codewarrior suite for Linux Ubuntu ?

[StefanLuellmann]

Hello Richard.

A Happy New Year. I left you a personal comment on your 2 questions, which hopefully help (as I was not a member of the group at that time).

[RichardBalogh_n]

Happy New Year to all!

Our teams currently try to solve following two problems:

1.  How to get working the virtual serial port on the Quorriva board.
2.  How to write data to the flash memory.

Any tips?

[FlavioStiffan]

Richard, many thanks for the contribution on the TFC Wiki

[RichardBalogh_n]

Some more notes to chassis assembly were added. Notice the connectors

and their orientation when connecting cables.

[FlavioStiffan]

Tomas, to keep it fair and consistent, we will use the same approach for both the qualification and the final rounds.

[TomasPavliek]

Flavio, thank you for your input. I'm glad we have moved forward to consistent rules.  So these 2 attempts with 2 laps each will be raced to obtain qualifying time, and what about final time? Will it be 1 attempt with 2 laps as per current EMEA rules? Thank you.

[FlavioStiffan]

To all EMEA participants: Per the current rules, we will run the races at the finals with the following model (will also be consistent with the WW Finals):

Each team will have 2 opportunities to make its best time:

• 1st attempt: car makes 2 laps and stops after the start/finish line: best lap time is kept
• 2nd attempt: car makes 2 laps and stops after the start/finish line: best lap time is kept
• Qualifying time is the best lap time of the 2 best lap times kept

This will give you 2x2 chances to make your best score.

Let me know if something is not clear.

[FlavioStiffan]

Pictures of the hill, tunnel and bumpy strips are uploaded. Those are pictures from the actual race track that will be used at the finals. The layout will change so do not plan to memorize this.

Enjoy!!