ELECTRICAL TEAM

The Electrical Team, like its name suggests, is reponsible for all the electrical related issues and all the electronics. The electrical system contains many student-designed Printed Circuit Boards (PCB), and each circuit board is responsible for a specific task on the car - data collection, screen display, motor control, etc. The car is designed so that each board can operate essentially independently of each other in performing their assigned task, and the boards are connected to each other via the CAN network for data communication. Most boards use the BRAIN as their central processing unit and are housed in the PCB Box.

Data

The Data subteam deals with the gathering and analysis of data, which primarily includes logging all packets of information sent between subsystems, sending data wirelessly to a chase vehicle, and evaluating the current state of the car and the environment to determine the ideal race strategy.

Human-Car Interface (HCI)

The HCI, or Human-Car Interface subteam is responsible for all electrical factors between the driver and the car. The team creates the code to manage physical inputs such as cruise, turn signals, brake and acceleration, and horn. The team also works closely with Controls Team to create the display interface for the dashboard.

Power

The Power subteam deals with anything related to high-voltage components. This includes batteries, solar cells, the motor, and the circuit for powering on and off the car. Batteries, solar cells, and motor are connected on the central high voltage power bus, and the team uses relays to act as isolating switches between these three components, allowing the batteries and array to be disconnected from the system if needed.