Thanks to excellent cooperation and support from our sponsor Advanced Circuits, CalSol received 50 custom controllers known as BRAINs (Berkeley Robust Automotive Interchangeable Node).
The BRAINs are Arduino-compatible, which means they can be directly programmed from the Arduino environment with zero modifications. If desired they can also be used with the WinAVR Development IDE and a suitable ICSP programmer.
The BRAIN (which is partially based on the Arduino Nano and was developed by members of CalSol) took 6 months of design, 10 revisions, a month of logistics and a month of production, but the time was well worth it: A previous revision (early summer) is running the current car, GoldRush, and we have successfully tested CAN networking between two of the final BRAINs.
Also, as promised earlier this year, we are open-sourcing the schematic files and relevant drivers so that other teams and organizations might be saved the trouble of developing an easily networkable microcontroller.
These boards along with the continued generous support of Advanced Circuits will allow for a fully functional electrical system in the very near future.