Notices

Have had limited success finding support in the Developer forums, so I'm cross-posting this over to this forum in the hope that other developers who frequent this sub-forum will be able to help take this concept to reality

http://www.internettablettalk.com/fo...d.php?p=140117

I would like to discuss an application idea with developers here who are keen to develop the world's first motorsport performance analysis tool for the Nokia Internet Tablet.

Seeing that the Internet Tablet can be paired with a GPS device (or use the built-in one on the N800), here's what I have in mind

Seems to me that it would be possible to get the N800 running as a logging tool for trackdays when paired with a GPS software, if someone would be able to cobble together some code to log and analyze the log data.

The way I see it, using the logs and the correct formulas, it would be possible to have the N800 compute the rate of acceleration/deceleration/speed at any given point, average speed between two or more points that can be user-defined, and time taken between two or more user-defined points (for lap timing and sector timing). User should also be able to define start/stop lines (which may or may not be the same coordinates), pre- or post-event, and every pass across that virtual line counts as one lap.

Even with most commonly available GPS receivers, this should be good for up to +/- 0.3s of accuracy, which isn't too bad if the software isn't too costly to begin with.

It would also be useful if we could use the USB Host mode to log specific data from the car (oil temp, water temp, MAP, etc) alongside the GPS logs.

I believe the processor on the N800/N810 should also be able to display this information in real-time, i.e. best lap time in current session, average lap time, Vmax, warning indicators (if tapping to the ECU was possible, we could see oil temp, water temp, rpm, etc)

Versions:

The first version could be done to only log GPS data and then analyze the data post-logging. After the logs have been saved, the app can display the various paths (lines) taken by the car, and the user designate the start/stop line. Version 1 would only allow 1 start/stop line to be defined. Based on the defined start/stop range coordinates (app defines it as a line 25m perpendicular to the direction of travel in the first lap

Post-event analysis should show:

Lap Lap Time
1 1m 20.4s
2 1m 18.7s
3 1m 19.3s
4 1m 22.6s
5 1m 15.2s Best Lap
6 1m 16.5s

Up to 30 laps can be recorded in a single file.

User can then save the log file for later analysis

Later versions could offer

real-time display
- showing current lap time (left pane, large numbers, minutes on top, seconds below)
- best lap time (right pane, top 1/3 of screen, medium-sized numbers)
- last 5 lap times (right pane, bottom 2/3 of screen, in small font

offline analysis of sector time
- time taken to travel between two user-defined points on the track
- user can define up to 99 points
- compare time taken between point 1 and point 2, point 2 and point 3, point 5 and point 8, etc -- user selects the points to reference, and system computes based on GPS coordinates

lap compare
- user selects the laps to select, up to 5 laps.
- On selecting the laps to be compared, user clicks 'Compare' and it will show overlays of one lap over another, in different colours, 2 pixels wide)
- When user clicks on 'Play', a large dot will appear on the paths of each lap, indicating position, speed (displayed on a pane on the right), and acceleration (+ = acceleration, - = deceleration), so that the user can see the cause of the time differences between laps.
- User should be able to control playback speed, from 100% (real-time) to 25%, in 10% increments

Connectivity to ODB-II
- generic drivers similar to Carman can be used to gather data from the ECU on engine speed (rpm), coolant temp, ignition timing, etc and logged against the GPS logs, so that users can study behaviour of the car at any given position of a lap
- screen can be made to blink different colours depending on the warning type, e.g. if oil temp > 140 deg C, flash screen green; if rpm > 7000 rpm, flash screen red -- or use a pane on the right to flash.

If there are any developers who are keen to work on this with me, I would be happy to do so, and we can either release it as freeware or commercial.

I know a number of people who would be keen to use such a software, and I'm sure some of us here are petrolheads in addition to NiT zealots

I don't think it's a case of cross-posting to get more results. Generally developers will scratch their own itches before someone else's.

The community isn't big enough to have developers sitting around with time on their hands, just waiting for someone to come up with an idea to implement.

You *may* have better luck on maemo-developers mailing list, but I still wouldn't hold my breath...

Wouldn't Carman be a better bet whilst you're waiting?

http://www.maemo-apps.org/content/sh...?content=55136

Already seen Carman, but please read up on the list of features that I am looking for. You'll also note that my requirements INTEGRATE with Carman, but are not the same as Carman's.

Still no luck with developers. Does anyone know any commercial developers I can speak to?

This would be just superb! I do have business contacts who do sw subcontracting. And yes, I'd love to have this in my Alfa when going to track [alfabbs]

Greetings Ghoonk:

All I can say is that this would be one excellent Formula One Racing feature everyone would want to use.

If your apps becomes available, please let me know I'll be sending emails to 1,000ths of Montreal Formula One fans.
Nokia N800's will fly off the shelf for this apps.

Regards Robert

okay, i've replied to a PM offering help, so let's see how things turn out. i'm prepared to invest time and brain cells from a product development angle, seeing that it's my day job.

as the heiniken ad goes, now we wait