Realtime Telemetry: New cellular carriers

A much requested feature for RaceCapture/Live real-time telemetry is the support for additional cellular carriers. Good news: we are testing firmware enhancements for enabling U.S. based AT&T and European carriers like T-Mobile UK and other providers.  Enabling additional carriers requires making the cellular module’s “APN” settings configurable in the RaceCapture/Pro firmware, settable via the RaceAnalyzer software. We’re not sure how fresh the data is, but here is a huge list of APN settings for carriers all around the world.  Watch for a firmware update soon!

Mobile App + Bluetooth Features

We are finally ramping up production of the Bluetooth modules this week, and we’ll have screenshots of the updated mobile app coming soon.   To the Indiegogo backers waiting – thank you for waiting- it will be worth it because the mobile app will really take RaceCapture/Pro to the next level.

To support the mobile app we’ve added a couple of key features to the firmware:

Lap Timing

In discussions with the team and mulling it over in my few idle moments, we’ve come up with  what we think is a reasonably effective implementation for predictive lap timing algorithms. I’m sure there will be improvements to be made, but essentially the idea is to add distance/time travelled so far on the current lap with a projection of the remaining lap using the previous lap’s data, adjusting for current speed.

An example:

Let’s say we are exactly 1/2 way around around the race track (distance-wise):

• 1000 feet and 80 seconds have elapsed so far. call this 80 seconds time-so-far.
• Based on the last lap, 100 seconds are remaining in the lap from the current point, calculated from the previous lap’s data.
• We’re going 10% faster at the same point on the track compared to last lap. (110 mph vs 100 mph)
• The last lap is projected forward from the current location at the 10% faster rate, calculating the adjusted time. Call this projected-time-remaining.
• Result: The predicted lap time at the current point on the track is time-so-far + projected-time-remaining: 80 sec + ((100 mph / 110 mph)  x 100 sec ) = 170.9 sec.

Some effects worth noting:

• The projected time at the very beginning of the lap will be exactly the same time as the last lap.
• The projected time near the end of the lap will vary very little because the current lap is all history, so to speak.
• If the instantaneous speed is used, the projected remaining time can vary significantly. Averaging speed over X previous samples will smooth the projected value, at the cost of responsiveness.

Distance Channels

They’re needed to do predictive lap timing and just generally an important feature needed for analysis. RaceCapture/Pro will be seeing a new Distance Channel that will either measure total distance from the beginning of the datalogging session or distance travelled per each lap if a start / finish line is configured.

We’re eager to test this out around the block and soon around the race track.  Got feedback on our design? Let us know what you think! In any case, this will soon be coming to your mobile app soon and streaming via real-time telemetry at race-capture.com .