DIY GPS data logger

Just out of curiosity, how many of you would be willing to assemble your onw data logger?

Like, would you be willing to take this- http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=9530

And wire it with this-

http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=9758

Add some decent batteries you would be able to assemble a real 10hz GPS with a micro SD data logger. This would be roughly the same as a MaxQ in terms of the data recorded. And it does work with RaceChrono software.

My friend and I are working on a simple project- some basic analog recording ability- and it's morphed into adding high speed GPS and recoring accelerometers (which can be corrected with Gyro data).

Should be pretty reasonably priced when you put all the components together yourself. I'll get a read on price when we make prototype #2.

Eric

BTW- I'm a moron- Tom, can you correct the title to be DIY? I don't know why I keep mis typing that.

Eric

No worries. DIY away, I'm curious!

Been there, funded that. I funded a group of seniors last year, they even won an award.

www.mountaineerdaq.com

http://www.autoxrs.net/presentation.pptx

Haven't decided if Johnny and I will end up developing this further or using cheaper labor in the name of undergrad students.

I built my own using an AVR, an LCD display, a GPS module with breakout board and an SD card to log to. It took a long time, the code that does the lap detection/math for the GPS and display it along with a FAT filesystem driver was difficult to make small enough for a 32k chip. I was successful but it was not reliable in my race car. It needed quite a bit more development to be truly "productized" and there are plenty of good units commercially available so it was just a fun diversion to mess around with for me.

Around the same time I came across an iPhone, and then Harry's Lap timer app. Its tight, pretty, solid and $16 - downloaded and ready to rock. It does not log any additional inputs - but lap time and G's were what I was most interested in.

I cannibalized my GPS datalogger into a multifunction gauge display with logging instead. I might hook it up to my megasquirt this winter.

In reply to autoxrs:

Cool project.

Ours is almost the same, roughly. Using the donation friendly RaceChrono- it was able to process the GPS data into something useful (location, speed, heading onto a graph- and it does export to google earth.) And it's capable of some basic hardware recording, too.

The hard part, indeed, is integrating all of the stuff. My friend found a micro controller from Parallax that he's pretty used to working with- but the user set up will be a little more of a pain. Once you get it recording what you like, though- especially the GPS + accelerometer data- it's pretty remarkable.

As for the thing on top- that mini-project is very, very small. (and it uses the same Venus GPS chip).

I figured with all of the megasquirt crowd, they would be interested in doing it themselves. Quickly adding up the basic parts- I'm close to $150 with GPS + 3 axis accelerometers, 2 axis gyros, engine speed, and 3 more analog inputs (easy to add up a few more input modules). That's w/o storage- now to a PDA. But we intend to write to an SD or MicroSD card for post processing- either on a PDA or a laptop.

Fun to play with.

E

In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker:

this does assume that you are iphone less. Or at least don't want to carry it in the race car....

Or, via blue tooth- you can record on your iPhone all of this info. Really- a blue tooth analog recorder is pretty easy.

Again, as for software- we are currently using www.racechrono.com - and am pretty happy with it. I'll donate once I'm fully using it. Harry has focused on the iPhone, but if there are others out there- I'd love to check them out!

Eric

I need a gps datalogger for my CANOE