Diseño, Construcción y Puesta en Funcionamiento de un Sistema de Adquisición de Datos para Uso en Ensayos Vehiculares, Basado en Software y Hardware Libre

Abstract

This work describes the experience of developing a prototype data acquisition system (DAS) to be used in information gathering during the performance of certain vehicle tests. For the recognition of said system, the following acronyms SAPEV were proposed, they come from the Autonomous System for Vehicle Evaluation. Much of this research team already had the experience of having participated in the development of two data acquisition and control systems (SADyC) for general uses, along with some reconfigurations for specific uses. In this framework, to assemble the SAPEV, a data acquisition and control board already developed by this team was adapted: it was a system based on the Arduino Due platform, the environment chosen to provide an open hardware solution to ensure the use free of any user, for which the use of free software was also defined; Thus, a system is available to be used by a large number of users, leaving the possibility for these users to propose and develop extensions to the initial design. A 32-bit microcontroller was used, which provides significant processing power and the possibility of working with the adequate number of analog and digital input and output channels. The interest in the subject arose from the need raised by the Association of Automotive Technicians and Engineers (AITA) and the Network of Laboratories for the Automotive Industry (RELIAU), regarding having a system that allows them to overcome the obstacles generated by current systems in widespread use worldwide: tightness (closed systems), the need for highly trained personnel in its use and, mainly, the high costs for its acquisition, a highly influential problem for small testing laboratories. For this reason, initially, it was studied what the main tests that the laboratories specialized in this type of tests wanted to perform consisted of, and after analyzing them, it was determined that a sufficient response could be provided, based on the open system based on the SADyC of 32 bits. It was only necessary to condition some inputs that had been deprecated in the original system, later it was necessary to carry out the necessary reconfigurations of the system firmware; and, finally, a totally new software was made, in Python language, adapted to the needs.