F1 Embedded Software Development

[alexx_88]

Hello,

My name is Alex, I'm 23 years old and I, too, have a passion for Formula 1. Last month I got my Bachelor in Computer Science and I've began working for a small company, developing software for embedded systems.

The plan is to build enough experience that in a few years I could successfully apply for a similar position in a F1 team. But, because information about technologies used is not widely available, I am having trouble choosing specific directions in which to study further.

My idea is to make this topic sort of a 'go-to guide' for the software developers looking for a job in F1.

Alex

[lminudel]

Hi Alex

in F1 embedded software is used inside the car:
- in the Steering Wheel
- in the sensors that collects all the telemetry channels,
- in the ECU (Electronic Central Unit)
Embedded software is also used in the car simulator and in the wind tunnel.

The ECU currently adopted in F1 is a standard one that is mandatory for all the teams and currently in developed by http://www.mclarenelectronics.com/ .
Is a little similar to the ones used in Rally and in other racing competitions. Another brand that do similar staff in Europe is Magneti Marelli http://www.magnetimarelli.com/english/motorsport.php I guess there are other brands also.

About F1 Team I know that only the biggest ones have their own software or hw/electronic development team while the others buy "standard" software form external suppliers. I can mention again McLaren and Ferrari of course. Renault used to take care of software development, not sure how is doing now.

In you are interested, in November in Sweden there will be a conference named Oredev and one of the session will be about software development in F1.

HTH, Luca

[shelly]

Nice post from a real insider!

[Jonekare]

Awesome topic.I think everyone will choose the forum.

[Ral]

The official Williams team twitter account introduced @gillsensors as one of their sensor suppliers. You might get some hints on directions if you get in touch with them.

[Kiril Varbanov]

Why does it have to be Embedded necessarily? There's a whole lot more from the software stack that's around F1.

I got my hands on Formula 2 telemetry, which is under Cosworth, impressive piece, recently seen a custom MATLAB program for fuel management plus simulation software ... I guess it's time for article, then.

[Ral]

Probably because embedded software works within different environmental constraints than high-level software? Most obvious example being amount of runtime memory available; how much RAM do you currently have in the computer you are using and would you be able to do what you do with it if you only had kilobytes (as opposed to gigabytes) of memory instead?

Completely different mindset and whole host of of additional hardware knowledge required for embedded software - as opposed to being mostly nice-but-optional for higher level programs - making it a whole different area of interest all in itself. Ie. he might be interested in all the software used within F1, but the embedded parts are definitely a specific specialization with any crossover in knowledge being mostly one-way from embedded to higher level and not the other way around.

[lminudel]

Why does it have to be Embedded necessarily? There's a whole lot more from the software stack that's around F1.

I got my hands on Formula 2 telemetry, which is under Cosworth, impressive piece, recently seen a custom MATLAB program for fuel management plus simulation software ... I guess it's time for article, then.

It does not have to be embedded necessarily.

There is embedded software that run on the car (that i.e. control the engine, collect telemetry info from sensors, manage the telemetry radio transmission from the car to the pitwall) and then there is also client and server software that run on PCs at the pit wall and in the garages during the race that elaborate and analyze the telemetry for example.

And then there is also software that run at the home factory used to simulate the dynamic behavior of the car in order to find the best possible setup of the car.

And of course there is much more software used from the initial production of the car to the tests and to the race management. Including aerodynamics simulations that normally run on supercomputers.