Sponsorships
CadSoft supports institutions such as schools, universities and associations, which are participating in innovative non-commercial research projects.
Global Formular Racing e.V.
The Formula Student/SAE challenge is an international design competition, in which students from all over the world build and race Formula style race cars. Over 500 universities around the world design, fabricate, and test their race cars for 12 competitions in 11 countries, making it the largest student engineering competition in the world.
A new vehicle must be designed each year and comply with the current set of rules which are designed to keep the competitions safe, fair and challenging.
In 2010, the successful Formula SAE teams from Oregon State (USA), and DHBW Ravensburg (Germany) combined forces to compete as Global Formula Racing (GFR), which is the first global collaboration of its kind in FSAE. The Global Formula Racing Team won six competitions in the two years of its history, making it the most successful FSAE team. Since 2011, the team develops, designs, manufactures, and tests a battery powered electric car next to the combustion car. The EV has a high percentage of self-developed electronics and PCBs.
Our use of CadSoft EAGLE includes the design of a battery management system as well as the safety circuit, which shuts the car down in critical situations. One of the reasons for us using EAGLE as design tool for our PCBs its international popularity. EAGLE skills are useful for employments in both, the US and Germany. On top of this, the software is very beginner friendly.
The biggest benefit is the free availability of EAGLE Light. Each team member can practice the use of the software on private PCs and view the status of the PCB design. Plus, several team members used EAGLE Light in their own projects before joining the team.
Fasttube – Technical University of Berlin
Since 2006 FaSTTUBe, the Formula Student Team of the Technical University of Berlin constructs and builds cars for the Formula Student Series. Since 2009 we successfully use EAGLE software to plan and design the vehicle electronics. With the help of EAGLE we were able to optimize the layout each season, decrease installation space in therefore reduce weight, which is especially important in motorsport.We design all electronic components with EAGLE: from the basic brake light up to the compelx steering wheel circuit board. Even for more intricate layouts like the intelligent energy management system or the design of flexboards the EAGLE Software convinces due to its intuitive operation and easy implementation of our ideas. EAGLE enables our team members to learn the software quickly during the racing season and enhance the quality of our electronic components.
www.fasttube.de
Cambridge University Spaceflight
Cambridge University Spaceflight is a student run society founded in 2006 comprising undergraduates and postgraduates from many disciplines. We aim to develop the technology needed to reduce the cost of sub-orbital access to space for scientific research, in the form of high altitude balloon launches, designing rockets, and other related experiments.
WHZ Racing Team / Zwickau
Zwickau has been a famous site for automotive engineering in Germany for many years now, especially for its successes in automotive racing during the 1930s.
To tie up with these successes and to continue the tradition, a small group of dedicated and ambitious students of the University of Applied Sciences Zwickau developed a new racing car to take part in the Fromula Student: The WHZ Racing Team was founded.
By now our team consists of 70 students, coming from various university departments, who have the chance to implement their theoretical know-how within the project of the WHZ Racing Team. Furthermore they can get a lot of experience and learn from other team members to expand their skills.
What provides the basis for this successful career of the WHZ Racing Team, always creating new innovations and visions, is the CadSoft from EAGLE.
With the programme EAGLE we create all of our circuit boards. The development starts with the circuit diagram and ends with the finished layout, which then will be produced. Thanks to the high reliability of the programme, the circuit boards can be assembled with a high quality each year. This is reflected in our results, we are reaching. The achieved complexity of the circuit boards ranges from two- to six-ply.
To be able to create progressive circuit boards of high quality in the future, we’ll need EAGLE V6.
Team Spacesailors – RWTH Aachen
The launch of Sputnik, the first artificial satellite on 4th of October 1957 introduced the era of spaceflight. Unfortunately with this great event the problem of space debris was also born. Now, after nearly 55 years of human activity in space a constantly increasing amount of space debris represents a tremendous problem for actual and future space missions. Therefor it is necessary to develop new de-orbit technologies for disused satellites. By using a dragsail at the end of life of a satellite the aerodynamic drag of the earth’s atmosphere can be increased which causes an acceleration of the satellite’s reentry. Unfortunately there are not many experiences in the domain of the deployment of such large lightweight structures in microgravity conditions until now. With our Experiment EDOD (Experimental Deployment Of a Dragsail) for the REXUS program (www.rexusbexus.net) we hope to enhance the comprehension of the deployment kinematics of a dragsail and to qualify a deployment mechanism for future CubeSat missions. We also want to qualify a self-constructed camera module which will monitor the deployment of our 5 m² kapton sail. The deployment will take place on the REXUS sounding rocket in an altitude of nearly 100 km.
Thanks to CadSoft’s generous support we’re able to develop these camera modules in an optimal environment!
Club S.O.N.I.A.
École de technologie supérieure, Montreal (Quebec) Canada Every year in Canada a group of undergrad students are advancing the design and build of their underwater intelligent vehicle, SONIA, readying to compete in the International Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Competition.
“Specifically using EAGLE, it’s a very crucial part of our design.” says Kevin Larose, the team leader, electrical and mechanical team member. Although created by students at the Ecole de Technologie Superieure this does not look like a student project. Using EAGLE, this year’s 5 person electrical team has developed sophisticated circuit boards, one featuring a total of 8 sensors, plus various actuators and interface circuitry.
Held by the Autonomous Unmanned Vehicle System International and the Office of Naval Research the competition requires vehicles to act autonomously navigating through gates, locating an acoustic beacon, grabbing and dropping objects, and launching projectiles amongst other tasks.
“Scripts are the best part of EAGLE,” says Larose. “Python scripts can be done very fast like in 5 minutes. This is very helpful. We have developed about 15 to 20 scripts and ULPS for our designs.”
Low-energy vehicles for the Shell Eco Marathon
Team Schluckspecht / Offenburg University
Since as long ago as 1998 the Schluckspecht team from Offenburg University has been taking part in the Shell Eco-marathon (SEM). The winner of this competition is the most energy-efficient vehicle.
Around 30 students from various disciplines work to achieve shared success and were already able to claim some notable achievements in the development of demonstration vehicles with outstanding fuel economy. For example a diesel vehicle achieved a performance of 1807 km/l, and a fuel cell engine 3198 km/l. Even the battery vehicle running on normal roads brought a smile to the face of team members, managing a full 624.6 km, before requiring a recharge.
With EAGLE, there are plans for engine control units, battery and fuel cell control units, HMIs and power electronics.
Car racing – SAE Formula Electric
Oregon State University
The Formula SAE series is a world-wide series of competitions that challenge students to design, manufacture and race small “Formula-style” race cars. Every year, more than 430 teams from around the world compete in the nine competitions across the Americas, Europe and Asia. Each competition consists of a variety of events, from timed laps in the car, to detailed presentations on the engineering design and cost breakdown of the vehicle.
Oregon State has been fielding cars every year since 1989. In 2009-2010, the BA Racing Team from the Duale Hochschule Baden-Württemberg-Ravensburg (DHBW-R), Germany, and the Beaver Racing Team from Oregon State University (OSU) merged to become Global Formula Racing (GFR), the first international entity in Formula SAE/Formula Student.
The 2010-2011 racing year differs from previous years in that Global Formula Racing will be engineering a high-performance electric vehicle in addition to the combustion car. The scope of our project will include the design and implementation of an accumulator (battery) system and related components for the vehicle. The car will be required to pass a technical inspection and safety of the implementation of the high voltage system will be critically important in order to compete. The components to be designed and built for this project include the battery pack and monitoring/containment system, an off-car charging system designed for the power supply available at competition, an on-board battery cell balancing circuit, and required safety systems (emergency shutdown switches, circuit isolation, etc.). A kinetic energy recovery circuit using the electric motor as a generator may be implemented if time and cost constraints permit. The information gathered by the battery monitoring system will be communicated to a data acquisition system over a wired local network on the vehicle; this will primarily be used to ensure the battery is in a safe condition during operation. The entire system will be designed to be fail-safe and will be in complete compliance with the Formula Student Electric Germany (FSEG) rules.
“Having access to the EAGLE has given us the tools needed to complete our complex project in a timely manner with minimal learning curve. These circumstances alone are enough for us to pave the way to making our project a huge success!”, Dr. Robert Paasch (Faculty Advisor) / Chris Hendricks (Team Captain).
Fast, faster, EAGLE – Formula Student
Mittweida Motorsport test centre – University of Mittweida
The Mittweida Motorsport test centre (hereinafter TMM) was established in 2006 in the former Mechanical Engineering faculty of the University of Mittweida. With the founding of TMM, the students found themselves following in the footsteps of the famous mechanical engineer August Horch, who studied at the Mittweida test centre from 1888 to 1891. And of course, TMM plays an active role in Formula Student.
To ensure they remained among the front runners this year also, ceaseless effort as made on a range of innovations. For 2011, a vehicle computer is planned. As the central element, an OMAP3-based Beagleboard development kit is used. This board houses a Linux operating system, which features a connection to the vehicle bus (CAN Bus) via a CAN adaptor designed in-house. The display is in the form of a colour LCD display, with input via a touch screen.
The EAGLE software is used to develop the connection board between the Beagleboard, display and touch screen. This board includes corresponding sockets, level transducer, voltage references and a touch screen controller. The EAGLE software is also used to develop a power supply and a CAN-connected DMS measurement amplifier.
“The EAGLE Software stands out for its exceptional development flexibility in development as well as the high total of available libraries and a wide community of developers.”, Anna Kirchner, Technikum Mittweida Motorsport.
www.tm-motorsport.net
Racing Team / TU Graz
Each year, the TU Graz Racing Team constructs and builds a Formula Student racing car and uses EAGLE to create all the PCBs for the entire set of vehicle electronics.
From brake light to coupling, switching, stepping motor control and carbon multifunction steering wheel, all are planned and laid out in EAGLE.
“We are delighted with the software, since it offers all the functions which we need for the development. EAGLE is very well-known and most of the new colleagues with an educational background in PCB design are very familiar with it. Obviously this helps us save tremendously on training time.” Bernhard Fischbacher, Racing Team TU Graz.
http://racing.tugraz.at/de/home/
KA-RaceIng e.V. – Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
KA-RaceIng e.V. is a university group at the Karlsruher Institute of Technology (formerly the University of Karlsruhe (TH)), which is taking part in the Formula Student competitions in Europe and North America with vehicles it has developed itself.
Since 2007, more than 50 students have been constructing petrol-engined cars and since 2010 electric cars. The racing cars are formula vehicles, namely with free-standing wheels and the engine situated in the rear.
Moreover, since 2007, KA RaceIng has developed the lion’s share of the control units for the vehicles itself. Since 2010, the petrol-engined and electric cars have made joint use of a modular electronic system.
“For the planning of all PCBs, we use EAGLE as an easy-to-learn design tool. The flat learning curve facilitates the uptake of the program, meaning all new team members can quickly achieve good results,” states Jürgen Scholz, Team leader Electric Drive Train, KA-RacIng e.V.
Elbflorace – TU Dresden
With Elbflorace, TU Dresden has been involved in the Formula Student Electric program since the start of the 2010/2011 season, supported in its efforts by CadSoft EAGLE.
The electric drive train means the computational complexity of the vehicle has increased enormously, which is reflected in the abundant number of microprocessors and sensors. The PCBs for these applications are equipped with EAGLE in-house.
“We use EAGLE for a wide range of PCBs, e.g. the Battery Management System for the battery monitoring, motor control cards with CAN bus, fan controllers, an ABS control and even a brake light are already equipped on the PCB,”, Max Neumann, elbflorace – TU Dresden.
MunicHMotorsport – University of Munich
50 students from a wide range of faculties join forces to try and achieve victory for their home university and in so doing; their primary focus is on the Formula Student Germany event in Hockenheim in August 2011.
Electrical gear change, coupling, cooling and fuel pumps are centrally controlled in the Munich motorsport team by a board. To plan the board itself, the initial step involves developing a circuit diagram with EAGLE, to subsequently proceed with designing the layout.
“EAGLE has an intuitive user interface, which has made things much easier for me, despite being a beginner. I also think it is very clearly arranged and the forward-reverse annotation facilitates the layout, because it allows ideas which have already been incorporated into the circuit diagram to be directly transferred to the actual layout. The function to create new components also works flawlessly, while the standard packages made available all help make things even easier.” Sarah Schwöbel, municHMotorsport.
http://www.munichmotorsport.de/
Race-Ing. Team – FH Dortmund
Since 2005, the Race-Ing. team from the University of Applied Sciences has taken part in Formula Student, the international design competition. To date, four vehicles have been developed using EAGLE and further developed on a continual basis.
The task for the students is to work in teams on constructing and producing a formula car for the international Formula Student design competition. The vehicle must subsequently do battle with competition during racing events. As well as driving performance, the business plan, cost report, and engineering abilities are all evaluated by a specialist jury from industrial and economic backgrounds.
http://www.race-ing.de/
With the sun along the home stretch
SolarCar-Team – HS Bochum
For almost a decade now, students, employees and professors from the mechatronics and mechanical engineering facilities as well as electrical engineering and computer science have worked on solar-powered vehicles. A project that encompasses all facets of the engineering profession: teamwork, project management, intercultural perspectives and last but not least, the fascination with modern technology.
“Each module you can imagine, starting with a simple power adaptor via the motor control module up to the battery management system developed in-house, is developed by us using EAGLE. In this case, EAGLE is a one-stop solution. Firstly, it can be used to create circuit plans and layouts, ranging from simple to complex. EAGLE makes it child’s play to optimize the size of the board or the general arrangement of components. Since elements such as the required training period and efficiency (one program for all) are our top priority, and the set-up has allowed all students, even those without any previous knowledge, to get to grips with the operation in just a few hours, the EAGLE software package from CadSoft has become a standard tool, which we cannot do without.” Felix Burmeister, Head of Students, E-Technik, SolarCar-Team.
http://www.hochschule-bochum.de/solarcar.html
Youth in Research 2011 – Technical Category
Theodorianum Grammar School in Paderborn
The development of a ventilation system to regulate the climate of a specific area of a room is the task facing those taking part in “Youth in Research 2011”. The Theodoranium grammar school produced a very convincing draft plan, good enough to earn second place in the regional competition.
“For our research and development work, CadSoft Computer GmbH were good enough to give us access to the EAGLE CAD software. This meant we could proceed with the in-house development of the draft circuit diagram required for our electronic control and the design of the board itself at almost the same time and proceed with the etching of the board.”, Axel Beller.
A world over 4,000 qm – Hamburg Miniature Wonderland
The Hamburg Miniature Wonderland presents the largest model railway in the world. Each day, some 200,000 miniature inhabitants, 820 trains, 400 cars and ships form part of the breathtaking scenery, which is illuminated by over 300,000 lights. For the PCB planning of the miniature wonderland, the makers opted for EAGLE.
“We have relied on the PCB design software EAGLE for many years now when expanding our miniature wonderland in Hamburg. We can use it swiftly and without fuss to create complex circuit diagrams and layouts. We are excited by the flexibility and user-friendliness of EAGLE, which allows us to tailor the individual processes directly in line with our requirements!” Axel Opitz, Development department.
RoboCup – Mostly Harmless
TU Graz
The RoboCup is an international research platform, which has set itself the target of advancing with research in the field of artificial intelligence, communication as well as the mechanical and electrical design of robots.
Mostly Harmless is an all-student team, which – unaided – used EAGLE to develop, construct, complete, test and finance football robots for use in the world and European championships.
These championships are held as part of global scientific symposia entitled RoboCup.
In the meantime, Mostly Harmless are facing up to their sixth season as a mid-size football robot team and offer regular evidence that Austrian football is far superior to what its reputation may suggest.
This has included the following set of results in recent years:
- WM participants in 2005 in Osaka, 2006 in Bremen, 2007 in Atlanta and 2009 in Graz
- Attaining the intermediate round in the 2009 world championships in Graz
- 3rd place in the Technical Challenge World Championship 2009
- Design Award RoboCup 2005 Osaka, Japan
- 5th place during the European Championships 2010 in Magdeburg, Spotlight Prize 2008, awarded for the Langen Nacht research. The team consists of 40 students from differing study disciplines, who work together, one season after another, to improve their existing robots!
Robocup Junior Soccer
Antitischhochheber – Bernhard-Strigel Grammar School in Memmingen
Working alongside and supported by some regional companies, the “Antitischhochheber” team plans, designs and builds the robot team which will take part in the Robocup Junior Soccer tournament.
This involves two autonomously working robots adjacent each other,which attempt to propel a ball into the opponent’s goal.. For orientation purposes, for example, light or compass sensors are used.
“Compared to other programs, EAGLE is laid-out extremely well and clearly, but still lets you design complex switching diagrams. Moreover, many PCB manufacturers also prefer the use of EAGLE as a layout program and offer cheaper prices for the same. This lends EAGLE a wide-ranging applicable scope, from Schul-AG to electronics companies.” Pascal Mossier, Antitischhochheber.
Roboter AG – Johannes-Kepler Grammar School in Weil
The Roboter AG of Johannes-Kepler Grammar School also use EAGLE to plan their own robots, are regular participants in the Robocup Junior Soccer and claimed third place when participating for the first time in Vöhringen.
“During the work, I noticed that the EAGLE program really did live up to its name, namely a “User-Friendly Graphics Layout Editor”. It allowed me to design my first PCB unaided and best of all, it got the job done right away, despite the task at hand being relatively complicated.” Cornelius Römer.
http://www.tactic-robotic.bplaced.de/
Buggy-Chassis – small and environmentally friendly
eCARus – TU Munich
eCARus is a project by students for students. Supported by the Special Department for Energy Transformation technology and the Chair for Electrical Energy-saving Technology, students of the Munich Technical University work on constructing an electric vehicle based around the frame of a buggy chassis.
This project, the implementation of which is the full responsibility of the students, makes it possible for the students to gain a wealth of valuable practical experience, in giving them the chance to work with professional tools, such as the EAGLE software package from the CadSoft company, which can be used to make advances in the forward-looking domain of electromobility.
“We at the eCARus team prize EAGLE for the way it allows students a swift and hassle-free helping hand into the world of switching and PCB design.” Ludwig John, eCARus.
