Global Formula Racing (GFR), a collaborative effort between OSU and Germany-based Duale Hochschule Baden-Württemberg-Ravensburg (DHBW), is a highly competitive and successful team that competes in Formula SAE (FSAE). Two cars are designed for competition, with development of an electric car taking place at DHBW while OSU develops an internal combustion car.
FSAE is all about who can engineer the best car, and a major part of engineering success comes from the ability to analyze and utilize data. Both cars are outfitted with an array of sensors and electronics that produce telemetry data. That information is uploaded to a server where engineers can analyze it to further develop faster, better cars. Currently, a server on the OSU campus is used for all data storage, but accessing that information can be a lengthy and complicated process.
This project is a website designed to streamline the retrieval and uploading of telemetry data, while also taking advantage of cloud computing with Amazon Web Services (AWS). Using AWS, GFR engineers can use our site to view, upload, or modify information in the database all through the web browser, eliminating the need for VPNs and programming knowledge. The less time engineers have to spend manually retrieving data, the more time can be spent on car development.
In addition to improving accessibility, this project also provides the potential to use the power of Amazon Web Services, the global leader in cloud computing technology. Cloud services like AWS or Google Cloud allow customers to “borrow” computing power from powerful servers all over the world. As little or as much power as the user needs can be utilized depending on the task. By using AWS as the foundation, hundreds of tools and services can be easily integrated into our site. We’ve already utilized several services to make up the backbone of this project, including scalable web hosting with Amplify, secure authentication with AWS Cognito, and the API Gateway to connect everything together.
In our 9 months working on this site, we’ve barely scratched the surface of what’s possible with AWS. We’ve done our best to design an extensible platform where future teams can easily add other AWS functionality like analytics, automation, and more. We’re very excited to contribute to the GFR program, and we hope that our efforts to make an accessible and fast website will help make an even faster car.
