The Northeastern Baja Team group of engineering students who independently designs, builds and races an off roading vehicle. Many think that the competitions are all about the racing, but that doesn’t represent the blood, sweat and tears poured into the final car. The four day competition consists of design reports, business and marketing presentations to industry members, final regulation inspections, and the four hour endurance race that concludes the weekend.

Integrating Sensors

As a Mechanical Engineer, I was very interested in the data collection from the complex mechanical system we drove around! In addition to performing maintenance of the vehicle, I worked on various instrumentation projects, using sensors to collect data and compare to computer generated modeling (FEA). Projects I worked on:

• Suspension Load Characterization - using strain gauges on the rear suspension, data was collected and analyzed. Designed and built a wheatstone bridge to measure strain and a National Instruments myRIO DAQ to collect data.

• Suspension Height - gyroscopes and accelerometers were used to determine the height of the suspension in specific events while driving: on a jump, in a turn, etc.

• Steering Angle Characterization - using a potentiometer connected to the steering column, the angle of the handlebars was compared the radius of the steering path to determine if the vehicle was over or under steering.