Microsoft to Supply Electronics to Formula 1

Yooden_Vranx writes "speedtv.com reports that beginning in 2008, Microsoft will be the sole supplier of Engine Control Units to Formula 1. Apparently, moving to a single supplier is part of the FIA's (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile) attempts to cut costs. The article does not clarify whether this cost reduction is enabled by cutting back on tech support, what percentage of the engine's power will be required to run all the 'features' embedded in the device, or whether 'crash' will now refer primarily to software behavior rather than driving incidents."

Comments

Siemens/MES

[archdetector]

The contract was awarded to Microsoft MES, not Microsoft Automotive. I believe MES is a joint venture with Siemens, the technology partner to Mclaren (The shiny silver cars, for those who don't follow racing. Philistines.). Since McLaren already supplies a good deal of motorsports electronic components, this isn't much of a surprise.

Re:Couldn't resist...

[TubeSteak]

News Circa 2002

Approved use of commercial embedded technology brings innovation to motor racing

The FIA approved the use of programmable electronics, or embedded systems, to aid the driver in Formula One racing, subject to exact traceability of the source code.

http://atlasf1.autosport.com/ref/scrutiny.html

2. Software validation:
All computer systems on board the car, or which can be connected to the car, have to be validated before they can be used at an Event.

The software validation involves a complete check of all the source code of the computer programmes, including off-car units, to ensure that all aspects of the software comply with the Technical Regulations. The programmes are then copied and held by the FIA. Subsequently, when programmes are uploaded at race meetings they are compared with the reference copy to ensure no changes to the approved software have been made.

If a Team wishes to make changes to the software during the season a re-inspection has to take place prior to use.

When programmes are uploaded at a race meeting the copies are kept by the FIA indefinitely. The copies, which are kept, may be inspected in detail at anytime, including after the season has finished.

In addition to this all hardware has to be inspected and documented in order that all changes can be monitored during the season.

Safety is everything for Forumula One. Anything Microsoft writes will get inspected with fine tooth combs, then inspected again just to be sure.

The secondary reason behind their strict protocols is that it heads off cheating. No buried/hidden code that only activates in certain situations.

I've tuned race cars.

[nebbian]

I've tuned engines on racing cars. Firstly a little formula SAE racer, later V8 supercars.

Those Engine Control Units need to be bulletproof. And by bulletproof, I mean being able to handle being short circuited, reverse polarity applied, handle vibration, lots of heat, have weird settings applied, and generally being totally mistreated.

There are so many things that can go wrong on an engine, that to troubleshoot a problem you need to have 100% faith in the ECU. I don't mean 99.999%, I really do mean 100%! If there's a tiny little nagging doubt in your mind that the ECU might be at fault, then it throws your faultfinding completely out the window. Most of the time when there's a problem you need to fix it RIGHT NOW, normally this is at the start of a practice session, and the engineers want to get some tuning data for the suspension, the driver wants to practice the track, and every second of downtime means lots of stress for everyone in the team, including the manager and sponsorship guys. If you haven't worked in motorsport you have no idea what stress is all about. It's hardcore.

Why didn't they go with an established manufacturer such as MoTeC or Magneti Marelli? Those guys really know what's what when it comes to making an ECU.

I don't care how much experience or money Microsoft has, making a realtime OS for an ECU is no trivial matter. It's extremely difficult! You can't just whack a desktop OS like Windows CE or linux onto a small computer, things really and truly don't work like that. It will only take a couple of bugs before the engineers in F1 will be tearing their hair out, going on strike, and trying to retrofit their old ECUs into the cars. I really don't think that this idea will fly.