Training on a Friday afternoon....

Every so often at Camp Sarsen, we decide it’s time to refresh our knowledge and tap into our manufacturer’s vast resources with a little bit of training.

This week UEI are sharing their secrets about the UEISIM. It's a great bit of kit, and it's one that has seen growing interest over the last few months. So we decided to swot up to make sure we're ready to answer all your questions about the hardware and how it works.

The UEISIM is available on PPC Cube, GigE Cube and RACKtangle platforms

In basic terms, the UEISIM turns a PowerDNx Ethernet data acquisition module into a target on which you can run Simulink models and read/write physical I/O. It offers Simulink users a flexible I/O target for real time applications like simulation model verification, rapid prototyping, and hardware-in-the-loop testing. You can use it to experiment with control system design, signal processing, data acquisition and similar tasks directly from the Simulink environment, without the need to use any additional tools.

We will be delving into UEISIM nitty-gritty this afternoon, looking at the software, I/O capabilities, deployment scenarios, ruggedisation, chassis design and connectivity ports and interfaces.

If our brains are still intact after all then give us a call to:
a) test us, or
b) discuss your Simulink application!

T - +44 1672 511166
E - info@sarsen.net

Have a great weekend!

"Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance". Confucius

Debbie's Marathon des Sables Diary 2013 - Part 2!

105km down, 126 still to go.....

So far, Debbie has crossed searing sands, suffered blisters and bruises, and discovered the wonder that is mint tea.

Her adventure continues...

Stage 4 – 75.7km - Taourirt Mouchanne to Oued el Jdaid

(AKA The Big Nasty!)

Slept badly, began with queasy tummy and nausea, slogged the first 36km feeling sick so forcing insufficient intake of water, salt and calories .. temperature 54C - reached Check Point (CP)3 and collapsed in medical tent with heat stroke and dehydration - my lowest point of the week .. took 2 hours to rehydrate enough to get back on my feet - staggered every step of the remaining 40km on verge of D and V. Extremely hard to maintain hydration.

Crossed 10km of sand dunes between CP4 and CP5 around midnight, amazingly twinkly night sky. Buddied with 2 American guys as nervous about my condition and erratic visibility of glow sticks which disappeared amongst the mountainous dunes (biggest height and distance of dunes all week). Navigation to CP5 assisted by Star Trek-esque laser beam pointing into the night sky, visible for 20 miles. Managed hot food at CP5 but collapsed again at CP6 taking refuge in sleeping bag for an hour.

Set off on last 10km around 4am .. quite surreal as shuffling alone, following pin pricks of marker glow sticks - when I felt lonely I could turn and see a tiny trail of head torch lights behind me. Dawn and sunrise were beautiful and the sight of camp made me weep .. finally hobbled over finish line around 7.20am. Learnt later that Laurence Klein, favourite to win ladies, had retired from race at CP4 with heat stroke..

Rest Day
A can of chilled coke - bloody miraculous!!
Rehydrated fully and doubled my salt intake.

Stage 5 – 42.2km- Oued el Jdaid to Erg Znaigui
Feeling so much stronger, temperatures still over 50C but fully hydrated and no nausea. Remained on double dose of salt tablets. Doused my Union Jack with water and draped over my shoulders to help ward off baking heat. Realised I was maintaining quicker pace as didn't recognise those around me. Finally glimpsed the Finish Line, seemed to take forever to reach and so euphoric on crossing the line I ran past Patrick Bauer waiting to present my medal and had to be ushered back .. Tent buddies probably have it about right naming me Dipsy!! Ranking = 483 .. saved my best for last!

Final Ranking – 736

Charity Stage - 8km – Erg Znaigui to Merzouga
8km of sand dunes on Saturday in support of UNICEF, rather weary but enjoyed waving my flag decorated with Luke, Katie, Max and Toms' names .. finally managed to feature in the official photos - the Union Jack is such a distinctive flag!

Debbie will be in the Sarsen office on Friday to collect her cheque for Facing Africa.

Debbie's Marathon des Sables Diary 2013 - Part 1

“Huge thanks to everyone for such fantastic support - sponsorship for Facing Africa is now up to £11,564.51! Tremendously appreciative of your good luck wishes, emails in the desert and congrats messages .. the highlight of each day was crossing the finish line for a cup of sweet mint tea and the tearful anticipation of emails from home ...”

Known simply as the MdS, the race is a brutal six-day adventure across one of the world’s most inhospitable locations - the Sahara desert. The rules require you to be self-sufficient, to carry with you on your back everything except water that you need to survive. You are given a place in a bivouac to sleep at night, but any other equipment and food must be carried.

There are 6 stages in the MdS, each with it's own challenges. It starts with a 37.2km hike from the start at Ihrs to Khermou in Errachidia......

Stage One - 37.2km - Irhs to Khermou
"Biggest challenge was weight of 10kg pack, struggled with searing heat, adapting to typical terrain, mixture of ascents up djebels (a hill or mountain in an Arab country), mountain passes, sand mounds, camel grass, rock, crevasses, sand dunes … 1st blister (left instep), hands like 2 bunches of bananas .. glad to reach bivouac for first cup of legendary mint tea!"
Ranking = 732

MdS 2013 bivouac

Stage Two - 30.7km - Khermou to Jebel el Otfal
"Most technical day with greatest ascent = 1000m: my favourite day for the views from the high mountain ridges .. 2nd, 3rd and 4th blisters plus 2 bruised big toenails .. feeling stronger by using poles which helped offload weight of pack and enabled my Saharan shuffle to increase a little in pace, gave me better balance scrambling over rocks and boulders, helped reduce swelling of hands.
Ranking = 625

Blisters 2, 3 and 4!!

Stage Three - 38km - Jebel el Otfal to Taourirt Mouchanne
"Acclimatising better to heat, pack and terrain. 5th blister - oh the joys of wonder drug paracetamol! Feet and ankles grossly swollen, prickly heat unpleasant but everyone suffering so time to grit teeth and keep going.....".
Ranking = 594

The MdS route covers many different types of landscape.

105km down, 126 still to go..... Check back on Monday to read the rest of Debbie's account of her epic Saharan adventure!

XPand 6103 - Intel Core i7 COM Express Embedded Box PC from Extreme.... Perfect for Transportation Applications!

The shiny new (well, actually, its matte black, but new things do tend to be shiny) XPand6103 from Extreme Engineering Solutions (X-ES) has been specifically designed for rugged and processing intensive vehicle and rail transportation applications.

The XPand6103has been designed for vehicle and rail applications

As one of the smallest and most rugged fanless embedded box PCs on the market, the XPand6103 is ideally suited for environmentally challenging and space constrained situations - underwater, in the sky, underground, in hot, sweaty signal boxes, in freezers..... the possibilities are virtually limitless. And it has the approvals to, well, prove it! IEC61373, EN50155, and MIL-STD-810 shock and vibration requirements as well as the water immersion requirements of IP67.

XPand6103 from X-ES

The XPand6103 supports the 3rd generation Intel Core i7 processor by integrating the XPedite7450 rugged COM Express module.

The standard configuration includes:

• 3rd generation Intel® Core™ i7 processor
• Rugged M12 I/O connectors
• Gigabit Ethernet x 2
• CAN Bus x 4
• DisplayPort++ video
• USB 2.0
• RS-232/422 serial
• 3 x PCI Express Mini Card expansion slots
• -40°C to +70°C operating temperature

The system can also be configured to provide up to two 10 Gigabit Ethernet 10GBASE-T interfaces.

Did we mention it was rugged?

The XPand6103 can be used successfully in a huge range of transportation applications, without the need for additional power conditioning. This is achieved by supporting a wide nominal input voltage range, and complying to the power specifications of SAE J1455, EN50155, ISO-7637-2, MIL-STD-1275, and MIL-STD-704.

For more information on the XPand6103, or any of the X-ES product range please get in touch. You can call us on +44 1672 511166, or drop us an email!

Debbie Simpson set to cross the finish line tonight!

As we speak, Debbie is on the final stage of her epic Marathon des Sables adventure.

She has already completed over 180km in just 4 days, but has another 42km to complete before she hits the finish line. Yesterday’s stage was a massive 75.7km from Taourirt Mouchanne to Jebel el Mraïer. Check out today’s route here.

Stage 5 Part 1!

There have been over 52 ‘Abandonments’ so far, but Debbie is still going strong, with a position of 770 out of nearly 1200 people, so she’s doing fantastically well! 

Debbie is running the Marathon des Sables to raise money for Facing Africa, a charity which funds 2 teams of highly skilled and experienced volunteer surgeons from the UK, Germany, France and Holland, sending them to Ethiopia each year to provide reconstructive facial surgery for victims of noma.

In addition to the surgery, Facing Africa also encourages local doctors, surgeons and nurses to attend lectures and presentations done by our volunteers in order to teach them new and better procedures and techniques. Ethiopian surgeons are invited to observe and assist during surgery. Facing Africa also donates surgical instruments, consumables and disposables to Ethiopian hospitals at the end of each mission.

It’s not too late to join Sarsen and sponsor Debbie in her bid to reach her goal for Facing Africa Noma - you can still donate online by going to the Facing Africa website, clicking ‘Donate now’, then select yes as sponsoring a runner in the MdS. Add Debbie Simpson’s name to the box so your donation is added to her fundraising total.

We can't wait to hear all about her adventures when she gets back!

Vehicle NVH Testing - Automotive April from Sarsen Technology!

Noise, vibration and harshness (NVH), also known as noise and vibration (NV) is the study and modification of the noise and vibration characteristics of vehicles, particularly cars and trucks.

There are many sources of noise in a vehicle, including the engine, driveline, tyre contact patch and road surface, brakes, and wind. Noise from cooling fans, or the HVAC, alternator, and other engine accessories is also fairly common.

There are three principal means of improving NVH:

1. Reducing the source strength, as in making a noise source quieter with a muffler, or improving the balance of a rotating mechanism 
2. Interrupting the noise or vibration path, with barriers (for noise) or isolators (for vibration) 
3. Absorption of the noise or vibration energy, as for example with foam noise absorbers, or tuned vibration dampers.

Specific methods for improving NVH include the use of tuned mass dampers, sub-frames, balancing, modifying the stiffness or mass of structures, retuning exhausts and intakes, modifying the characteristics of elastomeric isolators, adding sound deadening or absorbing materials, or using active noise control. In some circumstances, substantial changes in vehicle architecture may be the only way to cure some problems cost effectively.

Noise dampening panels inlayed in a car bonnet

The UEI Cube is an ideal measurement platform for in-vehicle automobile NVH testing. The Cube is small, rugged and runs off any power supply between 9 and 36 VDC. This combination makes it easy to “bury” the cube in the car’s trunk, engine compartment or under a seat.

UEI’s popular UEILogger Cube in conjunction with the DNA-AI-211 ICP/IEPE interface and the DNA-AI-208 or AI-224 strain gage interfaces have been used by a wide variety of customers in the study of vehicle NVH (Noise, Vibration and Harshness) characteristics.

In addition to logging the NVH data, the UEILogger can also acquire CAN data, allowing simply correlation between the vehicle dynamics (e.g. speed, RPM) and NVH. All this is possible without righting any code as the UEILogger is programmed by a simple, intuitive Windows GUI.

For more information please contact Sarsen Technology on +44 1672 511166 or email us - info@sarsen.net

Sarsen Wishes Debbie Simpson Best of Luck at the Start of the Marathon des Sables

Following our blog post from last summer, the time has finally arrived for Debbie Simpson to make her way to the start line of the Marathon des Sables.

Debbie leaves for Morocco tomorrow, reaching the Sahara by Friday. She will have some time to prepare in camp on Saturday, completing her admin and medical checks, and then the race begins Sunday 7th April, finishing Saturday 12th... 156 miles in total!

The MdS began in 1986, after Frenchman Patrick Bauer, at the age of 28, set off alone across an uninhabited section of the Sahara carrying a pack weighing 35kg containing all his food and water. He travelled on foot for 12 days and covered 350km. From this experience sprang his idea to set up the challenge which became known as the Marathon des Sables.

“After a year of training in which I've run, jogged, trotted, shuffled, stumbled and trudged 1500-2000 miles I am relieved to be contemplating the start line injury-free ... not so delighted with my starting pack of around 10kg - trying to run with the equivalent of 10 bags of sugar is not fun but I'll look forward to my pack getting lighter as the miles tick by ...”.

Debbie's kit weighs around 10kg at the start of the race

Debbie is raising money for Facing Africa, a charity that funds life-saving surgery for children affected by Noma. Noma is a gangrenous infection of the face, which leads to tissue destruction and ulceration. The progression of the disease can be halted with the use of antibiotics and improved nutrition; however, its physical effects are permanent and require reconstructive plastic surgery to repair. This is why charities like Facing Africa are so important.

“A huge thank you to everyone for your amazingly generous sponsorship - my total is now over £11,000, including the £5000 from Sarsen Technology. This is enough to fund surgery for more than 15 children afflicted with Noma. Heartfelt thanks to everyone for the wonderful support over the past year, so many people in numerous ways have encouraged, advised, teased, questioned, fed and hugged me .. How could I possibly not succeed? ”

We will catch up with Debbie when she returns to the UK to find out how she got on in the equivalent of six regular marathons!

Debbie, the Sarsen Team wish you the best of luck!!

It's Automotive April at Sarsen Technology!

Welcome back, we hope you enjoyed the extended break and had a great Easter.

This month on the Sarsen Technology blog it’s Automotive April. Every week we will be bringing you news and information from our manufacturers, with a spotlight on the automotive industry in particular.

The term automotive was created from Greek autos (self), and Latin motivus (of motion) to represent any form of self-powered vehicle.

Example: Self-Powered Vehicles

The automotive industry began in the 1890s, with hundreds of manufacturers pioneering the horseless carriage. The United States led the world in total automobile production. In 1929 before the Great Depression, the world had 32,028,500 automobiles in use, and the U.S. automobile industry produced over 90% of them.

From ULVs to F1, and from robots to the car you’re driving today, every single one has been made using data acquisition systems, buckets of I/O, control and monitoring equipment, and sophisticated, reliable hardware solutions. We know quite a lot about this stuff……

We know all about control and monitoring applications.......!

We’ve been involved in a big range of automotive applications, including engine monitoring and control hardware for city buses, I/O hardware for control and monitoring of simulators, noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) testing and Unmanned Land Vehicle (ULV) control.

 

Noise, Vibration and Harshness Testing.......

Keep an eye out for more stories on the blog, as well as regular updates on Twitter and LinkedIn!