> 1. Determine which lane finished first.
There are two ways to do this. First, you can have an automated release
mechanism at the top of the track, and determine who finished first by
the shortest time. To determine when to stop, you might have a pressure
switch (or some type of impact switch) which would connect logic 1 (+5V)
on a Digital IO card to ground. That would signal that a car has
impacted the switch, and could stop the clock for that track.
Or, you could just see who impacted the switch in their lane first. You
might be able to use some type of machine vision, but I think that would
be a little slower.
> 2. Record the times of all lanes.
See above for clock stopping mechanism. But take the computer's time
when you release the cars, and take it again when they finish. There
are some time functions in Labview which will help in that.
> 3. Capture a run profile on one lane for tuning-up cars.
I'm not quite sure what you mean by a run profile, but if it's a chart
showing speeds at different positions (and times) of the run, it
shouldn't be that difficult. However, you would have to get some sort
of device to measure distance (an ultrasonic rangefinder works, some are
available), then you can calculate the other variables (speed,
acceleration, etc...)
> 4. Capture a digital picture of the pack as the winner crosses the
> finish line.
That would involve triggering a camera. I'm thinking using some of NI's
image processing hardware (mostly the camera) would be of assistance.
> 5. Display the photo finish on a large screen TV.
That one isn't difficult, but requires a video output from the camera
(or computer) to a TV.
> 6. Slow motion video?
That (IMHO) would be better done using a different system. If you can
get a video camera hooked up to a computer (and using video capture
hardware), you can record the cars moving down, and wouldn't be hard to
playback in slow motion. The only problem I can see is synchronizing
the record on the camera with the start of the cars.
A lot of this is variable, but there's my take on it. As a former scout
myself (went all the way from Bobcat to Eagle), I can see a need for
this. I do know that there are some pre-built tracks that do this sort
of thing, but not as complicated. You might try a web-search for more
info.
Thanks,
Kevin Mescher
