UMD Racing, a student-run organization dedicated to the development of electric race cars, they have been actively participating in the Formula Student competitions. During multiple yearly events, the team aims to design and manufacture a high performance car to compete against other student teams. The team’s vision to compete in the driverless category encouraged them to reach out to VA Imaging for camera hardware. Their focus on innovation and performance made them choose the MER2-041-528U3C camera, equipped with the SONY IMX287 sensor.

Sponsorship

The decision to collaborate with VA Imaging was affected by the clear and transparent website and competitive pricing. As well, the students of UMD Racing were looking for specific requirements, such as a high frame rate. One of the highspeed machine vision cameras of VA Imaging with 528fps matched these requirements. This has played a crucial role in their decision to reach out to the VA Imaging team for their vision system needs.

Racing competition

Last year, UMD Racing competed in both Formula Student Germany and Formula Student UK competitions with their electric car. During the competition, the car is rated on different criteria such as technical aspects, efficiency and overall performance. Their in-house development makes them stand out from other teams. Where others choose for off-the-shelf components, the UMD Racing team develops computing units such as the PCBs themselves. Their outstanding performance made them win the most efficient car award in the UK competition. 

The Car

The student team aims to compete in the driverless category with a fully autonomous car. Compared to building the general electric car, the autonomous part presents some extra challenges. One of these challenges is matching the theoretical calculations with the actual frame rate. However, the team’s knowledge and accessible tools allow UMD Racing to work on refining and improving the program to match both. In the meantime, a part of the team works on the general electric car for 2024 while the rest of the team continues development for the driverless car. The first field tests are planned for the end of 2024. 

To fulfill this ambition, one industrial camera will be used for the ground speed sensor and most likely two cameras next to the driver seat. These two cameras support the car in positioning by detecting objects like cones on the road. 

The vision hardware

The following machine vision components are being used in the vision system of the car as a ground speed sensor: 

• MER2-041-528U3C: This is a 0.41MP USB3 camera with a C-mount, capable of capturing 528 frames per second at full resolution.
• VA-LCM-5MP-04MM-F2.0-015: This is a 4MM  C-mount lens for capturing images with a non-distortion rate of < 0.5% and horizontal field of view of 64°.
• VA-CABLE-USB3-0.3m: An USB3 cable of 0.3 meters to connect the camera to the on-board computer of the race car.

An overview of all computer vision products is shown on the website. The MER2-041-528U3C, equipped with the SONY IMX287 sensor, provides 528 images per second at 0.41MP, ensuring minimal motion blur. The global shutter freezes images without artifacts, which is crucial for accurate vision software readings.

Testing of the camera set-up

The team instantly tried the camera out after receiving it. The integration with their own written test program and free SDK offered by VA Imaging went smoothly. They were impressed by the image quality and high-speed performance, attributing this to the high frame rate of the MER2-041-528U3C camera. The team was able to do the SDK installation and camera parameter setup themselves, without need of support. 

Report Card

The UMD Racing team rates VA Imaging for their support, camera image quality, ease of implementation and pricing.
Support: 
UMD Racing praises VA Imaging for close support, particularly appreciating assistance in lens selection to achieve the desired field of view.

Image Quality: 
While the 0.41MP camera is one of the low-resolution cameras in the portfolio of VA Imaging, the team is impressed with the image quality. 

Implementation: 
The team is happy that the implementing process of the the vision system was not complicated, they were able to implement the system without the need of any support.

Pricing: 
While comparing different industrial camera suppliers, the team is still recognizing VA Imaging for the low and accessible pricing for their specific camera requirements.

The VA Imaging team is very happy with the expressed satisfaction of the members of the UMD Racing student team about the collaboration. Would you like to keep up to date with the latest achievements of the student team? Make sure to follow UMD Racing via this link on LinkedIn or take a look at their website.