Automotive Data Transfer and Visualization Using CAN bus, Linux and Electron

Abstract

Dashboards and head-units in automobiles provide a subconscious accumulation of information to the driver, allowing for proper operation of the car. Our goal was to create a solution utilizing the e ects of pre-attentive processing in the construction of our Formula SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) race car to provide the driver with the necessary information, further advancing the performance of the car. This solution entailed a Raspberry Pi with a 3.5 inch display connected to the car's CAN Bus protocol. This protocol was con gured to allow the sensors in the car, such as the throttle position sensor, lambda sensor, etc. to send information to the dashboard. With this information, we are able to decode and interpret the data into easily interpreted visualizations for the driver using a stripped down version of Linux and Electron, a tool used for building user interfaces with Node.js.