Red Bird Racing VCU v2
 
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Red Bird Racing Vehicle Control Unit

Vehicle Control Unit (VCU) firmware for Red Bird Racing. As of current, this codebase is ready for Gen 5 (2025) and Gen 6 (2026).

Overview

This repository contains the embedded firmware for the VCU, responsible for pedal input processing, CAN communication, and vehicle state management. The codebase is modular, with a focus on reliability, maintainability, and real-time performance for electric race vehicles.

Documentation

Key Components

  • Pedal: Handles throttle and brake pedal input, producing output torque.
  • Telemetry: Produces extra CAN frames for telemetry and debugging.
  • Scheduler: Allow tasks to be run at set intervals. A mix of spinlock and yielding ensures accurate timing and maximum speeds.

Getting Started

  1. Configure Car Constants:
    • Edit BoardConfig.h to choose the correct pin-mappings for a particular board.
    • Edit Pedal.hpp to edit Drivetrain and reverse parameters.
  2. Configure Pedal Input Constants:
    • Edit Curves.hpp to set appropriate min/max values, as well as the torque curve.
  3. Build and Flash:
    • Use PlatformIO or your preferred toolchain to build and upload the firmware.
    • Ensure the vehicle is safely jacked up and powered off during flashing.
  4. Sensor Calibration:
    • Use CAN and the .dbc file to determine the curves for the two APPS, as well as the brakes.
    • Adjust configuration (step 2) as needed for reliable and desirable operation.

Debugging

  • Enable/disable debug messages by setting flags in Debug.hpp.
  • Debug messages sent as they are produced, and does not have a set interval.
  • Debug is centred around showing what Telemetry would show, so there's more focus on tracing the car's states before Telemetry starts communicating, or if the CAN don't work.
  • Serial Debugging:
    • Connect the VCU to a serial monitor.
  • CAN Debugging:
    • Connect the VCU's MCP2515 outputs to a USB PCAN.
    • Use the provided .dbc to interpret the frames.
    • Check the external doc for full references to the messages.

Project Structure

include/ # Header files
lib/ # Modular libraries (Pedal, Signal_Processing, etc.)
src/ # Main application entry point (main.cpp)
scripts/ # Static analysis, formatting, and utility scripts
test/ # Unit and integration tests
Doxyfile # Doxygen configuration
platformio.ini # PlatformIO project config

Current Development

  • Tuning

Future Plans

  • Continuous maintenance
  • No significant development planned / expected.

For questions or contributions, please refer to the documentation links above or contact the Red Bird Racing Software subteam.