With Add-On Products From Hondata And Innovate Motorsports, You Can Get A Lot More Out Of Your In-Car Computer Than Just Entertainment
In the April 2006 issue we touched on the performance aspects of Icon-TV's hot new FMIC-PC1 in-car PC. After a few months of playing with the machine, we've come up with a handful of the endless possibilities the tiny PC can offer performance enthusiasts. With a device like this in a tuner's arsenal, dialing in every parameter of a race car's engine, suspension and diagnostics systems becomes as fun as playing a video game.
We installed the unit in our sister magazine Honda Tuning's project '96 Honda Civic to further explore the features that come with the Icon-PC and features that can be easily added to it via aftermarket hardware and software. The car was already equipped with an S300 aftermarket engine control unit by Hondata. The Hondata unit gives users full adjustability for fuel and ignition tables, VTEC switchover point, boost, alphanumeric throttle position-based mapping, data logging and much more. The S300 unit has a single USB port to connect to a computer, usually a laptop but in this case, the Icon-PC.
Hondata's proprietary software includes key features such as real-time programming, data logging and real-time digital gauge readouts to help tuners acquire data and use it to perfect the engine's performance. First, the tuner will turn on data logging and the digital gauge display. The data logger records sensor information as they are being displayed on screen via the digital gauges. After the run is over (whether on the street/track or on the dyno), the tuner can evaluate the data and modify fuel and ignition maps accordingly without having to turn the car off or burn a chip. In other words, with a Hondata S300 in conjunction with the FMIC-PC1, a tuner can make these modifications on the freeway using a touchscreen. This kind of versatility is unprecedented in the tuning world.
Don't have a Honda? The in-car PC can be used with MTS products from Innovate Motorsports to data log on any make or model vehicle imaginable. With an Innovate DL-32 Data Logger, the PC1 loaded with Innovate's Logworks 2.0 software and a set of home-brewed or store-bought shock potentiometers, full suspension telemetry that would normally cost thousands of dollars can be had for not too much more than $500.
Once the car actually hits the racetrack, the PC1's abilities start to shine. The machine comes equipped with a GPS antenna for use with Icon's navigation system, but that is not all it's good for. With programs like Microsoft Maps, a racer can use the trailblazing function to write a track map for the racecourse. Once the map has been written, the GPS can be used for lap timing and track position display, which negates the need for the bulky transponders normally used for timing.
Theoretically one could write their own software to make the PC do pretty much anything. For example, it's possible to write USB drivers and a user interface to read and display analog and digital sensor inputs from your car. In other words, if somebody wanted to badly enough, they could turn the Icon-PC into a heads-up display or data logger with little to no extra hardware and it would only cost them time and effort. Another similar possibility is using Windows XP's active desktop to create a one-off, personalized interface. Essentially, Window's desktop can be a useable website using active desktop. The user could write an image map for a JPG or .GIF file that suited their tastes. If the desktop were a photo of the race car, clicking on the door could bring up the Hondata software, clicking on the windshield could open the video editing software, and clicking the wheel could open Microsoft Maps.
One of the coolest ideas we came up with was using the PC as a digital video recorder. Back-up cameras installed in the front bumper, rear bumper, rollcage and driver's footwell are all fed into the PC. Combined with some good video editing software as well as the lap timing and position displays from Microsoft Maps, the PC can be used to create professional-looking race videos. But there's more.
The PC's Bluetooth throughway wireless function can be used with a Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone to upload data directly from the Icon-PC to the Internet. Another option may be to use a wireless Internet card available from your mobile phone service provider. Either of these data transfer options could theoretically be used to stream live video from the racetrack on your website. How cool would that be?
Tuners have been waiting for an automotive-specific computing solution for some time now. An in-car computer like this Icon-TV PC opens up worlds of opportunity of which we've only scratched the surface. Whether your intentions are to build, tune and run a race car using the FMIC-PC1 or simply to check your Myspace doing 120 mph down the open highway, this PC is for you.