To establish a high-speed, secure data exchange between car and pit stall the first F1 Team now relies on the new connector family E-DAT Industry with STEADYTEC® technology by BTR NETCOM, a company of the METZ CONNECT Group.
Hectic activity in the pit stall: The driver stops his race car – now every second counts. Cables are connected as data has to be transmitted rapidly from the engine to the pit stall. The mobile 19“ rolling cabinets are an important link, they accommodate computers and peripherals for data transfer.
In addition various measuring equipment cars and control panels and the connection to the different service and supply trucks of the F1 Team have to be interconnected by Ethernet.
Whereas in private or office areas a simple patch cable is sufficient to connect PC, laptop or telephone with the data line the Formula 1 has much higher demands.
Rapid data transmission, rapid assembly
The responsible engineer of the F1 Team and BTR NETCOM both aimed at achieving a rapidly pluggable, reliable Ethernet connection that would interlink all portable equipment in the field in an easy and secure way. The specification for the data transmission performance: Cat.6A, 10 GBit-Ethernet (IEEE 802.3an).
As a F1 Team is more on the road than at home installation had to comply with high requirements, too. If necessary the rapid assembly of a new connecting cable must be feasible on every Formula 1 circuit around the world – and therefore all components must be to use without any special tool like pliers.
Tough components
In a F1 pit stall it is sometimes really turbulent – somebody may trip over a cable, liquids like oil, acid, fuel or water may leak. Accordingly the BTR NETCOM solution has to meet high specifications to cope with such challenging situations: accommodate a standard RJ45 plug in a solid plastic housing with IP67 protection suitable for industrial use that facilitates a connection. Even when the equipment is not connected the high protection class has to be guaranteed by a protection cover that meets IP67.
„We are very proud that now one of the most ambitious teams of this season decided for solutions designed by us. We wish the team a successful next season!“ stated Managing Director Torsten Janwlecke of BTR NETCOM.
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