Ellipse-N used in the Hyperloop Competition

HyperXite, the team from the UCI university, participated to the second Hyperloop competition and ranked #1 of All-American Hyperloop team, and #2 in the world for Air-Based Levitation. They used the Ellipse-N miniature INS to measure their pod position, velocity, and acceleration.

The Hyperloop is made of a sealed tube through which a pod can travel free of air resistance or friction conveying people or objects at high speed while being very efficient. In 2015, SpaceX sponsored the first Hyperloop Pod Competition where teams built a subscale prototype to demonstrate technical feasibility of various aspects of the Hyperloop concept.

The UCI Team "HyperXite" at the 2017 Hyperloop Competition

HyperXite is a team of around fifty students from UCI. Students worked on a tubular vehicle designed to travel through the near-vacuum tube at high speeds with great efficiency. The pod is made of strong yet lightweight carbon fiber and hosts advanced systems to help it levitate, carry passengers and cargo, and come to a safe stop.

Pod Position, Velocity, and Acceleration Measured by the Ellipse-N

“Our prototype pod needed a reliable way to measure its position, velocity, and acceleration when the pod is in the SpaceX’s Hyperloop vacuum tube” explains Andrew Tec, Captain of the HyperXite team. The Ellipse-N provided all these features additionallly to GNSS positioning and CAN bus protocol.

HyperXite Team

“We needed a component that performs well under near vacuum conditions, one that was easy to integrate with precise sensors; the Ellipse-N satisfied all of the criteria”, adds Andrew. The team was developing using a National Instrument’s Compact RIO controller, and found the public SBG Systems LabVIEW plugin very convenient; it made testing and development tremendously easy and fast.

Pod he UCI Team "HyperXite" at the 2017 Hyperloop Competition

Pods were evaluated for speed, stability, braking, and smoothness. The HyperXite team ranked #1 of All-American Hyperloop team, and #2 in the world for Air-Based Levitation. The successful team was one of the only six teams around the world to make it all the way through the Hyperloop tube to the open air.

 
“We were more than satisfied with the results the Ellipse-N gave us. It was the most reliable source of data we obtained. Our pod’s state machine behavior heavily relied on its estimated trajectory profile and time” 
Andrew Tec, Captain of the HyperXite team.