Munich04-Sep-2018
The University of Nottingham achieved its highest ever placing at the Isle of Man TT race with their electric Superbike.
Rohde & Schwarz is pleased to have helped the University of Nottingham develop their electric Superbike which took second place in the SES TT Zero race at the Isle of Man TT this summer. The University of Nottingham achieved its highest ever placing at the event, splitting the two factory Mugen bikes, an historic feat never before achieved by a university team.
Rohde & Schwarz provided their handheld oscilloscope the R&S Scope Rider to the University of Nottingham team to develop their 2018 electric bike. The R&S Scope Rider was used in the lab, on the rolling road dyno, test track and on the track at the Isle of Man TT during practice and race weeks. The team managed to improve on their previous position of third in 2017 and shaved 1.45 minutes off last year’s lap time and improving their average lap time from 109mph to 119mph.
The Isle of Man TT Zero race is an electric motorsport event which was introduced in 2010. It involves one lap (37.733 miles) of the Snaefell Mountain Course whereby the motorcycles have to be powered without the use of carbon based fuels and have zero toxic/noxious emissions.
The Nottingham electric superbike has undergone considerable modification in the last 12 months, including a new powertrain with a different converter and a modified motor. Rohde & Schwarz provided a R&S Scope Rider oscilloscope to the University of Nottingham team to be used for fault finding and communications management.
Dr Miquel Gimeno-Fabra, Assistant Professor in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering and University of Nottingham Racing General Manager, comments, “We found the R&S Scope Rider invaluable for our testing. Because it’s battery driven and easily portable, it’s unlike any other scope we’ve used in the past. It also has a wide range of user-friendly functionality.”
The R&S Scope Rider is the first handheld oscilloscope with the functionality and touch and feel of a state of the art lab oscilloscope. It is equally impressive in the lab and in the field. It has been designed with an easy to use interface, combining a tablet-like touchscreen, large buttons and a practical multifunction wheel for convenient parameter adjustment, making every function and setting easily accessible, even with gloved hands.
With an acquisition rate of 50,000 waveforms per second, a 10 bit A/D converter developed by Rohde & Schwarz, isolated floating channels and a maximum bandwidth of 500 MHz for the analogue input channels, it outperforms comparable bench instruments. R&S Scope Rider is based on a high performance oscilloscope featuring a precise digital trigger system, 33 automatic measurement functions, mask test and XY diagram mode. In addition, it integrates seven further instrument functions: a logic analyzer with eight additional digital channels, a protocol analyzer with trigger and decoding capability, a data logger, spectrum and harmonics analysis, frequency counter and a digital multimeter.
The University of Nottingham superbike has also recently won its class and category at the Pikes Peak International Challenge, and made appearances at MotoE European Championships at Donnington Park and Assen TT in the Netherlands in August 2018.
A video showcasing Nottingham University on their journey to take part in the most challenging motorcycle race in the world with their latest generation of electric superbike can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/jWueyRW-FJ8
Rohde & Schwarz
The Rohde & Schwarz technology group is among the trailblazers when it comes to paving the way for a safer and connected world with its leading solutions in test & measurement, technology systems, and networks & cybersecurity. Founded more than 85 years ago, the group is a reliable partner for industry and government customers around the globe. On June 30, 2022, Rohde & Schwarz had around 13,000 employees worldwide. The independent group achieved a net revenue of EUR 2.53 billion in the 2021/2022 fiscal year (July to June). The company is headquartered in Munich, Germany.
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About The University of Nottingham
The University of Nottingham is a research-intensive university with a proud heritage, consistently ranked among the world's top 100. Studying at the University of Nottingham is a life-changing experience and we pride ourselves on unlocking the potential of our 44,000 students - Nottingham was named University of the Year for Graduate Employment in the 2017 Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide, was awarded gold in the TEF 2017 and features in the top 20 of all three major UK rankings. We have a pioneering spirit, expressed in the vision of our founder Sir Jesse Boot, which has seen us lead the way in establishing campuses in China and Malaysia - part of a globally connected network of education, research and industrial engagement. We are ranked eighth for research power in the UK according to REF 2014. We have six beacons of research excellence helping to transform lives and change the world; we are also a major employer and industry partner - locally and globally. Impact: The Nottingham Campaign, its biggest-ever fundraising campaign, is delivering the University’s vision to change lives, tackle global issues and shape the future. More information can be found on the website: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/