RabbitFLEX and Birket Engineering Put a New Thrill Into Roller Coasters
The heart of this project that convinced our customer that it was possible within their schedule and budget was the RabbitFLEX system.
Roller coasters have been giving crowds a rip-roaring good time since their introduction. Thrill seekers and amusement park aficionados are always looking for new rides that will offer the ultimate thrill ride experience. Amusement parks have been diligently working to add more excitement and thrills to fulfill their customers thirst for entertainment. A very popular amusement park asked Dan Birket and Tim Sweiter of Birket Engineering to build an advanced roller coaster ride that offers customers another level of personalized entertainment. In the themed entertainment industry, clients make outrageous requests in to order to maintain a competitive edge. Birket Engineering needed to find products that would meet the increasing demands of their customers. With the help of Rabbit and the RabbitFlex system Birket Engineering was able to deliver their serious custom solution in time for the ride’s grand opening.
Faced with an incredibly tight deadline, and an even tighter budget, Birket Engineering needed a low-cost and rapid development solution to meet the project requirements. The customer requested a roller coaster offering sight and sound, catering to the interactive customer experience. Sweiter explained, “ The coaster we were working on was the first rollercoaster in the world to have onboard LED lighting and sound system where the guest can choose any audio track.” The project was the first to combine elements that have never been put together before for an onboard effect system mounted in a rollercoaster. The rollercoaster consists of 4 cars, 312 white LEDs, 72 speakers, 36 MP3 players, 36 guest interface panels, numerous sensors and super capacitors, and at the heart 40 RabbitFLEX microcontroller boards.
10 RabbitFLEX microcontrollers are mounted in each car of the rollercoaster train. The car in the front is the pilot coach, which acts as the central brain for the rollercoaster. The pilot car houses the master controller, which has the lighting sequences, and communicates with other cars using RS-485 serial connection. The master controller also monitors sensors that communicate with another set of LED lights. Each car also houses the passenger coach controllers, which connect to the speakers for each rider, the guest user interface, and the MP3 players. When riders board the car, each person is given the ability to choose their own unique music track. Once the train leaves the boarding area, the audio cues up and the light show begins. As the rollercoaster races along the track the sensors in the cars are triggered and subsequently change the onboard light show. In the end, guests receive a thrilling ride of sight and sound.
Tim Swieter of Birket Engineers believes that RabbitFLEX was the best solution, “The heart of this project that convinced our customer that it was possible within their schedule and budget was the RabbitFLEX system.” Swieter explained that Dan Birket saw an advertisement of RabbitFLEX and liked what he saw. They began to develop system a concept where each car had its own “brain” and I/O to work with. They wanted to minimize the link between the cars, and so kept the I/O contained within the car, and had each car communicate over a network. Furthermore, the application required that the system fit into a small space, yet retain the ability to make quick changes. “The RabbitFLEX allowed us to make quick changes to the design in both hardware and software when needed,” Sweiter explained. Birket engineering has used Rabbit products many times and knew of Rabbit’s reliability, low-cost, and quick time-to-market. The coaster project needed to be done in a short amount of time, and needed a solution to mitigate the risk of designing a custom board with microcontroller and interface circuitry. Sweiter continued to explain, “We chose the RabbitFLEX system not only because it allowed us to use software routines already developed in Dynamic C, but we could easily adapt the hardware configuration and make changes mid project without a costly schedule delay.” Producing an in-house custom hardware solution would have set the project back. The RabbitFLEX online configuration tool allowed Birket Engineering to quickly make changes to their hardware design without the extra costs and long redesign times. Their customer was able to debut a new ride in record time.
Birket Engineering was able to meet the incredibly challenging goal of designing this cutting-edge system within a tight schedule and restricted budget. Tim understood the reliability of Rabbit products by saying, “Our faith in the Rabbit products has allowed us to focus on other design issues because we knew the Rabbit would work and it did.” Their customer currently offers a one-of-a kind attraction that is a must see.
For more information on Birket Engineering, visit: www.birket.com
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