Welcome back to another installment of "What's new on the bike!?"

It's been a week since our last post, so I'm sure everyone is curious what is going on in the world of speed, streaming data, and server technology. This comes from our wireless communications expert on the bike, Brett B:

We now have two wireless cards (Verizon Wireless USB760) -- one for each server. The cards have a typical download speed of 600-1400 Kbps, and a typical upload speed of 500-800 Kbps.
The cards both utilize Verizon's 3G EVDO network (Rev. A), and each card will allow one of two video streams to be pushed to the darwin streaming servers in the datacenter, as well as streaming the telemetry data (accellerometer, GPS, etc.) from the databases on the bike to the caching proxy server we have, also in the datacenter.

The final product for the servers on this bike are major evolution from their original inception. When the idea of building a drag bike was first brought to me the plan was simply to mount the smallest thing we could that would pass for a web server, which at the time was going to be a VIA Pico-ITX board with 512MB of memory, 1GHz cpu, a compact flash card for storage, a wireless internet link, and a small screen. With this hardware we simply planned on serving a few static pages, but as time went on we wanted to be able to serve more like GPS information, and video of the race.

When marketing got on board with the idea Rob Cassidy wanted bigger, and I mean a lot bigger. Our original idea would not cut it, so all of the planned components were scrapped and we went bigger. To squeeze the power we needed out of these servers we moved up to dual Mini ITX boards with 2.5GHz Intel Core 2 Quad processors and 4GB of memory. During the server build we did hit a snag with the first set of motherboards we chose, Zotac NF630i. Though many people were reporting success with similar setups we ran into constant stability issues which were narrowed down to memory errors. After extensive testing of the server memory in other known good machines as well as different brands of good memory in the motherboard intended for the bike we found that the issue was with the boards. After swapping out the old Zotac boards with similar Intel’s using the Q45 chipset we also had to go to Core 2 Duo E8500’s as the new boards did not support processors with power consumption over 65 watts.

In my next post I will go into detail on technology behind the data collection and video streaming that will be taking place on the bike.

As of today the server now officially has wireless broadband network connectivity through Verizon Wireless.  I had to take this opportunity to write the first blog post from the World's Fastest Server now that we are up and running with the new wireless network.  The network card was ordered from Cellular Sales in Orlando, FL (http://www.cellularsales.com). They were able to get the aircard out to us overnight so that testing could continue which was very much appreciated.  We are conducting speed tests and working on getting the live camera feed ready for action. The bike is coming together quickly now and everyone here is getting really excited!

To keep everyone's interest up, thought we'd share some of the component specs for the upcoming build so you can get an idea of the power and coolness this bike will have.

NetGain Motors - WarP 9 IMPULSE

• NetGain recommends a maximum vehicle weight of 3600lbs or less when using this motor coupled to a transmission.
• Maximum operating voltage 170V, recommended voltage 150-160V
• 9.25" diameter - same mounting pattern and length as ADC 9". This makes it a drop-in replacement for the ADC 9" motor
• HP = 70 @ 120 Volts DC (435 Amps)
• 116 Ft. pounds torque
• Weight, approx. 143 pounds
• 5500 RPM
• Exceeds class "H" insulation standard
• Industry standard mounting and bolt configuration
• Large style brushes, factory preseated over 90% contact
• Drive and tail shafts keyed - pilot bearing hole with 5/16 - 18 mounting hole
• Tailshaft pre-drilled to accept speed sensor kit
• Length: 16.7 inches
• Drive bearing: 6207
• Com bearing: 6305
• Drive shaft length: 1.5"
• Drive shaft diameter: 1.1250"
• Drive shaft keyway: .250" * .130"
• Tailshaft length: 2.00"
• Tailshaft mounting hole: 1/4 - 20

Controller

• 144-156V nominal voltage input
• 1000 amp
• Dimensions (LxWxH): 12.5" x 6.75" x 3 5/8"
• Weight: approximately 9lbs
• Built-in heatsink - no external heatsink required
• Three adjustments: (1) ramp (acceleration), (2) sensitivity and range of current adjustment, and (3) motor current limit
• Uses 0-5kohm potentiometer as throttle input (PB-6))
• A precharge resistor is required and will be provided
• A precharge resistor is placed across the contactor contacts to allow the controller's internal capacitors to charge slowly before the contacts are switched closed.