When the University of Michigan set out to win the North American Solar Challenge in 2008 with its solar car, Continuum, the university contacted Topcon Positioning Systems.

“Our contact at the university explained their strategy of wanting to determine the best way to run their car on the race route by performing a survey using GPS receivers,” Dominick Auletto, TPS vice president, said.

Auletto, who heads up the Topcon University Education program, said, “The event is designed to inspire young people to pursue careers in science and engineering. We saw the race as an investment in developing technology and support for future leaders. TPS was honored to be part of the process.”

“They had already created a software program that the data points would be loaded into and they needed our equipment to mark landmarks, and points that they would use to determine optimal speed to race the car, taking into account the charge of the battery and incoming solar radiation.“

The race was scheduled for July starting in Plano,Texas and ending in Calgary, Alberta, Canada for 10 days, 10 hours each day with Topcon signing on as a Gold sponsor.

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Company: University of Michigan
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan

Project: North American Solar Challenge

Location: Beginning in Plano,Texas and ending in Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Scope: 2,400 miles in 10 days

Topcon Products:
GMS-200