Part 2. GPS in support of the 1996 World Solar Challenge

Abstract The University of New South Wales (UNSW) solar car, “Sunswift”, finished in 9th position overall in the 1996 World Solar Challenge (WSC), a 3010 kilometre race for solar-powered vehicles from Darwin to Adelaide. The School of Geomatic Engineering provided a real-time DGPS tracking interface with a moving graphical display developed using the Formida software. This article is a continuation of Part 1 published in the Australian Surveyor Vo1.41, No. 3, 1996. Part 1 described the GPS kinematic survey procedure undertaken to establish the vertical road profile of the Stuart Highway in preparation for the WSC. Part 2 will detail the processing of this data, software development and utilisation of the package to compliment strategy decisions made during the race. Racal’s Landstar real-time DGPS system was Installed on one of the support vehicles following Sunswift, with the position being updated on the School of Geomatic Engineering’s Internet Web site during the race.