FST Lisboa – The FST12

After the great Driverless results of FST Lisboa (3^rd in FSG and 1^st FSS) obtained by the FST11 car in the 2021 international competitions, the design process of its successor – the FST12 – started.

Upon evaluating the previous car performance, we concluded that to progress we needed to design the next prototype with increased testing in mind. This means that the FST12 was planned to have a shorter design phase and faster assembly times, without compromising the previous model reliability, to allow more time for the testing and fine-tuning phase.

Regarding the car electronics, our focus was to reduce the overall hardware sizes (for more flexible packaging) and to obtain more testing data by designing more sensors, without compromising the shorter “design-assembly” phase proposed by the team.

With the help from Eurocircuits we were able to produce denser high-quality hardware with fast shipping times, which allowed us to meet the proposed changes and the strict deadlines, without compromising the prototype’s philosophy. An example of such reductions is the mini-Sensor to CAN (mS2C). This device is a general-purpose board, with 8 GPIO pins and 2 CAN-bus lines, used for sensor acquisition around the car. This module was derived from the S2C, a similar PCB from the previous prototype, now 60% smaller and with added support for shields.

Working with Eurocircuits allows us to try more complex PCB designs without risking quality. Furthermore, with Eurocircuits fast delivery times we are able to prototype new designs in just one week, make improvements and add features to our hardware and even use assembly technologies, ensuring a reliable device goes to the car.