Opal-RT Challenge X's Sponsored Universities Win First Competition

Opal-RT is proud to announce that for the first competition that took place in June, all three universities sponsored came in the top five.

Opal-RT Technologies Inc., (www.opal-rt.com), the world leader in distributed simulation on PC-based platforms is signed up as a silver sponsor of the Challenge X Competition. Opal-RT is proud to announce that for the first competition that took place in June, all three universities sponsored came in the top five.

University of Waterloo came in first place, University of Akron came in second place and Pennsylvania State University came in fifth place.

• 1st Place Winners University of Waterloo
• 2nd Place Winners University of Akron

The Challenge X competition is being held by General Motors (GM) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The Challenge X is a three-year competition that will give engineering universities an opportunity to participate in hands-on research and development with leading-edge automotive propulsion, fuels, materials and emissions-control technologies. 

Silver Sponsorship

As a silver sponsor, Opal-RT has provided several hardware and software products; FPGA I/O boards, RT-LAB software, ARTEMIS blockset with switching compensation, RedHawk Linux, and Ethernet crossover cables. Opal-RT will also offer training and support to the Challenge X teams to help them integrate the technologies into their vehicle projects.

Softing North America (www.softing.us) has also provided all three of Opal-RT Challenge X teams, University of Akron, University of Waterloo and Pennsylvania State University with a Can-AC2-PCI card. This can-card will help each team with their model development.

Challenge X Competition Objectives

June 2005 of Challenge X’s first year, the 17 teams were challenged to re-engineer a GM Equinox, a crossover sport utility vehicle to minimize energy consumption, emissions, and greenhouse gases while maintaining or exceeding the vehicle's utility and performance, met to undergo extensive judging and evaluation.

Teams received scores for five reports:

• Pre-competition hardware evaluation
• Oral presentation
• Live simulation event
• Trade-show booth event
• Control strategy oral presentation and K-12 education outreach program.

Opal-RT provided Akron University, Waterloo University and Pennsylvania State University with hardware and software for the five reports in June. Leading them to their victory winnings of the competition and scoring high on all five reports.

The second and third year will require teams to develop and integrate their advanced powertrain and subsystems into a donated GM Equinox. At the conclusion of each of these competition years, teams will come together to undergo extensive judging and evaluation. Events will encompass energy use and emissions goals, vehicle utility and performance, engineering, and K-12 Education Outreach.

For more information about Challenge X: http://www.challengex.org