Introduction

Once you have downloaded a test and opened it in Race Studio 2 Analysis, the layout of the plot vs information may not be as expected. As a default all the channels you open are overlayed on top of each other. To make it easier to interpt the data different graph types and layouts may be used.

Please look below for the starting view of a opened test with RPM, speed and throttle posisition displayed.

Fig1

Graph Types

In Race Studio 2 Analysis there are three different types of graphs that can be used.

The first is the default Overlapped graphs. This view is where all the open channels and laps are displayed over the top of each other, as seen above.

Second is the Mixed graph view. This allows channels within a file to be grouped together or separated. This is my preferred view as it allows channels to be viewed clearly and edited quickly.

Finally is the Tiled graph view. This splits up all channels from all tests to be displayed individually. This is useful for suspension analysis as data can be clearly viewed.

To change between these graph types select from the Modify pull down menu or from the toolbar as shown.

Axis label on a graph

To add/remove an axis label to a graph, check the tick box next to the channel name you wish to be displayed. Note: only 4 axis can be displayed in the same window. Note: the axis appears in the colour of first lap.

Changing the Measures Information

To change the scale or colour of a trace you need to access the Measures Information window. This can be opened by right clicking over the channel you wish to edit in the measures window.

Fig2

The first thing to notice is which file you are currently editing. At the top left hand of the screen there is the filename tab. In this case only one test is open (test2), but if you had multiple tests open you could quickly switch between them by clicking on the filenames tab.

The Features box has the setup information from the logger about the channel you have selected.This includes the channel's name, logging rate, measurement unit and sensor type. Note: if you have an EVO3 logger you can switch the Longitudinal and Lateral G sensors if they were setup incorrectly.

The plotting scale is next. This simply shows the upper and lower bounds of the graph. To move a graph up a page lower the Min or Max value. To move a graph down a page increase the Min or Max value.

Below this are some alarm settings. If you tick the relevant tick box and enter a warning value, once back in the analysis, anywhere you click on the graph where a value has exceeded that of the alarm you set, the background of the measure value in the measures toolbar will turn red. (For example an overrev alarm has been set at 7500)

The values box allows you to fudge a trace by a linear + constant amount.

Next to this is the filter steps. This is useful if you have a noisey trace. A filter step of 0 has no filtering and this ranges up to 10. Be careful when filtering data as you can lose the parts of most interest if a high filter is applied.

The parameters window at the bottom shows the values that the channel was set up with in the main Race Studio 2 program. Here you can change such information as the multiply factor of an RPM channel or the circumference and number of triggers for a speed channel. This is useful if you have two cars with different speed setups and want them to line up

On the right hand of the window you can switch between the channel you are editing. Simply click on the channel name to edit its details.

If you are editing a math channel, the formula used to create it is shown in the window just below this.

Finally the colour the channel is shown in is in the bottom right hand of the screen.

Updated Overlapped Graph

Now you know how to edit a graphs layout and information I shall show you a new layout of the overlapped graph. The before and after values are as follows

BEFORE (Fig1)
RPM	Min - 4000	Max - 8000
Speed	50	250
Throttle	0	100

AFTER (Fig3)
RPM	-2000	8000
Speed	0	350
Throttle	0	500

Fig 3

This screen layout is useful as you can give more screen space to a more useful channel (eg Speed), and less screen space for a lesser important channel (eg Throttle).

There however is a downside to this. If you have the axis box checked, the values shown are not always of importance. Also if you have two similar channels open at the same time, both with there axis displayed, it is hard to work out which channel is which (eg front and rear brake pressure).

Mixed Graph Updated

To overcome the problems with the overlapped graph view, the Mixed Graph view is used.

This groups channels into individual windows. The left of the channel name in the measures window dictates which window a channel is displayed in.There is a choice of four windows, to toggle between these left click on the number.

For this example the channels have been returned to their original values. Window 1 shows RPM, window 2 shows Speed, and window 3 shows Throttle.

Fig 4

The first thing to note is that all laps opened within a test will display all the channels within the same window. However, if you open more tests the window location will have to be set for the other tests.

This allows easy analysis as a graphs axis is only located next to the window it is displayed in. Unfortunately the downside is that all channels are placed with equal importance, eg Throttle takes up as much screen space as Speed.

Tiled Graph Updated

The final graph view is the Tiled Graph. This splits up all channels and all laps. This gives equal screen space to all channels of all laps, which in some cases makes the screen too small and as laps are not overlayed, tends can be hard to identify.

On the positive, on high frequency sampled channels (eg suspension & G traces) it is easier to analyse as data is not plotted on top of each other.