Implement distance calculations #156
Description
We want to be able to determine the distance travelled in the vehicles during testing.
The GPS module is present on all three vehicles, and collects the following data:
- longitude
- latitude
- heading
- altitude
- incline
- horizontal speed
- acceleration
We could take the time integral of the horizontal speed (accurate to 0.05m/s) to find the distance. Since data of horizontal speed is logged every 1s, reasonable accuracy could be achieved. We could also take calculations of the distance between intervals of GPS positions.
Sidenote, this data is used to estimate vehicle efficiency. We want to know the energy expended by the car over a distance. Unless the testing is done so the vehicle stops and starts the test run at the same altitude, gravitational acceleration should be considered. For example, when testing the efficiency of the Urban vehicle in a test run going downhill, gravitational potential energy + chemical energy from the battery are converted to move the car forward.