Background

In Formula One, where the competition is as fierce off the track as it is on it, nothing is left to chance. The Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team seeks a competitive advantage at every stage of its process to get the car across the finish line first, and that includes the technology it deploys throughout its operations.

As in all areas of F1, speed is of the essence. Efficiency gains that also add quality rather than take it away are very hard to come by. In elite racing, working to a busy schedule of race weekends around the world, speed, both on and off the track, is everything.

The Test and Development lab is a fast-paced, dynamic environment that needs to quickly change and adapt to testing any part of the F1 car before it takes to the track.

Challenges

In the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team Test and Development lab, the challenge is to quickly assemble complex test rigs. Testing car parts that will have to undergo immense stress under racing conditions is a vital part of car design, both when designing a new car and during the implementation of upgrades throughout the F1 season.

The faster the Test and Development team puts these parts through their testing program, the sooner the parts can arrive at the track to aid performance. Previously, these tests were set up with constant back-and-forth reference to printed drawings. This made it difficult to correlate exactly between a rig that was physically in front of the team and what was on a piece of paper in hand. This manual checking from rig to paper proved to be a time-consuming approach.

Solution

With the adoption of TeamViewer Frontline’s spatial technology, this has now changed. Running on a tablet device, TeamViewer Frontline provides live augmented reality (AR) instructions, overlaying the test assembly in real space, with the ability to show animated assembly sequences step-by-step.

The process allows the Test and Development team to see exactly what goes where and ensure that all relevant parts are present and correctly installed.

“We can now take a tablet, and through that tablet we can see in real time and space a projection of the 3D CAD model. So, we’re looking at where we need to assemble these things, and we can see them in AR,” says Markland.

With the TeamViewer solution, the team can see the overlay of additional information in the physical space in real time. They can constantly compare the current state with the target state by superimposing the original CAD model. Highlighting critical parts helps to spot inconsistencies and ensures that every part of the testing rig is assembled correctly. Being able to see what needs to be done, the team can move through the assembly steps, confirm everything is correct, and progress to the next step with confidence.

Results

“TeamViewer Frontline’s technology is very intuitive, very quick, so we can deal with last-minute requests of design changes to rigs quite seamlessly now,” adds Markland.

Sanity checking of test assemblies prior to testing is a thorough and time-consuming process, but it can still be easy to miss crucial elements.

The live AR projection of assembly and part information onto the test rig and real-time comparison with CAD data gives the engineers peace of mind that everything is present and correct before committing to the test. And in a much more efficient way than before.

“Instead of referring to build guides and designs which are situated elsewhere in the facility, they have it there in their hand, and they’re able to see how the parts come together to form that assembly, which is ultimately the performance gain that they’re looking for.”

And gains in every area of the team’s operations add up to improved performance where it really matters, on the racetrack. This is how TeamViewer has a direct impact on the performance of team drivers George Russell and Kimi Antonelli on race weekends.

“Having a partner that understands how crucial that time frame is to us, is key in us being quicker or faster to develop parts, to test parts, deliver parts to the track.”