Case Study: Polytechnique Montréal powers reliable solar car connectivity with Digi XBee modules

Polytechnique Montréal powers a solar car to 110 kph and 700 km with Digi XBee modules

Polytechnique Montréal, a university team of engineering students, faced the challenge of designing a sophisticated data transmission system for their solar-powered competition car, Esteban 10. They needed reliable cellular and RF connectivity to monitor vehicle performance metrics in real-time during races. The team turned to vendor Digi International and implemented their Digi XBee modules to handle this critical data link.

The solution involved integrating a Digi XBee-PRO 900HP RF module for primary short-range communication to a chase car and a Digi XBee 3 Global LTE Cat 1 smart modem for redundant cellular connectivity back to a server. This provided the team with flexible, reliable data transmission, including valuable timestamps. As a result, the Polytechnique Montréal team achieved seamless connectivity, never losing a connection, which allowed them to monitor the vehicle in real-time, solve problems during races, and analyze data for future improvements to their award-winning solar car.

Polytechnique Montréal