Racers Travel the Information Superhighway
To Keep Sponsors, Media Up-To-Date on Results

Thanks to satellite technology, up-to-the-minute results from Sunrayce 95 will be available to sponsors, participating universities and the media at any time during the race. Each vehicle's progress will be tracked by combining the technology, electronics, and services of EDS, Delco Electronics and Hughes Network Systems.

The location and speed of each university's car will be displayed on digital maps at public viewing stations along the race route, at various museums and on the Internet. The

Internet will also give daily overall standings of each team.

This major technology tracking system starts 12,000 miles above the Earth with the Global Positioning System satellites. The GPS system, developed by the US Department of Defense to help locate military boats and aircraft, emits signals permitting GPS receivers to calculate a vehicle's position accurately to within 100 feet. A support vehicle for each team's car is equipped with the Delco Electronics Telepath 100TM, a combination audio and navigation system. The system's GPS receiver employs signals from the GPS satellite to compute the position of the support vehicle.

The Hughes M6200TM dual-mode digital phone transmits the location and speed information over the cellular network to the EDS Central Command Center. The Command Center then transmits the vehicle's location and speed information over the Internet to a Hughes DirecPC, where the information is

displayed on digital map views at the mid-day stops and daily finish lines. The information is also available to the media.

The location and communication technology also provides added safety for Sunrayce 95 participants. A pre-programmed speed-dial button on the cellular phone lets the support vehicle driver request emergency assistance and transmit the vehicle's position at any time.

This complex system allows spectators to track the progress of Sunrayce 95 with incredible accuracy on the race route or via the Internet.

Charles Habermann