Specifically this case study will associate the most popular automobile app, which is the 3d navigation system, with three main components of the Blender game engine; sensor, controller, and actuator. I decided to focus my case study around a growing trend that I have been interested in for a while. The trend is automobile apps. As you may know cars already have built in computer that communicates with each other regularly; however it’s not the type of computers that are useful for some of the things that ordinary people use them for. Typically they are for recording and gagging information for performance. I decided to go with this topic as a result of the recent announcement made by GM to partner with AT&T to allow their LTE high speed network spearhead their On Star expansion into the  ”connected car” world. The term “connected car” simply means that it is outfitted with the latest wireless technology. Currently Android offers apps on the open market that does things like track road blocks or heavy traffic; however those are central to your hand held device. The future of the connected car is huge.  By tapping into the mass of data your car produces, combined with the huge computing resources available on the web, apps could help save you – and everyone around you – fuel, time and money. Not to mention the opportunity for a social app market.
According to ABI Research, 60.1% of cars will be connected to the web by 2017, in Europe and North America; the figure will be closer to 80%. Ford Sync is considered one of the pioneers in this trend, offering the app that allows to connect your smart phone and MP3 player to your car radio. In 2010 Ford Sync released an API, which will allow programmers to design apps that would work with their system. This is where Pandora Radio was born. Others are now following suit. Technology such as the Connected Drive system has announced that they will begin to allow android phone software to work with their system.
Another reason for my interest in this area is that the mobile app market is so saturated with everything that you can think of, I feel that the automobile specific app market is somewhat more open; being that it’s still in the development stages. The 3d navigation is a feature that has become very common with drivers. This technology has been around for a long time now; however developers and GPS makers are getting more creative with the apps, providing more features and graphics to enhance the user’s experience. To understand the app lets explore how the technology works. The GPS communicates with satellites to identify the vehicle’s position and direction by using various onboard sensors.
Receive signals from satellites and detect the vehicle’s location.
GPS antenna, GPS receiver
Detect the vehicle’s direction.
Direction sensor
Detect the vehicle’s travel distance.
Speed sensor
Car navigation system screen.
Display
Map database
Check information from the antenna and sensors against the map database and show the results on the display using the car navigation system’s control circuitry.
Navigation computer
When we think about how the sensors are used in Blender, the sensors are what enables a function to occur. In this case the function or goal that the user wishes to achieve with the GPS device is for it to map its current position, and display the directions to their destination. These sensors are the conditions that create the mapping of the user’s trip. The sensors then work with the controller to ultimately display the mapping that we see on our devices. For example, The GPS senses where you currently are and how fast you are moving. It compares the direction you are moving in, and makes the calculation of how long it will take for you to arrive at your destination. In most devices this information is displayed and typically labeled as time to destination (or something similar). Great; however this does not demonstrate the relationship between the sensor and the controller. This simply reads information from the sensors and displays it. The information fed by these sensors enables the device to provide a lot of information; however information such as the time that it may take to reach a destination can vary. Or the conditions can change. This can be compared to a property declared as an integer, or another changing value. In this case you can see a good example of the relationship between the sensors and controller.
As a result of construction, traffic or whether the road condition can change; therefore the sensor information changes. The controller takes in consideration the data from each sensor in order to complete the function that it is being asked to. That function will be equivalent to actuator. A great example of and actuator function is the arrow that moves as you drive. The arrow usually displays the direction you are traveling and it moves at the rate that your car moves. The ability for the arrow to move real time, is the result of the controller reading the sensors and telling the actuator how fast, and where to move.
Many GPS if not all of them by now offers a 3d display. This is a mapping feature that enables the device to sense and display the structures and building around you in a 3d view. The devices typically offer a lifetime of roadmap updates. However with there only being a limited amount of operation systems for automobile apps; primarily the Linux based system used by Cadillac, the ability to achieve updates has been an uphill battle. With the introduction of more operation systems and talk of  making them open source, this problem is predicted to change. An open source system will all create more opportunity for upgrades and debugging.
It appears that one of the biggest problems with the evolution of the car app, is the ability to keep up with the ever changing electronic technology. Automobiles are produces annually, and the growth of electronic technology moves in a much more rapid pace. This is another reason why the idea of an open source system makes sense.
