| Low-cost acceleration sensors have allowed several companies to develop vehicular data acquisition systems measuring acceleration in three orthogonal directions. Recently, low-cost solid-state gyroscopes have been created. No low-cost vehicular data acquisition system combining accelerometers and gyroscopes into one system has been seen in the market.; This thesis describes the design of a data recording system which combines accelerometers and gyroscopes into a Vehicular Performance Measurement System (VPMS) measuring a vehicle's six degrees of freedom of motion (e.g., lateral, longitudinal, and vertical acceleration; vehicle yaw; pitch, and roll). The system also determines engine speed by monitoring the periodic noise caused by sparks occurring during ignition in the vehicle's engine.; Accelerometer, gyroscope, and tachometer modules, along with a main system board, were designed, assembled, and tested. The signals from all modules are read by the main system board, which is comprised primarily of power conditioning, microcontroller, off-board communication, and external memory components. |
