When Every Millisecond Counts
Sauber uses Qt for several applications. One is the Pitstop System, streamlining pit stop operations during Formula 1 races for maximum speed and safety. Qt desktop GUI application oversees the vehicle's systems before and during the stop to ensure everything works correctly and, in case of issues, alerts the crew to intervene and fix any problem.
Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber was searching for an efficient and cost-effective replacement for .Net framework, some of whose required libraries had been deprecated. That's when Qt Framework entered the Pitstop System.
Qt was the best framework I could find to build great UI applications with simplicity, efficiency, and contained costs. Says Mr Agansati.
When operating in a timeframe of less than 3 seconds, a latency-free UI is clearly paramount. But pit stop efficiency (and safety) also owes much to crew synchronization and real-time data processing for the diverse sensors and devices in the car and at the box. Here, Qt multithread execution is seen as ideal. Using Qt Signal and Slots, thread management is greatly simplified; threads don't need to be manually created: they are automatically managed "under the hood" and execution contexts are provided via callback events.
One doesn't need to care of all the boilerplate underneath and is 100% sure that the design behind is the best achievable. He continues.
Efficient Development
With F1 races throughout the year, the time for development and updates is becoming shorter and shorter. At the same time, with technological advances, digitalization and automation are crucial and pervasive, and system requirements add up.
We are constantly fighting against time. We don't have the development time that is available for consumer or industrial products. But we need to deliver the same performance, quality, and reliability. Says Mr Agansati.
With Qt, Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber has found great development resources and online support via forums and groups.
Documentation stands out for clarity and good design: typically, it's easy to find solutions for any problem one may be facing.
Beyond that, Qt's libraries support incremental development by readily including many features that become useful later during development.
Qt Framework is built by someone who knows very well the problems underneath and how to solve them and already gives you all the tools you need. Agansati continues.
A frequent experience was that of not knowing immediately why some signals were included by default. Only later would developers realize that they needed exactly that particular signal, and it was a great relief to find that it was already included, so nothing had to be re-invented.
Beyond the Pit Stop
Over the years, Sauber created several applications using Qt Framework, both for desktop (like the Pitstop System) and for embedded devices—such as simulators for driver training or event loggers.
The latter deserves a special mention as a non-GUI application built with Qt. The team had been trying for months to implement a logger (whose details remain confidential) first with Python and later with another framework. After moving to Qt, the Sauber team was able to build the system in only two weeks and deliver better performance.
The Signals & Slots mechanism is super handy even when you don't need a user interface. With Qt, I was able to create in two weeks what I had been trying to do for two months with other frameworks. Says Mr Agansati.
Finally, Sauber Computational Fluid Dynamics team has been using Qt since 2007 for the GUI of their aerodynamics and fluid mechanics software. While developed in F1 races, the application is also used commercially for industrial customers from automotive design to aerospace engineering and even architectural projects. Here, Qt interface provides simple, interactive usability and access to complex information and large amounts of data processed on the cloud.
About Sauber Group of Companies
The Sauber Group of Companies is composed of two operational entities: Sauber Motorsport AG, which operates and manages its Formula OneTM team; and Sauber Technologies AG, which focuses on third-party business in the areas of advanced engineering, prototype development and additive manufacturing, in addition to full and model-scale testing in the factory’s state-of-the-art wind tunnel and ground-breaking innovation in the field of aerodynamics. The companies collaborate closely and share know-how to apply the expertise of all the dedicated individuals at the headquarter in Hinwil, Switzerland, to all internal and external projects.
The Sauber Group puts sustainability at the heart of its mission; its business, operating under the ISO 14001 environmental management standard, has been carbon neutral since 2011 and the company has achieved the Three-Star level in the FIA Environmental Accreditation Framework.
Since its founding in 1970, the innovative Swiss company has been setting standards in the design, development and construction of race cars for various championship series, such as Formula One, DTM, and WEC. Following its own Formula One debut in 1993, Sauber Motorsport AG has established one of the few traditional and privately held teams in the sport. A member of the exclusive club of teams which competed in more than 500 F1 races, it celebrated 30 years in the sport in 2022 and continues to go from strength to strength on and off the track.
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