Roller Coaster Data Center

stienman writes "The Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point Amusement Park may have more technology than your data center. From the article: "The parameters within which the Dragster has to operate are so finely tuned that variable load weights from people, wind speed and out-side temperature affect its performance. ... After every third launch, the data are averaged and compared with historic launch data in an effort to create that perfect ride - the roller coaster must go fast enough to clear the top of the tower, but slow to between 7 and 15 mph in order to give riders the maximum lift effect at the top."

Re: Thunderstorms, other problems...

[pete6677]

It's fail safe. In the event of a system failure, it can only fail to launch. Once started, it can stop even if it loses power completely, according to this article [machinedesign.com].

Re:GA

[bhtooefr]

KK is the copy cat (never been in NJ, FWIW). It was built a year after TTD.

TTD specs: 120 MPH, 420 ft.
KK specs: 130 MPH (IIRC), 450 ft., with a rise and fall on the return that TTD doesn't have, but otherwise identical layout

If you've ridden TTD, you've pretty much ridden KK, even if you've never been there. IMO, TTD is a waste of time - KK would be about as much of a waste.

FWIW, go here [blogspot.com] to see why (roller coaster) overclocking is bad ;-)

Crashes all the time

[timmerk15]

I've been there 4 times since the ride has opened, and each time the ride is closed for most of the day due to computer glitches. It's interesting to note they have to tighten the bolts every few weeks as well. On a side note, you have the be very skinny to ride this ride. I don't know why they don't make it a little bigger. I had to take off my belt and suck in my stomack to get the chest bar down.

Re:Does anyone know how this software ..

[jeffmeden]

Define 'fail'. The software is not perfect, the ride still occasionally fails to reach optimal velocity and the riders are shot to the top only to ride backwards down the ascent hill, a rather harrowing experience for riders and obervers who are not aware that its a perfectly normal mode of operation. More importantly, it spends a lot of the time completely disabled, hurting the parks reputation and incidentally costing them lots of money.

The acceleration and braking systems all contain many mechanical fail-safes, the sort that do NOT fail EVER, thanks to superb engineering. Its the same old story, hardware runs forever, if they could only get the dang software right.

Re:That ride is crap

[garcia]

I really don't intend to go to that amusement park again though.

Got on the Saturday or Sunday before Labor Day. The park is nearly empty on the Saturday and only a little more crowded on the Sunday.

We would go every year on that weekend and not have any wait over 20 minutes.

Cedar Point, while being the best amusement park in the world, has ruined me for the rest of my life... I cannot go to any other amusement park and enjoy myself like I would at Cedar Point. I have been to several other Cedar Fair parks (Valleyfair, Dorney Park, Michigan's Adventure, etc) but none are even close.

I miss Cedar Point, lines or not. It's their ingenuity in rides that make it amazing. They don't worry about themes and characters and instead worry about thrilling you!

Re:GA

[bhtooefr]

For all of those that hate acronyms:

Kingda Ka is the copy cat (never been in New Jersey, for what it's worth). It was built a year after Top Thrill Dragster.

Top Thrill Dragster specifications: 120 miles per hour, 420 feet
Kingda Ka specifications: 130 miles per hour (if I recall correctly), 450 feet, with a rise and fall on the return that Top Thrill Dragster doesn't have, but otherwise identical layout

If you've ridden Top Thrill Dragster, you've pretty much ridden Kingda Ka, even if you've never been there. In my opinion, Top Thrill Dragster is a waste of time - Kingda Ka would be about as much of a waste.

For what it's worth, go here [blogspot.com] to see why (roller coaster) overclocking is bad ;-)

Happy now?

Video of the ride

[Rufus211]

I was trying to figure out wtf the ride is, and found this:

http://70.85.70.32/cp_website_media/ttd/cp_website _ttd_InOperation1_320_high_videofile.mov [70.85.70.32]

Re:Does anyone know how this software ..

[Nkwe]

Has each and every line of the software source code been mathematically verified, as is done with the software systems controlling and monitoring nuclear power plants?

The half-size prototype for this ride was installed at Knott's Berry Farm a year or so before this ride was installed at Cedar Point. I got a tour of the Knott's ride and it uses Allen Bradley control equipment to operate the ride. Allen Bradley is one of the major Distributed Control System (DCS) manufacturers out there and their gear (and software) runs all sorts of potentially dangerous and life critical systems (such as nuclear power and other industrial systems) all over the world. My assumption is that the Cedar Point ride uses the same gear.

If you are not familiar with DCS systems (computers), they are highly redundant control systems that are specifically engineered to be robust from both a hardware and software point of view. They have their own (fairly) high-level programming language that is used to map the various sensor inputs to the appropriate mechanical outputs. The low level code (that executes the high level code) embedded into the DCS by the vendor and is heavily verified.

All modern (and most older) coasters use these types of industrial standard control systems.

I have ridden Top Thrill Dragster a dozen or so times and it definitely worth the trip out to Cedar Point.

Re:Does anyone know how this software ..

[altstadt]

Just out of curiosity, what makes you think you "know" anything about embedded software engineering? Judging from your statements you clearly have no experience with the matter, and you have never spoken with anybody with any experience in the matter.

Most embedded systems are written in either C or assembler and they do just fine. Most real-time OSs are written in either C or assembler and they do just fine. For both of these statements I am including everything from the systems that run on space and planetary probes down to the processor running in the keyboard you were just typing on. I just saw a job posting today for a medical device software engineer requiring experience with WinCE, C++, and C#. Guess what language(s) WinCE was written in. It sure wasn't Pascal, PerfectScript, Perl, PHP, Pict, Pike, Pilot, PL/C, PL/I, Postscript, Prolog, or Python.

Embedded systems don't normally need the absurd amounts of error checking that user level programs do. Thermocouples aren't normally in the habit of randomly generating buffer overflows. Physics is sufficient to deal with most situations, and I'm not just talking about the physics of the real, such as the expected temperature variation over time that said thermocouple would be experiencing. The physics involved in a thermocouple wire breaking will also not overwrite the stack into the code space. I have never heard of a network buffer overflow problem in VxWorks, and that was written in C.

What language would you suggest for embedded systems? Something that will randomly shut down randomly for milliseconds at a time to do garbage collection? Something where the first pass through a section of code takes a radically different different amount of time than the second pass, or the third? Even ladder logic is unsuited to many tasks because the PLCs that are normally used to run it often have loop times dependent on the input states.

C was designed for system level work. It is predictable, which is the single greatest criterion for embedded and real-time systems. It is really quite adequate for the task as long as the people working with it are used to designing embedded systems. Or else they have their work reviewed by those who do have the experience. Any real engineering office would be run this way.

TTD Rocks

[Fornoth]

For those of you wondering how it doesn't crash, it is all pretty much logic control. Also, in the event of any kind of failure (on any roller coaster), all the brakes default to the on position (stopping the ride as fast as possible). The best part about TTD would be a rollback (I've never gotten one, in 30+ rides), or the ultimate (when a train got stuck at the top for 20 mins loaded). For more info check www.pointbuzz.com

Re: Thunderstorms, other problems...

[posidian]

Top Thrill Dragster isn't the tallest in the world anymore. At 456 feet, Kingda-Ka is:

http://www.sixflags.com/parks/greatadventure/Rides /KingdaKa.html [sixflags.com]

At 128 mph, it is also the fastest (though it has been shut down for the last couple of weeks.)

Re:Does anyone know how this software ..

[HungWeiLo]

Talk to anyone who's done software on expensive medical devices, avionics, or military equipment, and you'll find plenty of examples of C being used in the most critical of situations. It just means the code and design has to be scrutinized much more than it would be at an average code house.

Right now, I'm writing some code which controls primary airplane functions - in C++ compiled with GCC 2.95. Don't worry - it's perfectly approved by the FAA bloodhounds. We just can't use things like STL or compiler-provided exception-handling, for instance.

Re:GA

[RasputinAXP]

Of course they're identical. They were both built by the same [rcdb.com] company [rcdb.com].

Go figure it's the same company who does all of the accelerator coasters, including the Superman Great Escapes, Batman Escape...

The list just goes on [rcdb.com].