In regards to frequency of sampling Belatti mentions, the ECU specification that WB mentios provides the sampling rates and resolutions for many (if not all) gadgets.
So, I said, let´s spend a few minutes reviewing the tender, surely I can check the transfer rates.
The devices that transmit information to the ECU are these, according to the tender document:
The ECU tender document states the sampling rates and precisions for each type of device connector. I tried to estimate the bandwidth, and I got this:
Total bandwith of sensors: 5.7 Mbit/s
I suppose that the figure of 500 Hz Belatti gives is based in some kind of link he has used, so I wonder what's the difference. The most logical explanation is that you don't transmit every bit that runs through the ECU, as the architecture seems to indicate, and, secondly, that there is much more info flowing around the car that the one I naively thought I could check in 10 minutes. Sigh. Here I repost the figure WB just posted:
First, top left, notice that the Steering Wheel and the dashboard use two CAN 2.0 buses. Those buses receive the info from the switches actuated by the driver and feed information to the dashboard display.
A CAN bus is a connector that is specifically designed for vehicles. It's mandatory in US vehicles since the 90's and in European vehicles since 2001.
It allows vehicle microcontrollers and devices to communicate without using a host. You can get 1 Mb/s on those buses under optimum conditions, so the display and switches on the steering wheel would add 2 Mb/s more, on top of the 5.7 Mb/s I estimated for the sensors and actuators, for 8 Mb/s approximately.
FIA Marshalls use another CAN bus to connect to the ECU, so we have 9 Mb/s up to this moment.
The ECU uses two CAN 2.0 buses, as physical interfaces with the "Team Data Acquisition System". So, you have to assume that, of those 9 Mb/s I estimated, only 2 Mb/s are trasmitted to the telemetry unit.
When you're in the pits, the two connectors, at the left, allows you to receive full info at top rates, using a 100 Mb/s BaseTx connection to a computer; more than enough for the 9 Mb/s I estimated.