04.03.2022 Category: Site news
Episode 9: Evolution of the game port/USB adapter
VRC-1 Game port adapter
In episode 1 I explained how I got interested in using an R/C transmitter to control racing games like Indy Car. I assumed that using an r/c transmitter would be a lot more intuitive than using a joystick and that this could be a way of introducing r/c transmitters and the r/c hobby to a large public. At that moment I had no intention at all to develop an r/c racing sim myself, why would I? This was far beyond my skills and to be honest also my interest. I had Serpent to run and had my hands full on it with ever increasing competition. To develop a device that would connect an r/c transmitter and receiver with a PC was all I had in mind. It was a matter to find an electronics engineer to develop the electronics, write the software for it and a company that could do the printed circuit boards and the assembly.
In 1995 when I started this project the USB port was not invented yet, that came in 1996. So how to connect our game port adapter to a pc? It was either through the com-port or the parallel port. We opted for the com port as the communication protocols were more suitable for our device, my electronics engineer suggested to me. That was the same electronics engineer who had developed the datalogger for us so I was quite confident that he could develop this device too. By the way, the DRX-2000 datalogger also used the com-port to connect the DRX-2000 to a PC.
The VRC-1 game port adapter was introduced to the market in 1995. The promotion focused entirely on using it for racing sims. I found the brochure we had made for the VRC-1 and it is all about using it as a controller of Indy Car Racing, the most popular and advanced racing game back then. As I told you in episode 1 I even visited the Indy Car offices in Boston to demonstrate the VRC-1 game port adapter. I remember how impressed I was with their set-up to enable online racing. Hundreds of pc style servers in a large room to facilitate multiplayer, wowww. I can’t reiterate enough, this was the ‘stone age’ of internet, there were no hosting centers yet like we have today. I think we sold a few thousand of them worldwide, not really making a big impression on the racing sim market, but it was a start of something much bigger for us.
VRC-2 USB adapter
In episode 1 I also told you how I got in touch with Lothar Pantel from Germany. He had his own game port adapter developed which was using the ‘parallel’ port. In stead of competing with each other we joined forces to see if we could develop a racing sim for r/c cars, if we could pull that off that would really mean something for making this hobby/sport more popular and accessible, I thought…
With the introduction of the USB port it was clear that the use of the com-port or parallel port would fade out very quickly. USB was really a turning point, a standardized protocol to connect all sort of devices to a PC, and you could even hook up more than 1 device to a single USB port. As we had already made good progress with our Virtual RC racing sim it was the only logical thing to do, develop a USB game port adapter! As we had developed such a good working relationship, I had asked Lothar to do some research into developing a USB adaptor, after all his skills and expertise were in electronics and software development. He had established a contact with a certain Mr. Körber after reading a publication in a German electronics magazine which convinced him that he had the expertise we needed to develop the USB adapter. The most important job was to find a suitable and affordable micro-processor for this particular application and to write the software (instruction set) for this micro-processor which would have to be loaded in the memory.
Another important thing was to decide what connector plugs to use on the two 3-wire leads. We opted for the JR plugs as they seemed the most compatible plugs, also used by other r/c transmitter manufacturers, although there were also several who had their own proprietary plugs. Luckily, we chose the right one, and this one is still in use as the standard plug today!
I asked our engineering people to design the housing for this USB adaptor, I didn’t want it to look like an ‘ordinary’ USB stick, it had to stand out I thought. So we came up with a fancy stylish design, a transparent orange-colored casing. Lothar had warned me that the outside dimensions were beyond the ‘form factor’ dimensions laid down in international USB device conventions, but I ignored that, little did I know… Our USB was a little to thick meaning that you could not insert a second USB device in the next USB port, oops… We got away with it, it was not a really big issue.
The pre-programmed micro-processor came from a small German company Code Mercenaries, we had to order them by the 2000 I remember. I am not sure where we actually produced our VRC-2 USB game port adaptor, I think it was through Mr. Shiu, the Serpent Hong Kong distributor who had established the contact with a Chinese electronics company Amax. They did the injection molding tooling for the casing, produced the printer circuit boards, and did the final assembly and packaging.
The VRC-2 USB game port adapter was introduced successfully to the market in 2004. It had one flaw though, the soldering points of the USB plug on the printed circuit board were quite fragile and caused some adapters to stop working after some time. This was also due to our adapter being a bit too thick…
VRC-3 USB adapter
Due to delivery problems with the micro-processor we asked Amax if they could produce the whole USB adapter including using a Chinese alternative for the micro-processor. They came up with a new printed circuit board with one 3-lead cable and one 1-lead cable. It looked a little odd but it worked well. We changed the design to a simple rectangular model which was confirm the USB device convention, so that problem was also solved. Tony West designed the packaging and promotional material for the VRC-3 USB adapter, it was introduced I believe in 2006 or 2007.
VRC-3NT USB adaptor
The arrival of 2.4Ghz technology introduced by Spektrum (Horizon Inc. USA) in 2007, the market shifted away from the good old crystal based 27 MHz, 35 MHz, 49 MHz, and 72 MHz frequencies. Thank God, what a mess it was before, although we had developed ways to cope with it. Radio interference was common, racers reversed transmitter and receiver crystals, had their own crystals made. Anyway, the use of the new 2.4Ghz technology meant that the good old VRC-3 USB adapter died a sudden death, we needed a new adaptor that would work with the old ‘crystal’ transmitters and with the new 2.4 Ghz transmitters, and fast! Amax was able to redesign the electronics, found a new supplier for the more advanced microprocessor, still affordable though. The casing stayed the same, new printed circuit board and now two 3-lead cables. Tony designed new packaging for it and in 2008 we were ready to ship the VRC-3NT USB adapter.
Unfortunately, the VRC-3NT USB adapter was discontinued in 2018 when the production of the special microprocessor came to a sudden stop. The quantities required to do another production run of this processor were way beyond what we as Virtual Racing Industries could ever sell.
We started a new development with Amax for a complete new design but that failed because of all the special features which were developed by R/C transmitter manufacturers in the past decade.
Direct Game Control Initiative
As you probably know, 2.4Ghz transmitter technology uniquely ‘binds’ the transmitter with the receiver, this is a 1-on-1 wireless connection, once bound no other radio-receiver combination can interrupt that connection. When the R/C equipment market had changed to 2.4Ghz in 2008 I came up with a new idea. What if transmitter manufacturers would equip the micro-processors used for the transmitter with a version that would also support the USB protocols? That would mean that the transmitter would be able to communicate directly with any PC through the USB port, either by cable or even wireless. OK, it would mean the end of our USB adapter sales, but the benefits would easily outweigh that. Imagine what a technological breakthrough that would have been, even more for flight (model airplane and helicopter) sims than for model r/c car sims like VRC.
I asked Lothar to study this concept and write a technical paper which I would then communicate with the R/C transmitter industry. The 22-page technical paper that Lothar produced outlined all the technical specifications and all the options this new technology would present to the industry (with Lothar’s approval I may publish the paper one day to give the tech experts among you an insight in what could be achieved with this technology). My hope was that an innovative company like Horizon/Spektrum, who already was the US distributor for VRC v3.5, would jump on it immediately seeing the vast opportunities this new technology would offer. After all, the gaming industry is probably the biggest competitor of the r/c industry, and this was an outright chance to connect these two markets. Despite all my efforts to convince the industry and much to my regret and disappointment it did not happen. Probably a few years too early…
9-Turbo RX series 12-bit USB adapter
This goes far beyond the VRC v3 part of the VRC adventure, but to complete the story about the game port adapters I also want to tell you about the latest VRC USB adapter.
We badly needed a new USB adaptor after failing to develop our own in 2018 we turned to 9Turbo in Thailand. We had already tested the adapter he had developed and knew that his design was superior to anything else on the market in terms of speed and versatility. And it was 4-channel, meaning that users with a 3 or 4 channel transmitter could initiate other function on their transmitter, like turn marshal and refuel, which are usually done on the keyboard, and can save tenths of seconds!
The 9-Turbo RX4 was a ‘naked’ version, no casing around the circuit board, just a transparent protection wrap. We pressed for a proper casing which came with the RX5, together with a software update. A supply shortage issue has led to a redesign with a new microprocessor and new instruction set, version RX6 which will be introduced in March 2022.
The offset is that because the RX-series is produced in very small quantities, and therefore the price is very high which was kind of a shock to the market. But the quality is outstanding and add to that that Smith V. (Thai last names are simply too long…) provides personal support in the VRC tech forums, what more can you ask for! It’s simply the best and fastest USB adapter we have ever marketed!
Back to the VRC Inside story, we were almost ready to launch. All we needed was a website, event structures, rankings and more. That’s next.
Comments
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(Total posts: 4)
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Jack B.
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nice
Edited by author: 28.1.2023 12:47:01 GMT
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Giovanni F. D
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past years ago in a shop specialized in RC there whas a racing chair with logitech g up on a shelf, astounished I asked myself ' is that real ? ' and tuched it, the seller telled me, ' don't touch '... years afters on VRC forum, there was a driver who tell his experience of driving RC with that... some others talked about how to transform wheels/pedal into a pistol grip...
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Pieter BFounder
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For those interested in the Direct Game Control Initiative paper by Lothar Pantel, you can download it from:
https://www.vrcworld.com/static/about/Direct_Game_Control_Initiative_2008.pdf
Remember this was 2008 so the technology described in this paper surely is not up to date anymore, but the general concept is still valid!
Edited by author: 5.3.2022 16:12:43 GMT
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Richard S.
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I recently came back to VRC, and I'm still using my VRC-2 from all those years ago - it works great still, with both all my 2.4GHz radios and ancient 72MHz ones! That's what the real killer features of USB were; compatability (in terms of both the hardware and software) and the flexability that allowed a specialist RC adapter to be treated like any other input device to the computer.
Edited by author: 5.3.2022 4:56:44 GMT
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