Hi Zombies!
Just to clarify, when I casually said I planned to do one over the weekend I was keeping in mind
(1) I was planning out the code and writing some protofunctions for several weeks/months on the side whenever it popped into my head. Component things like learning how timers work so that I could get a high frequency signal took dozens of hours over past weekends, on different projects.
(2) I would be TRYING to do that [churning one out], not necessarily succeeding, haha, as you say it's likely to be harder than I think (though I'm not even going to think about using analog- I just really can only get anywhere by the grace of digital systems.)
(3) I expected, though I wanted to do it this weekend, I might not actually get too far.
I appreciate your openness to encourage me to give it a shot anyway. As I'm studying for my controls class right now, I was just thinking that maybe in addition to adjusting the curve, I could model it as some sort of basic mass/spring/dashpot system to get more interesting responses to how fast the throttle is applied and adjusted (the throttle input would be a forcing function). As you say, it's to a large extent about the learning experience.
Actually, while I'm here, can you point me in the direction to understanding what you meant by signal processing route over analog circuit design? I am still just a mechanical engineering student so I haven't heard the phrase 'signal processing route' used in the context that would make it immediately clear what you mean.
P.S, Some things that I'm hoping a throttle curve system could be easily modded to include would be response to a thermocouple reading, and less easily, maybe even interaction with an MPU6050 accelerometer for complex functions like wheelie-control, or less complicated functions like brake-light switching. But this is just a bit of expressing; not to derail the main focus.