Executive Project Summary and Timeline

Team 6 was initially tasked with redesigning the Avionics board to record and transmit motor pressure and temperature data. While the previous year added accelerometer and GPS systems, they were not needed, as the team was already using the TeleMega module. The team also reported that they had interference issues when using LoRa for communications. The new system must:

• Read each motor's forward pressure using a sensor.
• Read temperature data in forward and nozzle housing (rescinded in Winter Term).
• Send data back to ground at 900 MHz frequency, with range of 10 - 15 miles.
• Have at least 2.5 of battery life.
• Be lightweight, and fit within the rocket.

In late Fall Term, we were given the additional tasks of redesigning the Igniter and Ground Station for the team. For this system to meet the client's needs:

• The Ground Station and Igniter must have a stable connection within 2 miles.
• The Ground Station must be programmed to avoid sending the launch command if there is a problem.
• The Ground Station should be easy to use, and easy to diagnose problems preventing the launch command.
• The Igniter should check to verify E-match continuity, and inform the Ground Station, which will inform the user.

For our solution for the Avionics Bay system, we designed a device that used:

• A Teensy 3.6 development board, which comes with a micro-SD card reader and built-in voltage regulation.
• An XBee-PRO S3B 900 MHz Transceiver module.
• The board connected to a Kulite XTEL-190 pressure transducer
• Voltage regulators for operating the XBee and Kulite devices.

To make our improvements to the electronics, during Fall term we reviewed the previous design. In Winter term we worked on the physical implementation of the project; we prototyped, programmed, and tested our design while attempting to keep the monetary costs down. In the Spring, we planned to assemble everything in the labs, but they were closed because of COVID-19. Since we couldn't complete our work in the Spring, we prepared documents to help the next team complete and improve our work next year if we don't complete it for this year's launch event.