Affordable Vehicle Avionics

Overview

During part of my first internship at NASA, I contributed to the AVA project evaluating flight controllers for low-cost, small rocket launches. I modified the software to increase the data sampling rate and performed small test launches to evaluate the performance of the controller. Taking the resulting data from the inertial measurement unit, I recreated the flight path. The results are acceptable, but because of the low quality gyroscope, orientation was not tracked exceptionally well.

Contributions

• Modified Arduino flight controller software to collect and store data during rocket launches

• Developed model rocket-based test bed to refine software resulting in several successful tests

• Developed MATLAB code to recreate flight-path based on IMU data

• Helped design and build interface to mount in avionics bay of high-powered rocket

Subsequent to the small scale testing, the flight controller was mounted for installation on a high-powered rocket that was serving as a test bed for the AVA project. The flight controller performed well, collecting data through the duration of the flight.