Context: The following are extracurricular projects that I worked on during my undergraduate career. These projects were all part of national competitions for high-powered rocketry.
Student Launch: I developed an autonomous ground support equipment (AGSE) for the 2015 and 2016 NASA Student Launch Competitions. My role as the electronics team lead was to mentor other students in programming microcontrollers, designing circuits, and prototyping control systems to achieve the autonomous requirements. The final prototype of the system used a robotic arm to load payload into a high power rocket, lifted the rocket from horizontal to vertical position, and inserted the igniter to launch the rocket.
Midwest Space Grant High-Power Rocket Competition: In this project I led the control system team to develop an air-brake system that slowed down the rocket to achieve a target elevation. I designed a system that used a barometer, and an inertial measurement unit (IMU) to calculate instantaneous position and speed of the rocket after launch. Using linear actuators, the control system deployed air-brakes to slow down the rocket to a desired elevation. The timing and positioning of the airbrakes was determined by physics-based model to achieve apogee at a specified elevation.
