The Electrical Subteam handles the electrical hardware both in the aircraft and on the ground. The subteam works on PCB development, firmware development and general electronics on the plane. Examples of PCBs include power distribution, gimbal control, airdrop control, and a ground station antenna tracker. We also design full-plane wiring, lead battery calculations and integrate often with both mechanical and software projects.

Antenna Tracker

This board controls the team antenna tracker, which points our ground system antenna at the plane for the duration of the flight. The tracker uses information from the antennas to adjust the stepper motors for pitch and yaw of the antenna. Additionally, we have the option to add an R10C camera attached to the tracker to record flight and our board controls the record feature.

Amanda

Airdrop Board

Controls the airdrop system. Opens bay doors in preparation to drop bottles, drops specified bottle when directed to allow accurate scoring of our payloads. Designed to be compatible with both Artemis and Atlas airdrop systems.

Rhea

Gimbal Board

Receives direction from the Pixhawk and adjusts the gimbal board to point towards the specified location. Maintains steady movement and assists with ease of image capture using the Gimbal system

Sarah

Guided Airdrop Board

Tracks the location of the airdrop and transmits data back to the plane to help determine error within the drop. Needs small GPS or location tracker and a way to transmit relevant information back to the plane

Nick
Francis

Imaging Power Distribution Board

Splits power into different voltage levels with specific current ratings to support the needs of the electronics on the plane.

Castille

R10c Current Sensing Board

Detects spikes in current that occur when a photo is taken and uses that to alert the pixhawk that a new photo was captured. This helps to speed up the image capture/transfer rate for imaging.

Castille