Circuit diagram for the power distribution board to be used for the HAB mission. Includes dual 3.3V regulators,a 5V and a 12V regulator, along with current and voltage monitoring chips. All regulators are switching regulators using TI parts and the current/voltage monitoring will allow the SPEX group to learn about power management for future HAB missions and an eventual cubesat.
Screenshot of the final revision of the three boards as seen in the PCB layout software.
3D render of the three separate boards designed for the HAB mission.
A view of the BOM for the project,. Each board had its own section, allowed for easy tracking of what needed to go where.
Boards delivered, assembly occurred soon after for each part.
Hardware assembly! Reflowing components for the power board.
The first set of fully assembled hardware, includes the power distribution board, LED board and LED flasher board used to help with recovery, respectively.
The ever messy workbench, prepping for and assembling wiring harnesses and building up the payload for the HAB.
The beginning of payload assembly. The processing, power and recovery systems have been installed, along with the battery compartment. Further work has been done to clean up and finish wiring as well as the installation of additional sensors to measure temperature and track the altitude of the balloon.
The LED array firmly attached to the bottom of the payload, this will be part of an attempt to do high altitude Morse code, and at the very least, test how high up we can see these LEDs. Future missions will include a more robust LED system more akin to the design to be used on a future cubesat.
Testing the LED array, a total of 18W of LED's are part of the array. Testing included timing the rise in temperature across the board, the variation of the control pin's voltage and finding the max change in brightness (determined to be 1.7V out of 2.4V where there was no noticeable change in brightness) and of course whether the board worked or not.
The payload for the HAB mission on display for RIT's annual ImagineRIT event. Baring some slight issues this was the first full system test of all the hardware to be used.
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RIT SPEX High Altitude Balloon Project
The first in a series of HAB flights to test hardware for a future cubesat, HAB 1 has the goal of teaching the SPEX team how to design and build payloads along with how to run these missions. My contribution to this project was the design of all custom electronics being used within the payload, along with assembly and related tasks.