SPT TVC Electronics/Firmware

Our team has developed a custom DAQ/Controller for the use in this competition. The learnings we get from ground testing will influence our design decisions for the hop vehicle boards. The board’s role is to command all valve positions, control TVC, and record high-bandwidth data. The data is available to the board in real-time to allow custom closed-loop control to be run.

Our custom state controller is in charge of keeping the test-stand in a known state at all times. We communicate with the board over ethernet for expandability and high bandwidth.

For TVC position, each actuator is automatically zero’d to hit the built-in limit-switches. We then use this offset as a zero position, and use 2 potentiometers to control the position of the actuator. We start the TVC sequence 1 second after starting the engine to allow engine transients to settle before gimbling.