Bluestone Flight Computer — Kaden Adlington

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Role: Team member 2023; Avionics Team Lead 2024
Timeframe: 2023–2024

Bluestone is a custom flight computer built for advanced, spaceshot-capable high-powered rockets, intended to serve as the primary avionics system for UC Aerospace’s future spaceshot missions. I worked on it in two different capacities: as a team member in 2023, responsible for the sensing hardware, and as Avionics Team Lead in 2024, responsible for the direction of the second hardware revision.

In 2023 I led the design and selection of the sensor suite, identifying and integrating the components the flight would be measured with: high-G accelerometers, magnetometers, barometric sensors, temperature and humidity sensors, and a thermocouple ADC interface over I2C. I then designed and laid out the Sensor Board schematic and PCB, applying layout practices that minimise trace length so communication between the sensors and the RP2040 stayed reliable.

The Bluestone project poster. A header reading UC AEROSPACE BLUESTONE sits above a description of a modular flight computer built to fit the team's smallest 54 mm airframes and to sustain high G loads, made of horizontal boards connected by vertical backbone boards. An exploded render of the stack is labelled with five boards: a GNSS board using a SAM-M10Q to receive position data; a sensor board gathering acceleration, angular velocity, magnetic field vector, ambient pressure and temperature; a power board whose three independent linear regulators supply low-noise power to the stack; an MCU board built around an RP2040 with two SPI and two I2C buses; and a LoRa board whose Ra-01SH module provides a telemetry downlink to the team's TrackShot software for real-time tracking. — Figure 25:Bluestone project poster

A render of the Bluestone stack-up: five round dark blue boards held parallel by vertical backbone boards running down two sides, so each board plugs into the spine rather than into its neighbours. A GNSS patch antenna module sits on the top board beside a connector labelled GNSS Connector, and the boards below carry pin headers, edge connectors and a row of white terminal blocks. — Figure 26:Render of the Bluestone stack-up

After taking over as Avionics Team Lead in 2024, I directed the design of the second hardware revision, which was aimed at the major issues the first prototype had exposed. That meant resolving MCU USB interface faults, upgrading to USB-C connectivity, and redesigning the power stage around high-efficiency switching regulators to mitigate thermal issues.

The project also included the development of a FreeRTOS-based real-time operating system in C. It was subsequently handed over to other developers for completion rather than finished under my direction.

Technologies

RP2040FreeRTOSI2CADCSwitching RegulatorsUSB-CKiCad

Key outcomes

Achieved reliable tracking and telemetry during lower-powered test flights up to 8,000 feet, demonstrating strong potential for high-altitude and future spaceshot applications.