Index

Projects tagged “rocketry”

Five of the eleven projects in the catalogue. Show all projects.

Render of the Bluestone stack-up: five round dark blue boards held parallel by vertical backbone boards down two sides, with a GNSS patch antenna module on the top board.

2023–2024 · Team member 2023; Avionics Team Lead 2024

Bluestone Flight Computer

A flight computer developed over two hardware revisions and two roles. As a team member in 2023 I led the sensor suite design and laid out the Sensor Board; as Avionics Team Lead in 2024 I directed the second revision, addressing the USB interface faults and thermal issues the first prototype exposed. The system provided reliable tracking and telemetry on lower-powered test flights up to 8,000 feet.

avionicspcbrocketryfirmware

Conceptual render of the launch controller: an orange sealed field case with a dark control panel carrying two seven-segment displays, a rotary selector, a red launch button and a keyed arm switch.

2024-2025 · Avionics and Tracking Lead

LoRa Launch Control System

A battery-powered launch controller talking to pad hardware over LoRa. It runs on dual 18650 lithium-ion cells with integrated USB-C charging, and its panel carries two seven-segment displays, status indicators and a launch button. The button interface is debounced in hardware using RC filters and Schmitt triggers rather than in firmware. I did the schematic design, circuit modelling and hardware validation of the controller board, and modelled the enclosure and mounting hardware in 3D CAD.

rfpcbrocketry

The range warning unit deployed on a sports field at dusk: a black cylindrical enclosure on a tripod with its amber beacon lit.

2025 · Electrical systems lead

LoRa Range Warning System

A tripod-mounted field unit carrying siren and beacon alerts across a high-power rocketry range. I led the electrical design and implementation, covering PCB layout, RF front-end development and firmware integration around a NUCLEO-WL55JC and its STM32WL, with the LoRa stack configured half-duplex for bidirectional exchange between the launch site and range safety stations. The custom PCB runs from inputs up to 8S LiPo, generates regulated 12 V and 5 V rails, and switches the unit's siren and beacon.

rfpcbfirmwarerocketry

// Earlier work

Earliest UC Aerospace rocketry work · UC Aerospace member

Level 1 Rocketry

My first real introduction to rocket design, flight dynamics and avionics, working with actual rockets rather than the theory of them. Design covered aerodynamics, stability and propulsion; the avionics side was an introduction to integrating sensors and flight computers. The grounding it gave me is what the more advanced rocketry and embedded systems projects here were built on.

rocketryavionics

Following Level 1 · UC Aerospace member

Level 2 Rocketry

Higher-performance rockets designed and built from scratch, which brought in flight simulation, dual-stage recovery and composite construction. I laid up fibreglass and carbon-fibre airframes, working through material selection, layering technique and structural assembly, and integrated avionics and dual-stage parachute recovery into the rockets.

rocketryavionics