Project

# Title Team Members TA Documents Sponsor
32 Power Board for Illinisat-2 Project
 Rachit Goel
Roberto Francisco Suarez Valle
Samuel Kearney
 Kevin Bassett design_document0.document
final_paper0.document
presentation0.presentation
proposal0.pdf
Our group will design the main power converter to be used in UIUC's Illinisat-2 project (more info at http://cubesat.ae.illinois.edu/). The converter will employ maximum power point tracking to charge the satellite's Li-Ion batteries. Due to the modular nature of the Cubesat, the converter must be adaptable to different sizes of satellite with different numbers of solar cells. The converter must employ control at both the input and output sides: the input side to implement the maximum power point algorithm, and the output side to track the battery voltage and stop charging when it reaches its safe upper voltage limit.

The batteries and solar cells have been selected, but the battery configuration (including the possibility of a backup battery that automatically takes over in case of main battery failure) and converter design are the scope of this project. There are a couple of unique challenges associated with the fact that the converter will be inside a very small bus and subjected to the space environment.

Prosthetic Control Board

Caleb Albers, Daniel Lee

Prosthetic Control Board

Featured Project

Psyonic is a local start-up that has been working on a prosthetic arm with an impressive set of features as well as being affordable. The current iteration of the main hand board is functional, but has limitations in computational power as well as scalability. In lieu of this, Psyonic wishes to switch to a production-ready chip that is an improvement on the current micro controller by utilizing a more modern architecture. During this change a few new features would be added that would improve safety, allow for easier debugging, and fix some issues present in the current implementation. The board is also slated to communicate with several other boards found in the hand. Additionally we are looking at the possibility of improving the longevity of the product with methods such as conformal coating and potting.

Core Functionality:

Replace microcontroller, change connectors, and code software to send control signals to the motor drivers

Tier 1 functions:

Add additional communication interfaces (I2C), and add temperature sensor.

Tier 2 functions:

Setup framework for communication between other boards, and improve board longevity.

Overview of proposed changes by affected area:

Microcontroller/Architecture Change:

Teensy -> Production-ready chip (most likely ARM based, i.e. STM32 family of processors)

Board:

support new microcontroller, adding additional communication interfaces (I2C), change to more robust connector. (will need to design pcb for both main control as well as finger sensors)

Sensor:

Addition of a temperature sensor to provide temperature feedback to the microcontroller.

Software:

change from Arduino IDE to new toolchain. (ARM has various base libraries such as mbed and can be configured for use with eclipse to act as IDE) Lay out framework to allow communication from other boards found in other parts of the arm.