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SYS-AVAvionics· 2018–2026

Avionics

SRAD flight computers, telemetry and power, from dual COTS altimeters to a three-board CAN stack.

01Overview

What it does

ARD designs its own flight computers. Kronos flies a three-board SRAD stack (flight computer, telemetry and power distribution) on a CAN bus, alongside a COTS Blue Raven flight computer and a Featherweight GPS tracker.

The Kronos flight computer is built around an STM32F4 with an LSM6DSO IMU, a DPS368 barometer and an H3LIS100DL high-g accelerometer. The telemetry board sends data over LoRa at 915 MHz with a u-blox MAX-M10S GNSS receiver, and the power distribution board runs from a 3S 18650 pack (11.1 V) and supplies 3.3, 5 and 7.4 V rails. Four pull-pin switches arm the system on the pad.

02Lineage

How it evolved

Each step built on the last, rocket by rocket.

  1. 2018

    RRC3 and Raven 3

    Skyreach was designed around COTS RRC3 and Raven 3 flight computers.

    Flown onSkyreach

  2. 2020

    Dual RRC3

    Trident Mk.2 paired two RRC3 flight computers for redundancy, with a BRB900 GPS tracker.

    Flown onTrident Mk.2

  3. 2024

    First SRAD dual deployment

    ARD's own flight computer ran a successful dual deployment on the May 2024 L2 prototype. Until then the team had flown a COTS EasyMini as its main flight computer.

    Flown onL2 Prototype

  4. 2024

    Single-board SRAD flight computer

    The 2024 Level 3 rocket flew a single-board SRAD flight computer on a Teensy 4.1, with an EasyMini as backup.

    Flown onProject Myriad (2024)

  5. 2025

    STM32F4 flight computer

    Myriad's SRAD flight computer moved to an STM32F4 with ICM-20948 and LSM6DS3TR IMUs, a BMP388 barometer, u-blox NEO-M8 GNSS and RFM95CW LoRa telemetry.

    Flown onProject Myriad

  6. 2025

    Four-board CAN stack

    Lightning split the avionics into four PC/104-style boards on a CAN bus (battery management, attitude determination, flight controller / mission control and telemetry) around the STM32F446RET6, with a COTS EasyMini.

    Flown onProject Lightning

  7. 2026

    Three-board CAN stack

    Kronos consolidates the stack into three boards (flight computer, telemetry and power distribution), flown with a COTS Blue Raven and a Featherweight GPS tracker.

    Flown onProject Kronos

03Flown on

The rockets

All rockets

Build what comes next.

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