Electrical Designs

This year we have made our own custom PCBs which are able to power and control various parts of the rover. Our designs consist our Boost converters able to power the Jetson TX2, motors and able to control our arm, drive motors and science modules!

Check our website for updates we will be doing and more boards that we have manufactured!

Check out our designs below!

Updates to existing boards and new board designs will be released every few months.

Check out our Github to browse through our released boards. 

Colorimeter Sensor (CLS)

Description:
This board breaks out a colorimeter sensor being integrated onto the science module. Primary motivation for this board is to ensure cost effective and simple methods to provide color measurements in a compact form factor without introducing extra camera modules.

Designer: Mariel Serra

Science Board (SYBOARD)

Description:
The SYBOARD features connectivity with all stepper motors, motors, and sensors on the science module. Integrating a mature microcontroller on the team, we are able to integrate controls of the science module into the existing ROS framework. The board features various communication interfaces from CAN, RS485/RS232, SPI, I2C, and more. 

Designer: Emmanuel Aduwari

On-Board Controller (OBC)

Features: CAN, PC104 Header, SD Card, LoRa, Ethernet

The OBC is in active development by the team meant for use on the new revision of the rover. The board will be the controller for the new Central Nervous System (CNS) architecture. 

Designer: TBD 

Arm Power Supply Unit (APSU)

Description:
A boost converter used for the arm stepper motors to enable the arm to move with higher speeds and more torque. The APSU features 3 outputs that can supply up to 10A. The board also has onboard current sense capabilities for us to improve our power telemetry.

Designer: Michael Knapman

Buck Converter (BUCC)

Description:
The BUCC board provides 4A and 2A outputs for 5.0V and 3.3V respectively using the dual-output buck converter TPS54494 by Texas Instruments. With the input voltage range of up to 18V, this board can serve as a test platform for our development with this IC while also allowing us to power multiple small boards on the rover.

Designer: Michael Knapman

Jetson Power Supply Unit (JPSU)

Description:
A regulated power supply for the Jetson TX2 that features OVP and OCP. Capable of delivering 19V at 3A, this board ensures that the Jetson TX2 power supply is safe, isolated, and independent.

Designer: Evan Gintonis

LoRa Breakout (LORA)

Description:
A simple LoRa breakout board with an SMA connector as required. The primary purpose of these boards is to serve as development boards and features easy mounting for the rover antenna mount.

Designer: Roman Kus

Boost Converter (BOOST)

Parameters:
Input: 11.9 - 12.1 V
Output: 24V
Max Load Current: 10A
Output Ripple: 20mV

Manufacturing Parameters:
FR4 TG-140
2 layers, 1oz copper

Designer: Evan Gintonis

Drive Motor Controller (DMC)

Description:
Uses the external microcontroller mounted to provide control signals to the drive motors and gather feedback to send to the Jetson TX2

Microcontroller: STM32F103C8T6

Designer: Evan Gintonis

Stepper Motor Controller (SMC)

Description:
Uses the external microcontroller mounted to provide control signals to the stepper motors on the rover arm. The board also receives feedback from limit switches and hall effect sensors to aid in stepper motor control.

Microcontroller: STM32F103C8T6

Designer: Evan Gintonis

Fan & Temperature Control Board (FTC)

Description:
Provides a way to control 2 pin fans via the GPIO header by means of PWM. The board also gathers temperature data at key locations inside the rover chassis. 

Temperature data is acquired by connecting our temperature monitor boards. The temperature monitor boards only have an NTC and resistor and feeds back an analog signal to the FTC, the FTC will then determine the voltage via the ADC and forwards the data to the Jetson.

Designer: Matthew Lemcke

 Battery Monitoring System (BMS)

Description:
Provides a way to actively monitor the battery voltage level and provides visual indicators when cell voltage drop below a predefined threshold. This board focuses on a analog design using opamps as voltage subtractors and Schmidt triggers.

Designer: Michael Knapman


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LED Indicator Boards (LEDI)

Description:
LEDI is expected to be mounted to the outside of the rover chassis to provide visual indication of current rover state. By competition guidelines, all teams are required to have visual indicators to show if the rover is in autonomous mode, manually controlled, or successful completion of task.

The LEDI board is a simple LED driver with an external controller. The Jetson TX2 is expected to interface with this board to provide control signals and proper indication.

Currently there are two different LEDI boards: one is through-hole LEDs and the other is surface mount LEDs. We are currently using the board with through-hole LEDs, but we included both here since surface mount is always cool :) 

Designer: Matt Lemcke and Joelle D'Amico

Science Control Module (SENSING)

Description:
SENSING is the original design of the science control board. It is intended to integrate with the science mechanical module to control stepper motors, motors, etc. while also taking feedback from various sensors for soil data analysis and experiment control. 

The board is currently being updated to support revisions on the science sub-team. See SYBOARD for updates.

Designer: Justin Chan