Jonathan Duffy | Iowa State University
NASA Jet Propulsion Lab | May 30 – August 11, 2017
WHAT WERE THE GOALS OF THE PROJECT?
The goals of the project I worked on for my summer internship were to design, build and test a data acquisition (DAQ) avionics package for the Peregrine sounding rocket. The Peregrine Sounding Rocket is a project to determine the applicability of liquifying hybrid technology to a small launch system. The approach is to design, build, test and fly a stable, efficient liquefying fuel hybrid rocket vehicle to an altitude of 100 km.
DESCRIBE WHAT YOU DID DURING THE INTERNSHIP?
During the internship, I designed the main data acquisition board for the system, which does basic signal processing and filtering and level shifting. It also contains the ADC, shutdown circuitry, and connects to the flight computer.
WHAT WERE THE RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS?
The primary result was a working and tested DAQ board for the peregrine avionics, I also finished the design, but not construction, of the launch suitcase, and finished code for the main flight computer to interface the DAQ board.
WHAT LESSONS DID YOU LEARN THROUGHOUT THE PROCESS?
I mainly learned about system-level design and integration, designing my part of the project as part of a system that other people designed parts of as well, (as opposed to many of the other projects I’ve done where the parts I design are relatively independent). I also learned some effective board layout, transmission line simulation and testing, and testing and verification procedures.