Mirror's Edge: 2-Stage Scratch Built, Arduino Controlled

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m2pilot

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I have been playing with the idea of building my first solo two stage for a while now I think I'm gonna start working on building out the staging system, and then the rocket after that. Here's the idea:

Open Rocket File.jpg
Both stages will dual deploy, with the staging controlled by an arduino micro controller. Altimeters will operate independently. I recently completed a balloon satellite project that went to 100,000 feet using an arduino, gyro, and accelormeter to measure roll and acceleration data. Now that I know how to record the data, it's time to use it!

The rocket accelormeter will detect the initial ignition acceleration, and begin checking the gyroscope. If the rocket deviates more than 23 degrees from launch orientation, no ignition on the second stage. At booster burnout, the sustainer bay, which holds the arduino (shown below), fires an e-match at the interstage coupler to seperate the two, as well as set off a smoke flare for tracking. The booster flies at this point in normal duel deploy flight using stratologger CF altimeter.
avionics bay(no coupler, battery, altimeter, arduino).JPGavianoics bay(battery, gps tracker, switch).JPG
After seperation, a final check is done on the gyroscope, and if the rocket is on a safe path, the arduino will fire the second stage igniter. After that, normal dual deploy flight, same altimeter as the booster. The second stage will have a pet gps tracker with a pre-paid sim card for tracking it as apogee is expected to be around 12,700 feet, way above anything I can track visually on a 3" diameter rocket... Or can I?

The name Mirror's Edge comes from the paint scheme I'm planning for this rocket, which will be mirror-chrome top to bottom, with black fins and nose cone. My hope is that if I launch on a sunny day, it will look like a comet going up as it reflects the sunlight. J415-WL to a K570. This will be my first time breaking Mach 1.

This setup is an updated version of a project I worked on last year with my university rocket team, which launched a two stage with two aerotech M2500T's. That thing was a huge 6" diamter, 14 foot tall rocket. This will be a bit sleeker, 3" diameter, about 10 feet tall. That rocket had issues with the booster parachute always coming out at separation because the booster bay was exposed to oncoming air during separation which tricked the altimeter. My version will keep the electronics bay in the booster separated from by the interstage coupler bay, which hopefully will solve that issue.

Still working on finishing the 3D model so that I know where all the screws/tee-nuts,shear pins go, but so far this is looking like it's going to be pretty fun. I'll probably fly the staging bay in an old rocket this summer to verify that the avionics software would fire everything at the correct time (it'll fire dummy charges, basically just changing coded variables to a 1 if the correct e-match or igniter would have fired).

More to come later. I'll keep this thread open to document my progress.
 
I'll watch with interest. I've been playing with avionics myself, though not on an Arduino. I would definitely do a full test program, however. This sort of thing has a way of showing you the "hic-ups" at the most inopportune of times.

Fun project,
Martin Jay McKee
 
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Update: I know its been a while since I've posted here but I should have some pictures of the finished staging bay by the end of the week. I wound up switching out the arduino uno for a pro-mini and will be making a pcb out of perf-board to save room. Ignition of separation and ignition charges will be from a separate power source that is opened and closed via relays, which the pro-mini can control. This should get rid of the issue of the arduino being insufficient to light e-matches.

I just have to finish soldering and mounting. Will post again soon!
 
Interested in seeing what you've got- I have enjoyed tinkering with the Arduino, and am always looking for fun ways of using it. Right now am working on a sensor that measures incoming wavelength of light along a narrow (but as yet undecided) band to measure air particulates along the trajectory of the rocket. Just a breadboard at this point, your project is very exciting sounding!
 
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