Avionics
What is Avionics about?
Welcome to the Avionics Team! We're responsible for designing and building all of the electronic systems on our rockets. We work on a variety of software and hardware projects such as embedded flight computers and software in the loop simulations. More information about our projects can be found below, on our team's wiki page, or our GitHub.
While many of our projects can become complex in nature the majority of our team consists of freshman and sophomores! Anyone from any background and level of experience is encouraged to join!
Contact our team lead Thomas McManamen (tm38@illinois.edu) to learn more!
The Team:
Avionics Structures
Located at the intersection of Spaceshot Structures and Avionics, Avionics Structures (AV-STR) is responsible for the design, assembly, and integration of the avionics bay. Work on flight hardware or one of our multiple avionics projects and develop your skills in system integration and communication.
As the most “hands-on” team in avionics, you don’t just learn about electronics, but also many concepts in mechanical engineering and design used in your classes.
Electronic Hardware
While our GNC and Software teams work with our board software, the Electronic Hardware (EH) team actually creates our PCBs. From flight computers to telemetry receivers, to motor control boards, to power distribution electronics — we select board components, create engineering schematics, and assemble our electronics in-house. E-Hardware defines the rocket’s “payload” — and the best part? We’ll teach you everything you need to know.
Software
Whether it’s writing flight-critical code, working on our in-house ground station, or working with other teams to improve models, the Software (SW) team is chiefly responsible for writing our team’s code, in whatever capacity is needed.
Whether you’re a veteran programmer or complete newcomer, we have resources and projects for you.
Guidance, Navigation, & Control
The Guidance, Navigation, & Controls (GNC) team is responsible for our vehicle state estimation, and works with the SDA team to predict the vehicle’s flight envelope for every flight.
Alongside flight-software adjacent projects, GNC also works on a multitude of our autonomous control projects, such as our automated antenna tracking system (SAM) and the control system of our automated relay drone.
Avionics Leads
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Thomas McManamen
Avionics Lead
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Chethan Karandikar
Electronic Hardware Lead
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Divij Garg
GNC Lead
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Raj Kontham
Software Lead
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Ryan Verrette
AV Structures Lead