The Academic Space Initiative Switzerland (ARIS) offers invaluable hands-on experience for students passionate about aerospace. Each year, ARIS commits to sending a highly motivated team of students from ETH Zurich and other Swiss universities to the European Rocketry Challenge. This competition not only unites teams from across Europe but also puts their engineering efforts to the test through a series of contests, evaluating various aspects of rocket design and functionality in different competition categories.
One of the most critical components of every ARIS rocket is its flight computer. Based on the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4, the flight computer is responsible for processing diverse sensor data and controlling actuators. It detects the launch of the rocket using acceleration data received over CAN Bus from the sensor carrier board. At apogee, the nose cone is separated, and a steerable parachute deploys. The Guidance, Navigation, and Control algorithm then steers the rocket to a designated landing spot.
The flight computer board features a board-to-board connector for the Compute Module and hardware that enables the Raspberry Pi to communicate over CAN Bus with other boards within the rocket. Additionally, the flight computer board includes two small GPS daughterboards. Each GPS Carrier is an independent board that sits on top of the flight computer board, equipped with a high-precision ZED-F9P-04B GPS module from U-Blox. Various connectors are provided for troubleshooting, allowing developers to quickly flash new firmware, configure the sensors, and monitor the system’s status. Furthermore, various LEDs help quickly identify the system status.
Aisler’s support allows the team to rapidly develop and iterate prototypes, ensuring that ARIS’s hardware is not only innovative but also reliable and durable, ready to meet the challenges posed by rocketry. We are grateful to have Aisler as a sponsor for our team.
