This semester, the computer team has been hard at work developing software and hardware solutions to operate the rover. Members of the computer team have been developing software to control the LIDAR sensor, GPS sensor, and communications antennas. In addition to software, members of the computer team have developed preliminary circuit designs for the rover.
Figure 1.1: Chassis Circuit Design
This design has a 48V power source that is split into a 24V rail. The 24V rail is used to measure the battery power. The 48V rail is used the run the motors and the “Computer Case” which holds the rover’s brains.
Figure 1.2: Computer Case Circuit Design
In the Computer Case, the 48V input is downgraded to 5V using a DC voltage converter. The 5V signal is then used to power the client-host set up; the host being a Raspberry Pi 4+ and the clients being 4 Arduino Uno/Mega(s). This set up allows for a robust I/O system that can be adjusted based on the requirements of the system. This set up is also modular, making it easy for an item to be replaced should it go bad.
The goal of these designs is to get an idea of what the rover layout will look like and how to connect everything once hardware comes in.