Project Years: 2024-2025
Contributors: Joshua Sumaylo, Matthew Thomson
Altium365 Project: https://americas-starr-university-of-alberta.365.altium.com/designs/74D29272-ABEF-4D3F-B6B4-FBBE3B48BB5E
Github Repo: N/A
The Bluetooth Diagnostics Board was conceived as a daughterboard to the STM32 Motherboard V1, which was supposed to relay diagnostics data about the entire avionics system while on the pad or during assembly. Ironically, the board evolved during development into something that almost looked like an altimeter. Using many of the same sensors as the SRAD Altimeter from the year before and using the same microcontroller as the Blue Raven, the Bluetooth Diagnostic Board was an altimeter (without firing channels) for all intents and purposes.
Unfortunately, because it was ordered so late, we had almost no time to program the board for Launch Canada 2025. We managed to get some sensor data to be sent to the motherboard and to save that data to the motherboard’s SD card. However, since Ringo IIIB did not fly, we never got a chance to see how the sensors performed.
The idea of a dedicated board to send Bluetooth data is actually kind of silly. Bluetooth capability should be intrinsic to one of the boards, like the motherboard/flight computer. It should be implemented as a secondary microcontroller on the board, or as a dedicated low energy bluetooth module. Or, diagnostics data should be sent over LoR, allowing us to notice any issues even after leaving the pad.
There’s not much more to this design other than that it is missing a method to store flight data on the board itself and a way to fire e-matches. It’s really a mix between the GPS Power Distribution Board and the SRAD Altimeter. Check out the reviews for those boards.
The Bluetooth Diagnostics board was mostly a byproduct of a strangely designed avionics system that was stripped down in functionality, which caused the board’s scope to morph as more features were cut. The original idea of a dedicated board for Bluetooth connectivity is unnecessary, and better solutions should be designed in the future. The core design principles and sensors used for the Bluetooth Diagnostics Board for a generic SRAD altimeter remain the same for future projects.