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Linux-Powered Amateur Rocket Goes USB

Issue 181

From Issue #181
May 2009

May 01, 2009  By Sarah Sharp
 in
The next Portland State Aerospace Society rocket, scheduled for first launch this summer, will have new hardware, including a switch from CAN to USB.
Advanced LPC2148 USB Devices

This very simple code could be extended to make all sorts of USB devices. The isochronous IN endpoint could send sensor data like temperature, pressure or GPS readings. It also could send video, still frames or audio data. It even could be hooked up to a motion detector. The possibilities are endless with the Olimex's breakout board.

If you want to follow the Portland State Aerospace Society's development of LPC2148 USB avionics sensor nodes, join the psas-avionics list (see Resources).

PSAS hopes to do an airframe-only launch in Bend, Oregon, this summer. Our goal is to have working USB avionics nodes and a working Linux flight computer by October 2009. On October 2–4, the Arizona High Power Rocketry Association hosts the BALLS amateur rocketry event. If you're at the BALLS event in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada, or if you're still hanging around after Burning Man, stop by and say hello.

Figure 9. PSAS 2009 Group Photo (Photo Credit: Sarah Sharp). Front row, left to right: Ken Zeigler, Jason Peterson, Andrew Greenberg, Daniel Heinlein, Nathan Bergey, Sarah Sharp. Middle row, left to right: Fletcher Hazlehurst and Frank Mathew. Back row, left to right: Ai Ling Chen, Jeremy Booth, Tim Brandon, Dave Camarillo, Kay Wilson, Mike Engstrom, Jamey Sharp, Josh Triplett, Theo Hill, Ian Osgood. Active PSAS members not pictured: Dan Kirkpatrick and Maria Webster.

Resources

Portland State Aerospace Society: psas.pdx.edu

NXP's LPC2148: www.nxp.com/pip/LPC2141_42_44_46_48_4.html

LPCUSB Wiki: wiki.sikken.nl/index.php?title=LPCUSB

svcs.cs.pdx.edu Mailing Lists: lists.psas.pdx.edu/mailman/listinfo

BALLS 18: www.balls17.com

Sarah Sharp graduated from Portland State University in 2007, but she continues to be an active member of the Portland State Aerospace Society. Sarah currently works at Intel's Open Source Technology Center as a Linux USB kernel hacker. Her blog can be found at sarah.thesharps.us.

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Way more than a couple of

Pasha's picture
Submitted by Pasha (not verified) on Wed, 05/13/2009 - 14:01.

Way more than a couple of miles from Bend. I was there.

cool

kali's picture
Submitted by kali (not verified) on Tue, 05/05/2009 - 19:34.

as i have just got my 1st new pc out of the box , i now know there are no limets to what we can do with out xp ' cool love it

Gyro's ??

Anonymous's picture
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 05/03/2009 - 08:33.

do ya think its time to try playing with some
gyro-based nav system?

Ham

W7DAH's picture
Submitted by W7DAH (not verified) on Sat, 05/02/2009 - 13:15.

Call sign?

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