For the 2026 Launch Canada competition, our Horizon Aerospace team is building a high-power research rocket, and I’ve led the design of a custom flight computer tailored to our mission profile. This embedded system manages everything from in-flight stability to critical recovery events, delivering a robust, all-in-one avionics platform.
Why This Project?
Off-the-shelf flight computers often fail to meet the unique demands of advanced rocketry, especially where tight integration with active control surfaces and complex telemetry is required. By designing our own system, we gain full flexibility, performance optimization, and the ability to tailor safety-critical behaviors exactly to our needs.
Core Capabilities
Advanced Sensing & State Estimation
- A suite of sensors provides precise in-flight orientation, altitude, positioning, and environmental data.
- Real-time sensor fusion enables reliable flight state awareness under dynamic launch conditions.
Active Control Systems
Our system directly drives:
- TVC (Thrust Vector Control) for fine pitch and yaw adjustments by actuating the motor mount.
- Roll control fins to stabilize the vehicle’s axial rotation during ascent.
This allows our rocket to maintain a targeted trajectory and maximize altitude efficiency — critical for competitive scoring.
Intelligent Telemetry & Logging
- Continuously logs flight data onboard for post-flight analysis.
- Streams down real-time telemetry via a long-range radio link to a custom ground dashboard, ensuring we can monitor vital parameters live throughout the flight.
Automated Recovery & Payload Handling
- Precisely times and triggers the firing of ejection charges for parachute deployment based on altitude and velocity data, ensuring safe descent and recovery.
- Interfaces with payload systems (e.g., onboard cameras) to start recordings or experiments at specific mission phases.
Technical Highlights
- MCU Platform: STM32 microcontroller running a custom embedded application optimized for deterministic control loops.
- Multi-modal sensors: VRU for orientation, barometer for altitude, GPS for positioning, along with additional environment sensors for temp and humidity.
- Secure, noise-resistant power architecture: Designed to handle the harsh electrical environment of a high-thrust rocket launch.
- Custom PCB: Created in Altium, incorporating tight layout constraints to maintain signal integrity for high-speed sensor and control lines.
Designed for Seamless Integration
The system is modular — capable of interfacing with external actuators, sensors, and telemetry systems. This means it integrates directly into our rocket’s avionics bay without requiring design compromises on other subsystems, streamlining our full-stack aerospace platform.
Looking Ahead
- We’re building in fail-safe logic and redundant sensor streams to handle edge-case anomalies during flight.
- Future iterations may add in-flight trajectory correction logic for advanced mission profiles and autonomous decision making.