The WRECtangle is an onboard flight computer designed during my time as the propulsion manager at the Wildcat Rocket Engineering Club (WREC).Â
This is a full flight computer, providing data acquisition, roll control, and remote telemetry capabilities. It will be the brains for WREC's more advanced rocket, named "Jebediah" (Jeb). This board will operate servo-actuated and solenoid valves to control the propulsion system of this rocket, among other things. I have several documents detailing the functionality, requirements, chips themselves, and everything else about this board. I may add it in a future version of this website, so if you're curious, let me know!
The project began in summer 2025 and is ongoing. The next test is scheduled for Feb 28, 2025, where it will attempt to demonstrate roll control capability.
Design work began during the summer vacation, outlining desired functionality, constraints, and system integration plans. I designed the board in KiCAD, with some tips from friends along the way. Believe it or not, I taught myself KiCAD through this.
The actual work of building the WRECtangle is a currently ongoing process. Currently, we have PCBs manufactured by JLCpcb, with components from DigiKey. The SMT soldering is our current challenge.
Testing and validation are the final phase of the WRECtangle development. There are plans to integrate the WRECtangle onto a small test tank, to spin it up and see if the WRECtangle and RCS are indeed capable of roll control. The RCS block is shown above, as manufactured on a CNC mill.