TritonUAS Autonomous Aircraft Team

TritonUAS is an engineering project team building autonomous UAV systems, including VTOL fixed wings and quadrotors, at the University of California, San Diego.

We are a team of around 50 engineering students who compete each year in the international Student UAS Competition, hosted by RoboNation. Within our team, there are three engineering sub-teams: Mechanical, Electrical, and Software.

The electrical team designs, builds, and integrates custom PCBs and electronics for our aircraft. This includes projects like:

Powerboard.

The powerboard team is responsible for power distribution across the entire aircraft. This starts from the LiPo battery pack and brings power to the heavy lift motors, control servos, and avionics. This team is working on building a rugged and capable PCB to keep the internal electronics of the plane clean and manageable.

Signals board.

The signals board team is responsible for managing auxiliary sensor data and communications from payload and monitoring systems on the aircraft. They are building a PCB to handle sensors communicating over different protocols, such as CAN, I2C, and UART. This PCB will interface directly with the flight controller and provide additional data on the state and safety of the aircraft.

Payload.

The payload team is responsible for the electronics and controls of our guided payload system. The payload must make a safe descent to the ground by steering its parachute with the use of micro-servos and a control board.

Camera gimbal.

The camera gimbal team is responsible for designing and building the board that will control the camera gimbal motors and maintain a fixed stare of our high-resolution camera at the ground. This board will interface directly with the signals board and take power from the powerboard.

Below are some photos of our previous PCB design work that we will be expanding on this year!