Under construction

Vespula Avionics Module

Redesign and validation of a 48 V flight engine controller for valve actuation, ignition, and sensor acquisition

Revision Responsible Engineer

AvionicsEmbedded SystemsPower Electronics

Schematic

Exported PDF/SVG sheets.

Layout

Copper layer inspector.

3D Model

STEP board preview.

Notes

Design wiki and bring-up notes.

Case Study

Engineering Summary

48 V

Vehicle Bus

15+

Control Pins Remapped

Valves / Igniters

Actuation Outputs

RTD / PT / Differential

Sensor Interfaces

A six-layer flight engine controller operating from the vehicle's 48 V avionics bus. The board commands solenoid valves and igniters while acquiring differential sensors, RTDs, and pressure transducers used during engine start and shutdown. After major first-revision faults were found, I owned the electrical and PCB revision, led bring-up, and became the board's day-to-day operational owner.

Design Focus

  • Audit and correct inherited schematic and pin-mapping errors
  • Restore stable igniter power by correcting converter behavior and compensation
  • Correct ADC signal polarity and digital boot-state conflicts
  • Separate high-current actuation paths from low-level sensor acquisition
  • Verify the revised board behaves predictably during engine-control operations

This case study is under construction; public evidence is focused on the revision story, layout, and 3D board view.

Layers
6
Stackup
Six copper-layer avionics module PCB exported from Altium Gerbers
Tools
Altium, Oscilloscope, Bench Supply
Key Parts
BeagleBone control interface, Solenoid valve drivers, Igniter power circuitry, Differential sensor interfaces, RTD interfaces, Pressure transducer interfaces, Power conversion and compensation network