Introduction Overview Hardware Software
Results Conclusions Code Schematic
Photos Costs Roles References

 
 
 
   
Speed of Execution

The speed at which these tests can be performed is remarkable. These tests used to manually take about an hour and fifteen minutes. The same test can now be done in under a minute!

Quantitative

Voltage Measurements:
Regulator Circuit: .1% accuracy @ 2.7V or lower
Coils Circuit: 3% accuracy*

Current Measurements:
Regulator Circuit: .15% accuracy @ 2.7V or lower
Coils Circuit: .5% accuracy

* Less accurate due to the inability to turn off the second MUX in current revision.

Comparison to Manual Testing:

Many variables, but diagnostics between PCB and manual testing are comparable for voltages that we can actually apply without damaging the circuit.

Safety

This board implements a circuit breaker that will trip if the power board shorts out. This is mainly to prevent a wall adapter from being broken or possibly preventing a building circuit breaker from being tripped. Also, this will limit current in the board to 2A. In the future, fuses should be added to different areas of the circuit to prevent damage to individual areas.

Interference
We did not receive interference from other groups and we are fairly certain harmful interference was not emitted. However, this was not carefully studied and should be reviewed prior finalizing the design, especially before integrating into a satellite.

Usability
While the design of this project is not finalized, we found the board to be very usable and surprisingly immune to shorting. The software is functional, but for the satellite implementation, a scripting language would make more sense as the feedback mechanism is logistically better and we could potentially run new scripts from the ground upon error.

 


Cornell University - ECE 476 Final Project
Bryan Doyle & Michael Austin - Spring 2005