Project Nixus update: electronics testing phase

11th October 2022

Perle

Kiera Sowery

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Project Nixus, sponsored by Perle Systems, has completed the tests to verify the IOLAN Device Server and IDS Industrial PoE Switch can be integrated into the ground infrastructure of their liquid-fueled sounding rocket.

Perle announced sponsorship of Project Nixus in August of 2022. The project, run by a student group at the Technische Universität München (TUM), aims to design a liquid-fueled sounding rocket that will hit a target altitude of 30,000 feet (9144 m) as accurately as possible in international competitions such as the Spaceport America Cup and the European Rocketry Challenge.

Antonio Steiger, Electronics Team Lead for Project Nixus, commented: “With the Perle IOLAN we are converting RS485 to Ethernet for a simple wired connection from the rocket flight computers to the Chronos ground control launchpad interface. We successfully integrated our secondary flight computer via the IOLAN, allowing us to reconnect to the flight computer if the connection is physically lost at any point. One of the things we particularly like about the IOLAN is that the documentation is exceptionally thorough. The device feels like it was made for engineers. We can use it to implement anything we want and run diagnostics via SSH to help us detect errors. The LEDs on the device are implemented extremely cleanly and are a great help in development. The web interface is also very intuitive, and we use it regularly.”

The IDS-108FPP Industrial PoE Switch is used to supply 30 watts of power to several IP cameras that will monitor the rocket from the launch pad and provide important insights to the team of rocket scientists sitting in the ground control station. Steiger comments, “All testing of the ground infrastructure was successfully carried out via the Perle IDS Switch and the WebRTC protocol. With this combination, we were able to achieve an average latency of less than 164ms for live video in the browser. This far exceeds the standard 460ms latency of camera manufacturers. We are really impressed with the compact form factor of the Perle Switch and the reliable display of activity in the network with the LEDs.”

Steiger concluded: “This is where the project really gathers pace. We will be testing our igniter soon."