UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
PDR PRESENTATION
OUTLINE
Project Organization
 Vehicle Design
 Payload Design
 Recovery System
 Simulations
 Future Work

PROJECT ORGANIZATION
OUTLINE
Project Organization
 Vehicle Design
 Payload Design
 Recovery System
 Simulations
 Future Work

Section
MATERIAL
AND DIMENSIONS
 Material: Reinforced Phenolic
 Diameter: 4 inches
 Length: 96.75 inches
 Weight: 22.55 lbs
Component
Fins/ Motor Mount
Weight (lbs)
7.6
Electronics Bay
8.61
Recovery System
1.26
Nose Cone
1.54
Airframe/Paint
3.49
Total
22.55
Nosecone
Length (in)
15.75
Upper Airframe
28
Middle Airframe
13
Lower Airframe
40
Total
96.75
SYSTEM BREAKDOWN
Nosecone
Avionics Bay
Main Parachute
Flight Computer
Drogue Parachute
G10 Fins
Main Piston
Aileron Deflection
Package
Drogue Piston
LFD Fins
STABILITY CHARACTERISTICS
CG
CP
• The center of pressure (CP) is located 79.427" from the
nose tip
• The center of gravity (CG) is located 72.715" from the
nose tip
• Static Stability Margin of 1.68 increasing to 2.20 at
motor burnout
VEHICLE VERIFICATION
Vehicle verification focused on safe recovery and
reliable platform for LFD payload
 Testing will be done to allow triple redundancy
for drogue and main separation events
 Accurate Stress analysis for all components

OUTLINE
Project Organization
 Vehicle Design
 Payload Design
 Recovery System
 Simulations
 Future Work

LATERAL FLIGHT DYNAMICS PAYLOAD
Study of Lateral Dynamics of Rocket during
flight
 Attempts to quantify natural roll dampening of
rocket
 Compares natural roll dampening to dampening
due to AIM 9M passive stabilization system
 Determine resulting couple moment due to
unlocked rollerons
 Consists of LFD Fin, ADP, and Electronics

LFD FINS
Rolleron
Trim
Potentiometer
PC Fin Halves
Linear
Actuator
G10 Mount
¼” Barrel Bolts
•G10 Mount epoxied to motor tube
•2 fin halves bolted to permanent mount
•Linear Actuator and Rolleron integrated separately
AILERON DEFLECTION PACKAGE
Aileron
Bevel
Gears
Servo
Motor
Torsional
Springs
Gearbox
ELECTRONICS
Raspberry Pi
 Controls servo motor for
ADP
 Commands unlocking of
Rollerons
 Collects flight dynamics
data from gyros and trim
potentiometers

PAYLOAD VERIFICATION
Ensure Launch Vehicle will be stable with
integrated Payload.
 Reliability of all systems allows for quality data
acquisition.

OUTLINE
Project Organization
 Vehicle Design
 Payload Design
 Recovery System
 Simulations
 Future Work

RECOVERY
All payload systems remain with launch vehicle
 Drogue parachute released at apogee
 Wires unplug from LFD fins using umbilical connection
 Main parachute released at 700 ft AGL

VEHICLE RECOVERY
Drogue parachute 24 inches in diameter (x-form)
 Descent velocity: 65 ft/s
 Main parachute 96 inches in diameter (circular)
 Descent velocity: 17 ft/s

Kinetic Energy at Landing
Component
Nosecone
Upper Airframe
Lower Airframe
Descent Velocity
(ft/s)
17
17
17
Mass (slugs)
Kinetic Energy (ft-lbf)
1.51
10.16
14.07
6.776242236
45.59378882
63.14021739
RECOVERY SYSTEM INTEGRATION
Drogue parachute housed in lower airframe,
below electronics bay
 First separation event utilizes piston ejection and
drag generated by fins for reliable separation
 Main parachute housed in upper airframe, above
electronics bay
 Second separation event utilizes piston ejection
 Shear pins prevent premature separation of
nosecone and of lower airframe

RECOVERY REDUNDANCY
Dual PerfectFlite StratoLogger altimeters
 Two-way communication via Raspberry Pi allows
use of manual charge detonation system.
 System will be tested thoroughly before put into
use.
 Ground/Software Testing
 Flight Testing

OUTLINE
Project Organization
 Vehicle Design
 Payload Design
 Recovery System
 Simulations
 Future Work

FLIGHT SIMULATIONS
OpenRocket and MATLAB used to simulate the
rocket’s flight
 MATLAB code is 1-DOF that uses ode45
 Allows the user to vary coefficient of drag for
different parts of the rocket
 Wind tunnel testing and full-scale demonstration
will allow more accurate Cd values

PRELIMINARY RESULTS
MATLAB code is compared with OpenRocket
 Maximum altitude approximately 190 ft. lower
than OpenRocket but still near target
 High target altitude to account for drag due to
LFD Payload

MOTOR CHOICE
Cesaroni L1720
 Max Thrust 394 lb
 Impulse 831 lb-s
 Powerful motor allows altitude to be met with
increased drag due to LFD Payload.
 Gives a thrust to weight ratio of 13.1

OUTLINE
Project Organization
 Vehicle Design
 Payload Design
 Recovery System
 Simulations
 Future Work

FUTURE WORK
Refine designs and tolerance all components
 Successfully fulfill subscale flight requirements
while testing flight software
 Begin manufacturing of rollerons, LFD fins, and
ADP
 Continue community outreach and educational
engagement functions
 Name Rocket
