We spent about a year developing two altimeters. 9/11 and the shrinkage of the High Power market made us shelve them and convert over to Low Power.

The first one had a 175 word vocabulary for speech output, three pyro events, accelerometer and barometric sensors with 16 bit accuracy. I could measure height to about 4" accuracy. It was going to have a BASIC interpreter for user programming. Inputs were available for GPS and future expansion.

The second one was accurate to a few feet, used a single AAA battery, and would fit in a ST-7 (BT-20). We were targeting it for around $45 for the LP market.

I did much embedded processor work at Telex and Forvus. Our model rocket engine static test stand uses a PIC processor. We will use multiple PIC's on the engine machine for modularity and distributed intelligence.

It is hard not to attempt to design a processor for TARC that would use AI to stop the rocket at the exact altitude and then control the descent to hit the exact recovery time. If I was 16 again, I would be consumed by that problem.

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Carl McLawhorn
NAR#4717 L2
semroc.com