Ever since the first Black Magic Missile Works Universal Flight Controller (UFC-2) in 2007 we have developed systems designed to support all levels of higher education in rocketry and related computer hardware/software engineering. We started by mentoring a group of students at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) who flew our UFC-2 several times.
Today we have four different products perfectly suited for various levels of University programs such as the NASA University Student Launch Initiative (USLI):
• UFC-4 is our latest offering replacing the venerable UFC-2 with higher performance at a lower cost and more highly integrated package including: 80 MHz. PSoC ARM CPU, 128MB Flight Log memory, high altitude Altimeter, 3-Axis Accelerometer, two constant current Pyro channels, 8 User Digital I/O lines, up to 8 User Analog Input lines standard along with optional long range Telemetry, GPS, 3-Axis Inertial Sensor and 3-Axis Magnetic Compass. The system provides all the necessary sensing and control functions for many levels of rocketry projects with full user programmability at the system level (Flight Operations Scripts)
• UFC-4D is a variant of UFC-4 with the same hardware, but in addition all the necessary PSoC design files and low level drivers along with the complete tool chain so that students can develop their own flight control software using the UFC-4 hardware platform
• UFC-3 is our modular system with 200 MHz. ARM 9 CPU Base Module and a dozen different option modules that support long range Telemetry, GPS, 3-Axis Inertial Sensor, High Power Pyro Drivers, ADC modules, Battery modules, etc. Up to 8 modules can be assembled to form practically any configuration system needed. Additional nodes can be linked together to create advanced distributed or redundant systems
• UFC-3-OSD is our latest UFC-3 module, the Open System Developer's Module (OSDM). UFC-3 is normally programmed via user written Flight Operations Scripts, however the OSDM allows the user to create custom modules and software to control special applications such as flight stabilization systems or liquid/hybrid motor control. The on-board 80 MHz. PSoC ARM CPU communicates with the UFC-3 Base Module and coordinates operations in a seamless manner. Like the UFC-4U, the OSDM offers a complete tool chain with schematic capture at the gate or higher component level as well as Verilog HDL. C and C++ compilers and debugger provide all the tools needed to develop sophisticated applications