Subteam · 02

Embedded Systems.

Hardware, firmware, and autonomous control — the brain and nervous system of the drone.

About

Where hardware
meets software.

The Embedded Systems subteam sits at the intersection of hardware and software. We design and integrate the electronics that make the drone tick — flight controllers, companion computers, sensors, power systems, and communication links.

We also develop the autonomous control algorithms that allow the drone to navigate, stabilize, and execute competition missions without a human pilot in the loop.

Focus Areas

What we work on.

Flight Controller Integration

Configuring and tuning the flight controller (Pixhawk / ArduPilot / PX4) for low-level stabilization, motor mixing, and attitude control.

Sensors, Power & Communication

Integrating GPS, IMU, rangefinders, telemetry radios, and camera interfaces alongside battery selection, power distribution, and ESC wiring.

Companion Computer

Integrating an onboard NVIDIA Jetson running high-level autonomy, exchanging control parameters with the Pixhawk over uXRCE-DDS, and interfacing with perception outputs.

Autonomous Controls

Control loops, state machines, and mission planners for autonomous waypoint navigation, and mission task execution.

MAVLink PWM GPS IMU FLIGHT CONTROLLER COMPANION COMPUTER M1 M2 M3 M4

Software Stack

How it's built.

Our autonomy software stack is built on ROS 2 and interfaces with the flight controller via MAVLink / MAVROS.

Hardware Abstraction MAVLink / MAVROS bridge between companion computer and flight controller
State Estimation EKF-based pose estimation fusing GPS, IMU, and barometer
Mission Planning Waypoint sequencing and dynamic replanning
Perception Interface Subscribes to target detections from the Perception subteam
Ground Control MAVProxy / QGroundControl for telemetry and monitoring

Meetings

When we meet.

Hardware Session

Fridays 4:00–5:00 PM

SlugWorks BE-49

Message on Discord to join — we'll help you set up the dev environment.