BRAT is a 3-inch sub-scale flight vehicle designed to test BRAT, a controlled airbrake system. On February 8th, BRAT was successfully launched on an Aerotech K1103X at Tripoli Association in Wisconsin (TAW), reaching 6,000ft. The data confirmed that airbrake system deployed all drag flaps as intended.
The Attitude Heading Reference System (AHRS) uses various accelerometer, gyroscope, and barometer readings to determine the rocket’s location and attitude during flight. The AHRS acts as the Navigation portion of the system. The System Controller reads the flight data from the AHRS and calculates the corrective actions needed to achieve the targeted apogee. This functions as the Guidance portion of the system. Lastly, using the corrective actions calculated by the System Controller, the Drag Flap System extends or retracts the Drag Flaps to alter the magnitude of the drag force. This is the Control portion of the system.
CFD Software was used to determine the influence drag flap extension angle and velocity have on the rocket’s drag coefficient. These curves will be used in the Correction Calculation Algorithm.
To accomplish active control, our air brake system needs to implement a feedback control loop. This can be broken down into 3 major steps: Sensor Data Acquisition/Processing, Correction Calculations, and Correction Execution.