European Rover Challenge 2023

Modular and redundant Electronics System

Kerby's electronics uses multiple nodes, all of which can communicate in a plug-and-play manner with multiple sensors. All nodes share the same firmware and automatically detect and configure a sensor when connected and up to 3 sensor can be connected to a single node. A redundant CAN-FD bus is used for all sensors (which is also often used in real space missions) to ensure no single point of failure. A custom CLI (Command Line Interface) has also been developed for monitoring, calibration, profiling and debugging. All sensor parameters (e.g. calibration) can also be changed on the fly and are saved on the OBC (Jetson Xavier). Additionally, the board is powered by a custom module providing over/undervoltage, short-circuit and reverse-input protection.