Our Projects
Exoskeleton
The Exoskeleton research project had us develop digital control system that handles the functioning of a miniature turbine operating at speeds over 100,000 rpm.
The Exoskeleton program itself was designed to give soldiers an external powered framework that would assist in lifting running or carrying large loads. Our job was to control a miniature turbine that would provide power to the separate joints implemented.
One interesting aspect of this project is that the turbine, when sufficiently geared down, would simulate the function of a body part such as the human bicep or leg muscle. The actuation would be controlled by pressure sensors detecting the motion of individual wearing the skeleton.
The control system would operate air valves that regulate the air flow over the turbine. The actuation and the responsivity of the turbine has to be 10 times greater bandwidth than a human muscle in order to operate effectively. Also, do to the non-linear nature of the valves used, pulse modulation control was implemented.
Another design restriction was the use of low-cost electronics. 12-bit processors were used to implement the control algorithm. To simplify the algorithm we implemented a fixed pulsed variable width pulse modulation. This algorithm was first modeled using Simulink and MatLab and finally coded into microchip assembly language.
This researched projected proved successful in meeting the stated objectives and the results and was demonstrated and previewed by US House committee members.
OUR OTHER PROJECTS:
Generic Tracking Radiometer
IR Tracking Radiometer
Pack Rat: Data Collector
Raven Display Unit
Steel Phoenix
Exoskeleton
Warhead: Data Collector
IFOG Test Bed
CATS I, CATS II
Sleep Assist Prototype
Emergency Locater
NiMHd Battery Charger
White Light Inferometer
Ethernet com. analyzer