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Twelve steps from a blinking LED to a data logger that survives a flight

Flight Computer Firmware

AfriOrbit's Morgan State University avionics progression, one concept per step, ending in a working CSV flight recorder on an ESP32 with a BMP280 and an MPU6050.
Foundation5 h6 lessons1 simulatorHardware requiredarduinoesp32sensorsi2cdataloggingrocketry

What you will be able to do

  • Write non-blocking firmware using millis() rather than delay()
  • Discover and address I2C devices without being told their addresses
  • Configure a BMP280 and an MPU6050 and read calibrated values
  • Build a CSV data logger with a stable schema and a fail-fast startup

Syllabus

Module 1

Foundations

Output, input, and the single most important lesson in embedded timing.

Module 2

Sensors and storage

Find the devices, read them properly, and write the data somewhere it survives.

Assessment

Flight computer check

Graded. Everything here refers to the AfriOrbit avionics firmware.

5 questions, graded once you are signed in.

Source material

AfriOrbit Morgan-State-Rocketry-Program: Avionics-Software/Source Code (12 sketches) and avionics-hardware (MSU-avionics v0.1 by Edwin Mwiti, 2024).