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System architecture

Scope

This description is derived from the archived firmware and the 2016 thesis. It documents the intended prototype architecture; it is not a current as-built verification.

Data path

The vehicle-side MCF51QE128 controller centralizes low-level acquisition and actuation. It samples inertial, magnetic, temperature, pressure, water-presence, and battery signals. A 27-byte frame is sent over UART to an onboard pcDuino. The onboard computer was intended to log the data and relay it to a surface station. Commands travel in the reverse direction as 10-byte frames.

                                      Ethernet / vehicle link
Sensors ──► MCF51QE128 ──UART──► onboard pcDuino ─────────────► surface station
                  ▲                       │                           │
                  └──── PWM / GPIO        └──── logging              └ visualization
                        actuators

Embedded controller

The main firmware project is under MCU Firmware/X-Sub MCU Firmware/. Processor Expert generated peripheral drivers while project-specific logic lives mainly in Sources/xSub.c, Sources/xSub.h, Sources/OneWire.c, and Sources/main.c.

The archived configuration shows:

  • MCF51QE128 32-bit ColdFire V1 microcontroller;
  • I²C acquisition for MPU-6050 and HMC6352 devices;
  • 1-Wire support for a DS18B20 temperature sensor;
  • ADC channels for pressure and battery measurement;
  • digital water-presence inputs;
  • PWM outputs for four ESCs, two camera servos, and two lights;
  • status LEDs and a UART link to the onboard computer.

Boards

The project contains two principal Altium designs:

  1. PCB/X-Sub_Board/ - acquisition, control, expansion, and sensor interfaces.
  2. PCB/pcDuino Link Board/ - power distribution and signal interconnection between the main controller and pcDuino.

Manufacturing outputs are preserved where they existed. They must be reviewed against the source design and a current fabrication rule set before reuse.

Operator-side experiments

The Python 3.4 scripts demonstrate early serial, GPS, threading, and logging work. LabVIEW and Simulink artifacts demonstrate visualization and inertial spectrum-analysis experiments. These parts are prototypes, not an integrated current application.

Maintained boundary

Only the documentation, repository automation, integrity checks, and tools/xsub_protocol.py are maintained with current open-source tooling. Legacy project compatibility is documented but not asserted.