Embedded Systems develops the electronics and software that allow the IREC vehicle to sense, process, communicate, and respond throughout flight. The subteam owns flight computers, sensors, telemetry, onboard data acquisition, control electronics, electrical integration, power distribution, and the interfaces required to operate active systems such as airbrakes and canards.

The team sits at the intersection of software, electrical engineering, controls, and mechatronics. Its work connects the physical rocket to the data and commands needed to understand vehicle behavior in real time.

Core systems include flight computers, custom electronics, sensor packages, telemetry hardware, ground-station interfaces, power systems, actuator controllers, wiring harnesses, data-logging systems, control electronics, and subsystem communication networks.

Depending on the vehicle architecture, Embedded may also support recovery electronics, propulsion instrumentation, pressure sensing, temperature sensing, actuator feedback, GPS tracking, and onboard health monitoring.

The vehicle can collect acceleration, angular velocity, orientation, altitude, pressure, GPS position, velocity, actuator position, battery voltage, current draw, temperature, control commands, system state, and subsystem health.

Typical sensor classes include IMUs for acceleration and angular-rate measurement, barometers for altitude estimation, GPS modules for position and recovery, encoders for actuator position, pressure sensors for fluid or propulsion-related systems, and current/voltage sensors for electrical health.

The purpose of these measurements is not simply to record the flight. The data supports control systems, recovery, post-flight analysis, simulation validation, fault detection, and future vehicle development.

The flight computer serves as the central processing system for onboard sensing and control. It reads sensors, executes flight logic, processes state information, records data, communicates with the ground, and commands active hardware.

Important design considerations include processor capability, input/output availability, timing requirements, sampling rates, memory, communication interfaces, power consumption, software reliability, redundancy, and compatibility with the rest of the vehicle.

Embedded software handles sensor acquisition, actuator commands, communication, state logic, fault handling, timing, and data storage.

Relevant programming areas include C, C++, Python, embedded firmware, state machines, interrupt handling, timing, data parsing, sensor drivers, communication protocols, control logic, filtering, calibration, and post-flight data processing.

Onboard software is typically separated from off-board analysis. Embedded C or C++ may be used for real-time firmware, while Python can support test automation, plotting, calibration, telemetry analysis, and data processing.