Remote Power System Monitoring and Management of a Teleoperated Mars Rover

Abstract

This paper discusses the battery management system (BMS) and power distribution system used on a teleoperated rover used in the Mars Society University Rover Challenge competition (URC). The BMS monitors telemetry generated battery and can also receive commands from operators at a remote base station. The system is responsible for monitoring current draw of the entire rover, and voltage present in the battery array. The system can autonomously reconfigure the rover systems to isolate and recover from fault conditions. Operators at the remote base station can also command the systems to reconfigure the rover power distribution configuration.