Emmanuel Che's Engineering Portfolio

Altium & KiCAD

150+ hours

Schematic capture, PCB layout, and DFM for analog, digital, mixed-signal, and power electronics designs in Altium and KiCAD.

Hardware Validation

30+ hours

Bench validation of power rails, digital interfaces, and board behavior using oscilloscopes, DMMs, and Python during bring-up.

Power Tree Design

4+ designs

Designed efficient battery-powered power trees using bucks and LDOs, with component selection, power budgeting, and multi-rail distribution for custom PCBs.

PCB Assembly

10+ boards

Hand-assembled and reworked PCB prototypes for bring-up and validation, including solder, component, and connectivity troubleshooting.

Professional Experience

SpaceX — Incoming PCB Engineering Intern

Upcoming Fall 2026 internship.

Fall 2026

Droplet Pharma — Electronics Engineering Intern

Upcoming Summer 2026 internship.

Summer 2026

Clubs & Organizations

UV Project — Underwater Vehicle Platform

Designing custom electronics for a compact underwater vehicle platform, contributing across power, control, sensing, telemetry, and hardware validation.

2026 - Present

Highlander Space Program — Student Liquid Rocket Team

Supporting a student liquid rocket team through the full PCB design cycle, from schematic capture and layout to hand assembly and hardware validation.

2024 - Present

Highlander Racing — Formula Student (FSAE)

Supporting PCB design and implementation for a student Formula SAE team in a real build, integration, and test environment.

2023 - 2024

Projects

Highlander Space Program

Avionics Hardware Engineer

Developing UCR’s liquid rocket program through Project Poseidon, where our team successfully launched UCR’s first liquid rocket. As part of the avionics hardware team, I contributed to custom PCBs used for ignition, fill, fire, telemetry, and ground control, with our upcoming LOX based Project Clementine now in development.

My Work and Contributions

2025

Pad Controller PCB

4-layer STM32 ground-control board for remote valve actuation, pyro control, CAN distribution, and pad-side command handling.

2026

Igniter Interface PCB

Remote CAN ignition and instrumentation node with 24V input, local rails, heater switching, and analog sensing.

2026

RF Telemetry PCB

4-layer KiCAD RF telemetry and sensing board for Project Clementine with controlled-impedance SMA routing, RF matching, and onboard sensing.

Project Triton

Project Lead / Hardware Engineer

Our goal is to build a compact autonomous underwater vehicle focused on full custom electronics and firmware for mission capture, navigation, and sonar based detection. I work directly on integrating our custom PCBs and firmware into the electronics test setup.

My Work and Contributions

2026

AUV Power + Control PCB

4-layer mixed-signal board for protected 4S LiPo input, multi-rail power, CAN telemetry, current sensing, and SD logging.

Additional circuit work

Independent Electrical Design

LTSpice

Photodiode Signal Conditioning Circuit

Transimpedance amplifier and buffer chain for a clean 0 to 5V light-sensing output with noise rejection.

Projects

Rocket Ground Control PCB

TOOLS

Altium STM32CubeIDE Python hardware scripting Saturn PCB Toolkit

Designed the complete hardware development cycle of the rocket ground control 4-layer PCB for Project Poseidon, UC Riverside’s first liquid rocket, including schematic capture, PCB layout, board assembly, bring up, hardware validation, and integration. The board was developed to serve as the local actuation and ignition interface between the bunker control panel and the propulsion hardware at the test stand, where it received remote commands over XBee radio, distributed 6V power and CAN communication to remote servo control nodes. It coordinated up to five servo channels for valve actuation, verified cartridge igniter continuity, controlled pyro valve ignition, and supported safe fill, fire, and abort operations. Because the controller sat directly in the command path between remote operators and propulsion hardware, the design required a strong focus on reliable embedded control. This system was used throughout static fire testing and later supported launch operations directly contributing to a First Place finish in its category at the FAR OUT 2025 competition in the Mojave.

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Project title: Hero image for the pad controller build.

Top view: Completed PCB.

Bottom view: Completed PCB.

Rocket Ground Control system block diagram

Block diagram: High-level system view.

Rocket Ground Control PCB mounted in enclosure

Enclosure: PCB mounted in the controller enclosure.

Launch day: Pad setup and wiring.

Bench test: Full CAN daisy chain through the harness.

Successful static fire test with pad controller

Static fire: Successful test using the pad controller.

Launch: Rocket launch.

Use the side arrows to navigate. Click an image to expand.

UV Power + Control PCB

TOOLS

Altium STM32CubeIDE Python hardware scripting Saturn PCB Toolkit

Designed a prototype 4-layer power and control PCB for a compact torpedo style AUV platform to establish the vehicle’s early electrical architecture and reduce integration risk before the final revision, including schematic capture, PCB layout, assembly, validation, and system integration. Built around a 4S LiPo battery input, it was designed to provide safe power entry with reverse polarity protection and controlled power sequencing, then distribute regulated power to an ESC rail, servo rail, Raspberry Pi, and supporting electronics inside a tightly packaged 100 mm hull. The board also includes a firmware controlled load switch on the servo rail so power to downstream loads can be enabled safely and shut down during fault conditions. It measures pack current through a shunt resistor and monitors pack voltage, allowing battery usage, power draw, and electrical health to be monitored during testing, with telemetry sent over CAN for broader vehicle integration. It also supports onboard SD card logging for recording system data during bring up and testing. During bring up, embedded C and python were used to validate PWM control, CAN messaging, telemetry, and logging. This board serves as a key step toward a buoy based AUV system designed to operate in calm water, detect and track selected objects, and relay useful data back to the operator through custom in house electronics.

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Project title: Hero image for the UV power and control board.

Top view: PCB layout view.

Bottom view: PCB layout view.

Block diagram: High-level system view.

Tray system: Version 1.

Tray design: Final electronics tray fit.

Bare PCB: Before assembly.

UV first power up with safe supply settings

Bring-up: First power-up using safe supply settings.

UV multimeter test for 5.1V connector output

Validation: 5.1V connector output confirmed.

UV first flash of code to confirm MCU connection

Firmware: First flash to confirm MCU connection.

CAN integration: Testing successful.

Project Triton early electrical testing and PID testing

Early testing: Early electrical testing and PID testing.

Final integration: Final test integration before watertight integration.

Use the side arrows to navigate. Click an image to expand.

RF Telemetry PCB

TOOLS

KiCAD Saturn PCB Toolkit RF layout design

Designed a 4-layer RF telemetry and sensing board for Project Clementine, UC Riverside’s upcoming LOX liquid rocket vehicle. The board was built around the TI CC1312R7 wireless MCU/transceiver as a compact long-range telemetry node intended for environmental sensing and wireless data downlink testing. Work included schematic capture, RF matching network integration from TI reference hardware, stackup definition, controlled-impedance RF routing, power design, and PCB layout in KiCAD. The design focused on practical RF layout techniques such as stitched ground pours, via fencing, and filtered RF power rails. Rev 1 PCB layout has been completed and prepared for fabrication and hardware bring-up testing.

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RF Telemetry PCB Rev 1 top-side layout render

Top side: Rev 1 RF telemetry PCB with SMA launch, RF matching, CC1312R7, sensing, and USB-C power input.

RF Telemetry PCB Rev 1 bottom-side layout render

Bottom side: RF return-path routing, ground stitching, and via fencing around the RF section.

Use the side arrows to navigate. Click an image to expand.

Igniter Interface PCB

TOOLS

Altium STM32CubeIDE Python hardware scripting Saturn PCB Toolkit

Designed the 4-layer Igniter Interface PCB for an ethanol/LOX rocket ground system as a remote CAN connected ignition support and instrumentation node. It receives 24V power and commands from the pad controller, generates local 12V and 3.3V rails, powers and triggers an external spark igniter controller, switches a 24V heater, and acquires sensor data for real-time monitoring and feedback during ground operations. Using an STM32 MCU and external multi-channel ADC, the board supports conditioned analog sensing, local break wire and GPIO status monitoring, and reliable communication back to the main controller over CAN. The design required strong attention to protection, grounding, signal integrity, and dependable embedded control.

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Project title: Hero image for the Spark Ignitor PCB.

Board view: Spark Ignitor PCB detail image.

Board view: Additional Spark Ignitor PCB image.

Board testing: Igniter interface wired into a bench bring-up setup.

Spark Igniter PCB PWM fixes for next revision

PWM fix: Temporary board-level fixes identified for the next revision.

Use the side arrows to navigate. Click an image to expand.

Photodiode Signal Conditioning Circuit

TOOLS

LTSpice

Designed and analyzed a photodiode based analog front end that converted an intensity varying light signal into a clean 0 to 5V output while meeting low output impedance and high frequency noise rejection requirements. The goal was to take the small current produced by the photodiode, convert it into a usable voltage signal, and condition it so it could be reliably read by later circuitry. The design used a transimpedance amplifier followed by a unity gain buffer, with component values selected to set the voltage range, reduce high frequency noise, and keep the output strong enough to stay below the required impedance target.

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