The Power Generation Controller (PGC) is a system designed to manage the processes of gathering electrical power from sources such as photovoltaic panels (PV) or fuel cells, or a shore charging supply; monitoring the power as it is used to charge a battery bank; then monitoring the use of power by various onboard systems.
A typical Power Generation Controller supports four charging inputs, two battery banks, and six high current outlets.
The PGC is made up of a number of discrete building blocks:
- A master control module
- One or more PGCI (PGC-Input) modules, carrying two 10A channels each
- One or more PGCO (PGC-Output) modules, carrying two 15A outlets each
All the PGCI and PGCO modules are controlled via a shared RS422 data bus.
The bus protocol is driven by a master which may be a software application running on a PC; or, as is usual on an unmanned vehicle, the master can reside within the SPECTRE platform control and autopilot module itself. SPECTRE supports the master control software, and allows data and commands to be exchanged via Iridium RUDICS (satellite communications) or over the SSSCP command datalink to a remote operator.
