StratosCore Claude

StratosCore

StratosCore is an open-source portable field, aviation, meteorological, navigation and radio computer based on the ESP32-S3-WROOM-1-N16R8.

Current status

Astra has assumed full technical leadership of Rev A (2026-09-24). Astra owns engineering closure, candidate refinement, review and integration; Claude, Hermes, Sol and other AI agents execute bounded delegated tasks. See Astra project control and agent handover for current responsibilities, received evidence and next actions. Final baseline implementation and manufacturing remain gated.

The reviewed baseline (hardware/) has no finished schematic, PCB layout, prototype or manufacturing package yet. A complete comparison candidate (schematic + routed PCB + 3D with the display) now exists in candidates/claude-oneshot-revA/ — see below. It is not for manufacture and does not close any gate. Do not order boards from the current repository. See project status for the complete gate list.

Claude one-shot candidate (schematic + PCB + 3D)

Generated 2026-09-23 at the owner's request, for side-by-side comparison with the Astra pass. Status at a glance:

Front (display)	Back (2S 21700 cells)	Printed enclosure concept

PCB top (display removed)	PCB bottom	Copper (F/In2/B)

Schematic sheets (click to enlarge; full vector PDF: schematic.pdf):

Root	01 USB-C input	02 2S battery/charger
03 Rails	04 ESP32 / control	05 Display / touch
06 Sensors	07 GNSS	08 LoRa
09 ADS-B / RP2040	10 microSD / audio	11 Mechanical

Open it in KiCad

1. Download the repository (GitHub Code -> Download ZIP, or git clone) and install KiCad 10 (the project uses the KiCad 10 library variables).
2. Open candidates/claude-oneshot-revA/kicad/StratosCore_Claude.kicad_pro. Project symbols, footprints and 3D models are local to that folder (libs/), so no library setup is needed.
3. Schematic: open the root sheet and double-click a sheet box. PCB: open the board and press Alt+3 for the 3D viewer (the display and the cells appear in 3D).
4. STEP files for FreeCAD, Fusion or any other CAD are in candidates/claude-oneshot-revA/outputs/StratosCore_Claude_3D_STEP.zip: the board with its display and cells, the full assembly with the enclosure, and the two enclosure parts.

The owner set a five-unit target of at most BRL 200 per assembled PCB including display/touch, excluding locally bought cells and enclosure, freight and taxes. This is a hobby prototype for desk, car and protected but unpressurized aircraft-cabin use, with experimental drone, model-aircraft, balloon, ultralight, hang-glider and paramotor applications to assess separately. About 10,000 ft is the realistic altitude case; 30,000 ft is exploratory, not a guaranteed barometric limit. The BMP581 remains an indicative backup sensor, and the 8 h minimum target on two 21700 cells remains. The five boards will be programmed and tested locally through USB-C. Cost, runtime and flight performance are not yet verified.

Rev A baseline

Potential uses include flight/vario instruments, traffic visualization, balloon experiments, weather stations, trackers, LoRa/MeshCore experiments and portable logging. This experimental platform is not a certified aviation instrument, collision-avoidance system or cockpit voice recorder.

Start here

1. Project status: completed work and remaining gates
2. Astra-led engineering workboard
3. Multi-agent swarm protocol and master prompt
4. Engineering documentation index
5. Locked decisions and accepted proposals
6. Open engineering questions

Astra final KiCad handoff is intentionally marked NOT READY. It is not the current work queue.

Repository layout

StratosCore/
|-- AGENTS.md          Engineering and review rules
|-- README.md          Public project status and entry points
|-- docs/              Status, decisions and subsystem specifications
|-- bom/               Preliminary planning BOM; not orderable yet
|-- hardware/          KiCad project and primary-source index
|-- candidates/        Out-of-baseline design candidates (Claude one-shot: schematic, PCB, 3D)
|-- mechanical/        Enclosure and fit-study workspace
|-- manufacturing/     Release and production-test placeholders
|-- firmware/          Hardware-interface fixtures and future firmware
|-- references/        Read-only research and reuse/license records
`-- LICENSES/          Official license texts and scope

Manufacturing path

The target is four-layer PCB fabrication and automated assembly at JLCPCB or a comparable Chinese PCBA supplier. Release requires an independently reviewed schematic and layout, clean ERC/DRC, confirmed stackup, exact orderable BOM, CPL, Gerbers/drill files, assembly drawings and a programming/production-test procedure. The owner must explicitly accept the manufacturing release before ordering.

Licensing

Original hardware, mechanical designs and hardware engineering documentation use CERN-OHL-P-2.0. Original firmware and its software documentation use MIT. See license scope and provenance. Third-party work retains its own terms.