MAV-blog

Stuff related to MAV's (and UAV's) from a hobbyist's point of view. Info

New autopilot hardware

I needed more RAM, more flash to store my autopilot code on. Unfortunately, 44 pins PICs don’t have such big amounts of memory. So I had no other option than to design a PCB for a 64 pins SMD chip. But I quickly admitted that my PCB fabrication skills (and tools) are not good enough to make such fine pitch prints. Luckily, there are some great cheap PCB fab companies. I decided to use Olimex. Four PCB’s arrived on my doorstep 15 days later: two for the Pic32, and two for the dsPic33 (I still haven’t decided which Pic to use in the future…).

Main features:
Common:

  • Choice between PPM in or PWM in
  • 5 Servo outs. Software and a “daughter board” could always add additional servo outputs.
  • 2 axis-compass module (3 axis in the future) using I²C
  • digital barometer using SPI
  • the 5DOF, analog input

dsPIC33 version:

  • Powered using the BEC
  • Atmel flash chip for data logging

PIC32 version:

  • Switched power supply
  • Micro-SD socket for data logging

Because everbody loves pictures (dsPic33 version):

Populated with the sensors:

28 November 2008, 00:32 | Link |

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