Oops, there is a thread about our work and I didn't notice it so far.
@bluuu: A power board is better than wires to avoid EMI noise since you have control over it if you know how to design it well. Emcotec promised me that all that may produce EMI are the ESCs themselfes and after several test flights I can confirm: We have a very low noise of about 0.3 on all 3 mag lines which is absolutely even and doesn't increase with throttle/drawn amps. An almost perfect result which will be repeatable on any copter.
The logic board between ESC board and AQ will control the copter status and will trigger a failsafe at the AQ in case of irregularities. Key features are:
- monitoring of up to 4 batteries
- monitoring of 8 ESCs/motors (we found the ESC32 self monitoring so good that we simply pick up the status LEDs by opto-coupler)
- monitoring diversity signal from 2 receivers
- PWM outputs with each 6V 5A for big servo driven gimbals
- onboard XBee Pro for wireless communication
- 2 LED-outs for status signalling system health status
There will be a 4 channel oring added to control the batteries. A critical battery will be completely disconnected so that the voltage remains stable in any case. Depending on how many mA are left (counting drawn mA is more precisely than using a voltage divider) the mission will be aborted (RTH) or the copter will try to reach a predefined emergency landing place.
The reason for making these boards is to get the hardware to industrial standard. This means for example no wires with unsafe connections like servo plugs. Everything is connected through secured sockets but can be replaced without tools or soldering within minutes, if necessary. It also means safe fallbacks in case of a malfunction of our boards. Even if the software fails completely, the copter will still fly. AQ and ESCs will work like there was no additional electronics.
Jussi and Norbert will get a complete set of our boards after the software is finished, so they can check out our work. As Jussi already mentioned, these boards won't be available for end customers. We will only supply them with our RTF copters.
By the way: This is the latest X8 with Tiger MN3510-15 and Tiger 15x5" CF props. It will be exposed together with one of our flat octos at the maker faire Hannover at August 3rd.
Some specs:
total weight: 2.200g
AUW with 2x 4S 3300mAh: 2.980g
span width: 70cm
max thrust: 15.440g
...or in other words: good for some payload
We still have a lot to test. This spring's long bad weather period really stopped any progress. There are still some minor things to improve and the software hasn't been finished yet. I hope we will be ready in late summer.
I'd put mine in a glass case...
