Here is what it looks like in rendering:
And IRL next to the AQ6....to give you an idea of size.
Dimensions are in the PDF below. Mounting holes are 2mm diameter.
aqm4v1r2 dim preliminary.pdf- (210.02 KiB) Downloaded 1825 times
So, what can it do...?
It runs the same code as its bigger siblings. But it is also equipped with 4 onboard motor drivers for small coreless brushed DC motors, so that you can build a pocket sized Autoquad by just adding 4 coreless motors and a small frame. It is a direct fit to a Ladybird frame and can be combined with a number of other pocket-quad parts from Hubsan, CrazyFlie, Walkera, WLtoys, e-flite and many others.
Here is a few examples of pocket quads:
Walkera Ladybird frame, circa 45 grams with battery:
CrazyFlie motors and mounts, directly on the PCB arms - around 20-25 grams, depending on battery choice.
Foam/CF frame with Hubsan X4 shroud. Circa 45 grams with battery:
The M4 board is fully equipped with CAN bus, Ublox GPS and a 9-axis Digital IMU with altimeter. In addition there is an onboard Deltang DSM2 receiver, USB connection with 1s battery charging, pushbutton on/off switch and expansion headers containing GPIOs, SPI, UART, SD-card, I2C and power.
The expansion headers makes it possible for the M4 controller to be very versatile and offer the same functions as a full AQ controller board with up to 9 PWM channels (including the 4 internal channels), logging and wireless telemetry just like its bigger counterparts. And with CAN and ESC32, you dont need to worry about PWM channels, but can control up to 16 CAN ESC´s directly from the M4 and fly your big rig with it too.
The expander below adds MicroSD card, UART (connected to a Bluetooth module) and a 3.3V stepup/down for powering the BT module or other peripherals. In addition this expander makes 4 PWM channels available to drive 4 PWM ESC´s or servos.
And here is an example of a M4 beeing used to control a full size quad from Kisssys using that same expansion board with CAN ESC´s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79B1EN5Y_3U
For those that need a little bit more functions and ESCs, there is also a "AQ Motherboard" in progress:
The motherboard can be connected to any AutoQuad main board via CAN bus. So it works with AQ6 with DIMU and it works with the M4. It adds the following features:
Power distribution for 8 motors. Max 150A/35V.
Full OSD overlay with Altimeter, variometer, attitude, heading, velocity, current, direction/distance to home and messages.
2 switchable input video channels
2 audio out channels for synthesized audio messages that can be transmitted over FPV link.
Voltage and current measuring
2 Opto-isolated camera powersupplies, 5V/1A
12 PWM channels with 5V and GND, JST 0.1" 3pin servo connectors
12 CAN connectors with 5V and GND (JST-SH, 4 pin) Up to 16 CAN ESCs is possible at the moment.
2 CAN buses
3 UARTS, one is an Xbee socket
2 I2C Buses
2 LED drivers
Onboard STM32F4 processor with 1MB flash. Lots of CPU time available to play with.
So an M4 together with this Motherboard and a SD-card expansion will make you able to build a 12 or 16 motor multi with a very full featureset while eliminating a lot of wiring.
Of course the icing on the cake would be the Upcoming V3 ESC32. Its a complete redesign both hardware and software. It supports 10S input, high currents, CAN, USB and Active freewheeling which improves stability and efficiency by braking props on deceleration and collecting the braking energy back into the power harness.
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The Autoquad M4 will come with a license included for the Quatos Adaptive attitude controller for hobby use in crafts up to 1kg. There will be an affordable upgrade path for beyond 1kg and for commercial crafts too.
The Quatos controller is adaptive instead of proportional like the PID controller. That translates into a much more stable and smooth flight and further increased wind and gust resistance.
Once set up, its also a lot simpler to tune than the PID attitude controllers. However, it requires to build a virtual model of the craft that describes the crafts mass and thrust distribution.
You also need to have a ESC32 in Closed loop mode, and you have to do a RPM vs Thrust measurement with your particular motor and propellor or use a known combination. We are working on building a DB with known motors, props and frames.
The team is working on documentation and tools for both the M4 and the quatos controller. But at the moment its very "beta". There is no graphical tool for Quatos mass distribution, so the mass distribution is defined in a XML file that is used to calculate moment of inertia terms and motor mixing parameters. Its not hard, but involves using command line tools available both on Windows, Linux and OSX.
We expect to unleash a limited public beta of the M4 medio august with ready configurations for pocket-quads and thrust data for a number of known motor/prop combinations. The hardware is built and working, but we need a bit of time to get the tools tested, documented and released. A limited number of bare controllers, Kits and BNFs will be made available. A public announcement will be made in good time before they become available.
ESC32 V3 and the Motherboard is in internal testing with promising results. Fullscale production will begin during the late summer/early fall, provided no bugs or problems is identified in the internal testing now beeing done.
