Building a Quadcopter

Building a Quadcopter - Part 3

It's been another few weeks, and I'm back to building my quad.

Since I recently got my transmitter, it was time to start building the electronics of the quad. The AeroQuad project (link) is based on an Arduino for the flight control. It basically uses a 3-axis Gyro and a 3-axis Accelerometer for the flight sensing (other sensors such as Magnetometers and Barometers are also supported, but optional: more info). To connect these sensors, AeroQuad offers a 'shield' for the Arduino (What is a 'shield'?). The sensors need to be bought separately. There are 2 shields, AeroQuad Shield v2.0 (link) for Arduino Mega and AeroQuad Shield v1.9 (link) for Arduino Duemilanove. Since I already had an Arduino Mega, I ordered the 2.0 shield.

With the normal shipping method, it took about 3 weeks to arrive. The shield kit included the following,

AeroQuad Shield v2.0 Kit

The shield PCB
The Logic Level Converter
2 resistors (15K and 7.5K)
ULN2003 IC
3 LEDs
5 40 pin Headers
a nice AeroQuad sticker

The PCB has very good build quality. It's double sided and with 8mil track width.

The PCB

The LEDs that comes with it aren't the normal ones we use. They are 5V ones with built in resistors.

The 5V LEDs

The Level Converter takes care of converting the 5V logic signals to 3.3V logic and vise versa. It was quite smaller that I thought.

The LLC compared to an LED

Here's the shield with the components soldered. I decided to solder female headers to where the sensors might be, same for the LLC.


The soldered shield

The soldered shield - Bottom view

Here's the shield compared to the Arduino,

v2.0 Shield compared to Arduino Mega

Ready to be fitted :)

Ready to be fitted

The weight of the shield and the Arduino is about 75g. So, I think with the sensors, it should be less than 100g.

Now that the shield is finished, I will be ordering the sensors while start working on the frame.

Comments

Selecting the Correct Gauge Wires for your RC Models

When we are building RC models (aircrafts, multicopters etc.), something we typically overlook is what type of wires to use to distribute power in them. Usually, we try to reduce the weight of the model, so we tend to go with smaller wires. But, we cant expect to put in small circuit-wires and have them handle the amount of power needed. If you look at the wires that comes in the output leads of a Li-Po, or the wires that comes on a standard XT Jack, you'll notice that they're quite huge. Large gauge wires on a Li-Po and XT connectors These need to be huge to handle the amount of amperage that goes through them. So, we should also consider the amperage, and the length of wire needed when selecting the size (gauge) of the wires.

What do the prop size numbers mean?

Have you been trying to shop for propellers - either online or at a hobby shop - and got confused of the numbering used to denote the size of the propellers? You see things like " 10 x 4.5 CW ", or " 8055 CCW ". What do these numbers mean? A 8 x 4.5 CW and CCW Propeller Set It's actually quite simple once you figure it out. The first number denotes the diameter of the prop (length from tip-to-tip). The second number denotes the pitch of the prop. Here, the pitch is denoted as a length, not a angle. Let's see how that works.

Li-Po Batteries Explained - Part 2

I explained about Li-ion batteries (the predecessor of Li-Po) in my earlier post ( Li-Po Batteries Explained - Part 1 ). Now let's see what these 'Lithium Polymers' are. Lithium-Polymer Batteries - The real ones Li-Po batteries - also known as Li-Poly, Pi-Pol, PLI and PLI - are a type of rechargeable batteries that uses same types of electrodes as the Li-ion batteries. The difference is with the electrolyte it uses. Instead of the liquid solvent used in Li-ions, Li-Po uses a polymer electrolyte. In the original design, which dates back to the 1970's, the electrolyte is a dry, plastic-like, thin film. It doesn't conduct electricity, but allows the exchange of ions between the electrodes. Theoretically, with this design, batteries could be made very thin (less than 1 millimeter) and to a variety of form factors. And because of the electrolyte being dry, the manufacturing process can be simplified and the safety of the battery will be higher because of no risk in

Code 42

Search This Blog