DroneCAN Servo PDB

Overview

This board is intended to be used with Ardupilot AP_Periph firmware.

Main features / use-cases:

• Simplify UAV wiring (especially for Quadplane VTOL).

• Expand Ardupilot servo output quantity.

• Extend servo outputs.

• High current servo regulation: 5V or 8V switchable from 6S+.

• 8A continuous output, 22A peak (with cooling).

• Easy AM32 / BLHeli32 ESC telemetry connections.

There are 9x servo outputs, configured by default as:

1-4: ESC output, with the middle pin connected to UART1 for AM32/BLHeli32 style telemetry, and DSHOT signal output.

5-9: Standard PWM servo output.

All 9x outputs can be used as a standard servo output if the ESC TELEM DISCONNECT jumper is cut, and the middle pins for output 4 and 5 are bridged on the rear of the PCB. This connects the whole middle row of pins to VOUT of the regulator.

The output voltage is 5V as standard, but a jumper can be bridged to raise the output to 8V for HV servos. There is an additional XT30 connector for powering other lower voltage devices.

A 120Ω CAN termination resistor is present, but not enabled by default. A jumper is available to enable it.

Typical Usage

The below simplified image shows a typical use-case for this PCB.

Medium sized VTOL Quadplanes often have a removeable wing, but this results in many connections between the fuselage and wing sections:

• 4x ESC signal wires.

• 4x ESC telemetry wires.

• 2x (or more) control surface servos.

• Main power for ESCs (usually 6S or 12S).

• Power for servos (5V or 8V).

Using this DroneCAN PDB, only the following connections are needed:

• CAN bus.

• Main power for ESCs (converted to 5V or 8V on the PCB).

This vastly reduces the amount of separate cables that need to be connected (only power and CAN connections highlighted yellow), speeding up both initial manufacture, and subsequent assembly in the field.

The PCB is also useful for non VTOL UAVs which require higher voltage or current servo outputs, or those that need additional outputs above what might be present on standard flight controllers (Ardupilot supports up to 32 outputs over CAN).