DCS2.Pilot_PX

chevron-rightRelease noteshashtag

rev.2

  • Added FRAM to onboard FMU

  • Added side platting for the board

  • Board dimension expanded 1mm in width and 1mm in height

  • Added TPM module

  • Added additional RTC circuit + rail for possibility to charge battery externally

  • Added EMI shield on the TOP side of the board.

  • Onboard FMU signals (4xPWM, 1xUART) routed to board-to-board connector in parallel

  • Jetson configuration USB routed to board-to-board connector

  • 1V8_Adapter rail removed from board-to-board connector

  • Jetson standoffs mechanically reinforced

  • Changed MPN for SSD oscillator

  • Changed MPN for CAN transceivers

rev.1

  • HDMI connector changed to ZIF\

rev.0 (preproduction series)

Description

The DCS2.Pilot Board serves as the central control unit of the DroneCore Suite, integrating both primary processing and flight-control functionality. It is responsible for managing the drone’s systems and coordinating communication between all onboard components. Additionally, the board provides the main hardware interfaces for connecting expansion boards and other auxiliary modules within the DroneCore ecosystem.

This version of the board utilises a Pixhawk (in v5X/v6X standard) as its primary flight controller. It also features an onboard flight control unit based on an STM32 H7 microcontroller, which can operate as a backup Flight Management Unit (FMU) or even as the primary one. The design further allows for the extension of the onboard FMU with an additional sensor board.


Mechanical / environmental specifications

Attribute
Value/Note

Weight

163g

Dimensions L×W×H (mm)

12 × 5 × 53.5

(Board + Cube Orange + Jetson Orin NX)

Temperature rating

-40°C / +85°C

Conformal coating

Yes

EMC performance

The board is always measured with the corresponding expansion board, so measurements for the single board are not available

Dimensions


3D model

file-download
33MB

Power supply

Power consumption: 16W

Overall consumption of the board strongly depends on the usage of the main computing unit. The given value corresponds to the DCS2 in the default setup with a freshly flashed Orin NX, without any additional peripherals connected.

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Note:

Power to the .Pilot board is drawn from the expansion board. If you are designing your own board, please refer to the example project for more information.


Peripherals

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Note:

Some of the peripherals are prepared for future use (dotted lines). 100Mbit Eth line, Serial 8 and CAN3 are related to different assembly variants of the board and usage of different Cube autopilot versions (Cube Red)


Connectors, controls and indicators

Top side

Connectors

chevron-rightBEEPhashtag

Matching connector Hirose DF13-2S-1.25C

pin
function

1

BUZZER+

2

BUZZER-

chevron-rightFANhashtag
  • Matching with Molex 51021-0400 cable header

  • Ccompatible with Orin NX original cooler

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5V supply limited to 200mA by internal current limiter

pin
function

1

GND

2

5V_PERIPH

3

FAN_TACH

4

FAN_PWM

chevron-rightETH_EXPhashtag
  • 505110-1692 connector type

  • possible to use aepilot1_ethernet_expansion_board, to expand to RJ45

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5V supply limited to 1A by internal current limiter

pin
function

1

GBE_B3_P

2

GBE_B3_N

3

GND

4

GBE_M2_P

5

GBE_M2_N

6

GND

7

GBE_M1_P

8

GBE_M1_N

9

GND

10

GBE_M0_P

11

GBE_M0_N

12

GND

13

GBE_LED_LINK

14

GBE_LED_ACT

15

5V_PERIPH

16

5V_PERIPH

chevron-rightFMU SEC.hashtag

Matching connector JST GHR-12V-S

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5V supply limited to 1A by internal current limiter

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Connector related to onboard FMU

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Position remains the same as in version v1.x, only pin 1 marking was fixed in v2.0

pin
function

1

5V_SAFETY

2

5V_SAFETY

3

SERIAL 2 TX

4

SERIAL 2 RX

5

SERIAL 1 TX

6

SERIAL 1 RX

7

GPIO/PWM OUT 1

8

GPIO/PWM OUT 2

9

GPIO/PWM OUT 3

10

GPIO/PWM OUT 4

11

GND

12

GND

chevron-rightUSB_DEVhashtag
  • USB type micro B connector

  • Possible to use only as Jetson USB-device

  • When a micro USB cable is connected between the board and the host PC, Jetson acts like a USB device.

chevron-rightUSB D. EXhashtag
  • JST SM04B-SURS-TF(LF)(SN) connector type

  • Possibility to route USB_DEV signals to drone case

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pin
function

1

GND

2

D_P

3

D_N

4

VBUS

chevron-rightHDMI_OUThashtag

503566-2102 connector type

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5V supply limited to 0.2A by internal current limiter

pin
function

1

GND

2

HDMI_DATA2_P

3

NC

4

HDMI_DATA2_N

5

GND

6

GND

7

HDMI_DATA1_N

8

HDMI_DATA0_P

9

HDMI_DATA1_P

10

HDMI_DATA0_N

11

GND

12

GND

13

HDMI_CLK_N

14

HDMI_CEC

15

HDMI_CLK_P

16

HDMI_DDC_CLK

17

NC

18

GND

19

HDMI_DDC_DATA

20

HDMI_DETECT

21

5V

chevron-rightWi-Fi modulehashtag

The onboard Wi-Fi/Bluetooth module contains two MHF4 micro-coax pigtail connectors for antennas. Suitable cable + antenna combination:

  • Connector + cable: C213GST-025MC137B-MHF4L

  • Antenna: 2JW1102--C943B

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Bottom side

Connectors

chevron-rightPPMhashtag

Matching connector JST GHR-03V-S

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5V supply limited to 1A by internal current limiter

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Position remains the same as in version v1.x, only pin 1 marking was fixed in v2.0

pin
function

1

PPM_SBUS_PROT

2

5V_CRUCIAL

3

GND

chevron-rightCONTROLhashtag

1.8V logic

pin
function

1

SYS_RST

2

GND

3

FC_REC (Force recovery)

4

GND

5

PWR_BTN

6

GND

chevron-rightNVMEhashtag
  • M2 key M standard connector

  • Connector includes PCIE x4 and I2C bus

  • Ready to mount NVME SSD in M2 2242 size

chevron-rightB2B POWER CONNECTOR (PDB/Power board)hashtag
pin
function

1

5V_PERIPH

2

5V_CRUCIAL

3

3V3_SOM

4

VDD_JETSON (v2.0) / 18V_SOM (v1.x)

5

N.C. (v2.0) / ?V_PAYLOAD (v1.x)

6

5V_SAFETY

7

GND

8

GND

chevron-rightB2B SIGNAL CONNECTOR (PDB/Power board)hashtag
pin
function

1

CAN1_N

2

CAN1_P

3

GND

4

CAN2_N

5

CAN2_P

6

JETSON_ID (v2.0) / GND (v1.x)

7

I2C_SCL

8

I2C_SDA

9

SERIAL 1 TX (v2.0) / RESERVED (v1.x)

10

SERIAL 1 RX (v2.0) / RESERVED (v1.x)

11

GPIO/PWM OUT 4 (v2.0) / RESERVED (v1.x)

12

GPIO/PWM OUT 3 (v2.0) / RESERVED (v1.x)

13

GPIO/PWM OUT 2 (v2.0) / RESERVED (v1.x)

14

GPIO/PWM OUT 1 (v2.0) / RESERVED (v1.x)

15

RESERVED

16

BAT_V_SENSE

17

BAT_I_SENSE

18

RTC_BATTERY (v2.0) / RESERVED (v1.x)

19

MOD_SLEEP

20

SYS_RST_HS

chevron-rightB2B ADAPTER CONNECTORShashtag

Pinouts and reference design will be provided as an example Altium Designer project.

Indicators

chevron-rightMOD_ONhashtag

Indicates the activity of the Jetson module.

OFF=Sleep

chevron-rightNVMEhashtag

Indicates the activity of the connected M2 key E SSD disk

chevron-rightWLhashtag

Indicates the activity of the onboard Wi-Fi module

chevron-rightBThashtag

Indicates the activity of the onboard Bluetooth module

chevron-rightFMU SEC. (LED1/LED2)hashtag

Indicators of the onboard FMU module

Controls

chevron-rightJET.DBGhashtag

Debug the UART Rx/Tx of the Jetson with 3.3V logic levels


Example project (Altium)

We provide an example project in Altium Designer as a starting point to help you quickly begin developing your own custom expansion for the Pilot board. The project illustrates connector placement, pin assignments, and includes useful signal-related information, giving you a clear reference for interfacing and ensuring compatibility with our design.

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