Ardupilot setup for power boards

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DroneCore 1

• Box content

• Getting started

  • First time setup

  • Motor connection

    • Soldering motors

    • ESC configuration

    • ESC configuration APP (AMC Manager v1.0.0)

    • ESC configuration APP (AMC Manager v1.1.0)

    • Testing motors

  • Ardupilot setup for power boards - YOU ARE HERE

• Pilot boards

  • DCS1.Pilot v1.0

    • Power supply

    • Peripherals

    • Connectors and pinouts

  • DCS1.Pilot v1.2

    • Power supply

    • Peripherals

    • Connectors and pinouts

• Power/PDB boards

  • DCS1.Power

    • Power supply

    • Peripherals

    • Connectors and pinouts

    • Octocopter configuration

    • .Power board diagnostics

    • Board firmware update

Quadcopter setup (Default)

ESC settings

Motor order

It is based on the basic Ardupilot settings for the motor map

• Ardupilot motor ID (X-frame) with Powerboard

  • A,B,C,D are for the needs of the GCS software

  • M1..M4 are servo functions for ESC control

  • ESC0..ESC3 are ESC addresses on the Powerboard

      D(M3)                  A(M1)
(ESC Addr: 0) +        + (ESC Addr: 3)
               \      /
                \    /
                 \/\/
                 |  |
                 |__|
                 /  \
                /    \
               /      \
(ESC Addr: 1) +        + (ESC Addr: 2)
      C(M2)                  B(M4)

• The addresses for the ESC are linked to the SERVOx_FUNCTION parameter

  • ESC Addr: 0 -> SERVO1_FUNCTION

  • ESC Addr: 1 -> SERVO2_FUNCTION

  • ESC Addr: 2 -> SERVO3_FUNCTION

  • ESC Addr: 3 -> SERVO4_FUNCTION

  • In the case of another frame, the procedure is analogous

• Powerboard ESC map in Ardupilot (X-frame)

  • SERVO1_FUNCTION = 35 (Motor3)

  • SERVO2_FUNCTION = 34 (Motor2)

  • SERVO3_FUNCTION = 36 (Motor4)

  • SERVO4_FUNCTION = 33 (Motor1)

CAN bus

• Necessarily set drivers to display additional parameters (reboot Ardupilot)

• Setting up virtual drivers for physical ports

  • In the case of the same setting, the input is redundant

  • PowerBoard for ESC connection has only physical port CAN2

  • CAN_P1_DRIVER = 2

  • CAN_P2_DRIVER = 2

• Set CAN protocol for virtual driver

  • CAN_D2_PROTOCOL = 1

  • CAN_D2_UC_NODE

    • ID device on CAN bus

    • Use default (Recommanded)

    • Forbidden IDs: 50-53 (used by PowerBoard)

  • CAN_D2_UC_ESC_BM = 15

    • Enabling individual ESC

    • Value = 15 => 4 motors (ESC1 - ESC4)

PWM range

• PWM output

  • Type

    • MOT_PWM_TYPE = 0 (Normal)

      • Output has adjusted range

      • Usage range 1000-2000us (Set by param lower)

  • Min and max PWM

    • MOT_PWM_MIN = 1000 (Match with settings in AMC Manager)

      • Represents lower limit

    • MOT_PWM_MAX = 2000 (Match with settings in AMC Manager)

      • Represents upper limit

• PWM level for ESC control

  • Dead-zone of ESC = 50 us (Match with settings in AMC Manager)

  • MOT_SPIN_ARM = 0.07

    • Motor speed when to be armed

    • Use dead-zone from ESC

    • Equals (the percentage dead-zone from pwm range + 2%) / 100

  • MOT_SPIN_MIN = 0.1

    • Lower limit when motor never stop spinning

    • At least 0.03 higher than MOTOR_SPIN_ARM

  • MOTOR_SPIN_MAX = 1.0

    • Equals value which generally produces no additional thrust

• Thrust correction

  • MOT_THST_EXPO = 0.8

    • The value depended on the ESC, which linearizes the output

Battery settings

Monitor

• Use CAN settings from [ESC settings](## CAN bus)

• BATT_MONITOR = 8 (UAVCan)

Octocopter setup

ESC setting (changes compared to default)

Motor order

ESC links to the _SERVOx_FUNCTION :_

• .Power board main

  • ESC0 (Motor 1 connector) = SERVO1_FUNCTION

  • ESC1 (Motor 2 connector) = SERVO2_FUNCTION

  • ESC2 (Motor 3 connector) = SERVO3_FUNCTION

  • ESC3 (Motor 4 connector) = SERVO4_FUNCTION

• .Power board secondary

  • ESC0 (Motor 1 connector) = SERVO5_FUNCTION

  • ESC1 (Motor 2 connector) = SERVO6_FUNCTION

  • ESC2 (Motor 3 connector) = SERVO7_FUNCTION

  • ESC3 (Motor 4 connector) = SERVO8_FUNCTION

User needs to match servo output function numbers according to used configuration and frame type

CAN bus

• Set CAN protocol for virtual driver

  • CAN_D2_UC_ESC_BM = 255

    • Enabling individual ESC

    • Value = 255 => 8 motors (ESC1 - ESC8)

Battery settings (changes compared to default)

Monitor

• BATT_MONITOR = 8

• BATT_SERIAL_NUM = 174

• BATT2_MONITOR = 8

• BATT2_SERIAL_NUM = 175

• BATT2_VOLT_MULT = 1

• BATT2_VOLT_PIN = -1

• BATT2_CURR_PIN = -1