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ArduPilot: New Thermopile Boards!

Those of you following along with the ArduPilot development probably suspected that we weren't going to stick with leaving the stabilization function to the off-the-shelf FMA Co-Pilot for long. And sure enough, integrating those thermopile sensors into our autopilot has always been part of the plan--it's cheaper, better and more flexible. But how can we handle both stabilization and navigation with the modest Arduino chip? Well, you're just going to have to wait and see--trust me, it's cool ;-)

In the meantime, here's the hardware Jordi designed to build your own two-axis thermopile sensor, in surface mount (SMD) form, which is small and light (shown above), or through-hole, which is easier to solder, shown below. It's related to the Paparazzi sensors, but optimized for Arduino. They will not work with the current ArduPilot, which is designed to work with the FMA Co-Pilot, but instead are designed for a future ArduPilot board. So why are we showing them to you now? Just because they're cool, and if you build them now we'll give you a reason to use them soon enough.

Warning: the individual thermopile sensors (this board needs 4) aren't cheap at low volume: almost $18 each. At the volume we're buying (100s) they fall in price to just $6 each, so unless you're keen to get going quickly on this you might as well save some money and wait for us to build the boards and sell them assembled. But for those fully infected with the DIY spirit, the component list is below.

Code and other integration instructions coming later.

Through-hole version:



Components:

C1,C2,C3,C4,C6 5 x .027uF P4518-ND
C5 0.01uF 1 x 495-1065-1-ND
IC1 1 x AD8552RU AD8552ARUZ-ND
MOLEX PRT-08231 SparkFun
R1,R4 2 x 200 200EBK-ND
R2,R5 2 x 0.8M 820KEBK-ND
R3,R6 2 x 510 510EBK-ND
R7,R8 2 x 604 620EBK-ND
(TP1,2,3,4) 4 x MLX90247-ESF-DSA


SMD version (shown at top):

Components:

C1,C2,C3,C4,C6 5 x .027uF PCC1833CT-ND
C5 0.01uF 1 x 478-1383-1-ND
IC1 1 x AD8552RU AD8552ARUZ-ND
MOLEX PRT-08231 SparkFun
R1,R4 2 x 200 P200ACT-ND
R2,R5 2 x 0.8M P806KCCT-ND
R3,R6 2 x 510 P510ZCT-ND
R7,R8 2 x 604 RHM604CCT-ND
(TP1,2,3,4) 4 x MLX90247-ESF-DSA

Views: 760

Comment by Cory on June 23, 2008 at 7:05am
How long do you think before these boards become available?

Moderator Comment by Chris Anderson on June 23, 2008 at 7:23am
Well, you can make them yourself now (all the parts and the board are available above). But our commercial versions probably won't be available until fall.
Comment by Cory on June 23, 2008 at 7:39am
I will wait for the commercial version, since the thermopiles are bit pricey for just a couple of boards

thanks
Comment by Phil Wilshire on June 24, 2008 at 7:18am
Hi Chris,
Any way you can sell us some thermopiles while we wait fro boards.
I would like to do some tests with these units.

If you can get the price down a bit on a bulk buy I would like about 8 of them.

Regards
Phil Wilshire

Moderator Comment by Giles Barton-Owen on July 4, 2008 at 12:24pm
2 questions:
1. what are thermopiles for?
2. What do they output?

Moderator Comment by Chris Anderson on July 4, 2008 at 12:33pm
Giles,

Our board is just an open-source equivalent of the FMA Co-Pilot stabilization system. The info on that site should answer your questions.

Moderator Comment by Giles Barton-Owen on July 4, 2008 at 12:38pm
Thanks

Moderator Comment by Giles Barton-Owen on July 4, 2008 at 12:49pm
What do your boards I/O and can you use them instead of a Accelerometer?

Moderator Comment by Chris Anderson on July 4, 2008 at 1:11pm
The boards output analog voltage proportional to tilt on two axis, just like the FMA boards. They are a functional alternative to a 5 degree of freedom IMU with three accelerometers and two gyros.
Comment by dincer hepguler on July 5, 2008 at 3:50am
Chris,
i have an Art-Tech co-pilot looking very similar to FMA, do you think i can work with your Ardu-Pilot?

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