NeoDrone

Halfway there.

This actually took way more than 3 hours but it’s whatever. Redid the power circuit, now it is pretty sophisticated, reverse polarity protection, a separate buck converter, and LDO regulator. There was a big design tradeoff with using LDO after buck, instead of buck generating 3.3 Volts by itself. I decided on using the LDO because I still haven’t decided on CRSF RX module and from preliminary research, it looks like it will need 5 volt supply. LDO will burn around 0.8 W but it is okay. Motors were organized in like coordinate quadrants and routing is done for power and signals that interact outside the ESCs, but the circuitry right around ESCs was only done on 1 and 4. It’s getting very close.

Finished first and almost done with ESC schematics. Assigned phase netclass to all output phases, to provide thicker traces.

Started intense work on the boilerplate for THE firmware. I imagine it will be the hardest part of this project.
Finished routing IMU, yay no ratsnets. still working on the ESC module, thinking about how to place it on each arm and away from the IMU.

Routing PCB & finishing up ESC schematic. Kinda switched to routing PCB as a little break activity from ESC schematic (routing is lowkey fun).

Finished researching ESC choice, finished symbol and footprint for the ESC IC. WIP on wiring it up. GOing to use one of the ESC’s internal regulator outputs as source for logic power (5 or 3v3).

Researched the IMU datasheet, and options for SPI or I2C. Decided on SPI and MPU6000. Considered the tradeoffs between easy to DIY solder and newer more noise resistant IMUs. Finished up the IMU schematic according to datasheet, routing it on PCB now.

Worked on finishing MCU schematic, and trying to route stuff on the PCB. Especially the debug port (not JTAG, SWD)

Spent ~4 hours pushing NeoDrone V1 forward in KiCad. Set up the project with hierarchical sheets (power, MCU, RC, IMU, motor/ESC) and started wiring the logic. Tuned the MCU power rails with proper decoupling (100 nF all over, plus 1 uF bulk) and laid out the center stack on the quad-shaped PCB outline. Locked in the TI MCF8316A FOC driver choice, built its schematic symbol, and had to design my own footprint from scratch. Kinda cursed

Brainstorming the ideas for which MCU, ESC to use for the drone. I had to consider what components I can actually solder, and what is my design philosophy for this project. I decided that I am going to have 4 ESC modules on each arm of the pcb so that I reduce the length of the phase traces for the motors. This is an exciting but also kind of overwhelming part of project because decisions made here will impact everything down the line.

Made the DXF file, made sure it imports fine in KiCAD as PCB edge. Did further planning of the drone’s concept.

I’m working on my first project! This is so exciting. I can’t wait to share more updates as I build.