3D Robotics

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: 1347

Comment by frankd on May 14, 2009 at 10:21am
I just bought a few of the thermopile sensors for $3.72 each at future electronics.
http://www.futureelectronics.com/en/Technologies/Product.aspx?ProductID=MLX90247ESFDSAMELEXIS7564123
Comment by Bill Eason on November 30, 2009 at 8:06pm
Your killing me. The sensors are OOS on DIY Drones and the price is back up from $99!
Comment by Ritchie on April 30, 2011 at 12:57am
Chris were these sensors ever altered to correct any faults that may have manifested? I have a cunning plan but I need to combine the thermopiles and an IMU. If everything was perfect then brilliant :)

3D Robotics Comment by Chris Anderson on April 30, 2011 at 7:22am
Ritchie: yes the final thermopile boards worked great and we sold them for a year or so. But they're retired now and we don't sell them anymore.

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