BlimpDuino production board release candidate
After some wasted time with expensive PCB design errors, we've finally got a release candidate of the production version of the BlimpDuino board. It's version V431.
Changes from previous versions include:
--Square, rather than rectangular, so the IR detectors are all on the outside of the board (and thus free of interference) and evenly spaced for optimal sensing.
--Improved power supply, with lower profile and LiPo low-voltage cut-off (to protect the batteries)
--Vectoring servo now output on a digital pin (10) to use timer-based Arduino servo library
--Various layout tweaks to give more room for various connectors and the on/off switch
--Bug fixes
You can buy the boards here.
Here are the Eagle 5 files: schematic, board.
Here are the components you'll need (Digikey part numbers unless otherwise stated):
- Capacitors:
- (C1)1x 100uF 16v 399-5214-1-ND
- (C4)1x 100uF 6.3v 478-1677-1-ND
- (C2,6,12,13)4x 0.1uF PCC1828CT-ND
Diodes:- 4x Navi LED (green) 67-1357-1-ND
- 1x Power LED (red) 67-1359-1-ND
- or optional (blue) LED 160-1643-1-ND
IC's:- (IC1)1 x Atmega168, ATMEGA168V-10AU-ND
- (IC3) 1x7805 voltage regulator: 296-22950-1-ND
- 1x L293D(motor controller)296-9518-5-ND.
- 4x IR sensors (Pololu)
- 1xMaxbotic ultrasonic sensor EZ2 or EZ3
Resistors:- (R1, R8, R9) 3x 10kOhms P10.0KCCT-ND
- (R2-R6) 5x 1Kohms P1.00KCCT-ND
Switches,etc (Sparkfun):- (S1) Switch
- Reset button
- 1 strip of male pin headers
- 1 strip of female pin headers (to plug the removable ultrasonic sensor into)
Code coming in a few days
Tags: blimpduino
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Comment by Jack Crossfire on September 12, 2008 at 8:00pm - Wonder how much it cost to do all the revisions to get to this point.
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Comment by Chris Anderson on September 12, 2008 at 8:40pm
- A couple hundred bucks, I'm afraid. All my own fault for not doing enough DRC checks and breadboard prototypes. Also blew a couple rounds confused about CAM formats and obscure errors that I should have paid more attention to. Still, cheaper than a year of engineering school...
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- ...also, one of the unique problems of blimp controller boards, is that blimps have very limited lifting power, and a breadboard version is typically to heavy to fly. So to test the controllers in flight, we typically have to design and fab a custom PCB. Then, when we discover problems, we've got to design another PCB. At $33 each and five board minimums, that can add up really fast.
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Comment by Howard Gordon on September 13, 2008 at 7:56am -
Chris -
Have you looked at the different PCB material / thickness / finish ?
With my supplier (pcborder.com), there are a ton of different options - FR4, CEM1, CEM3 circuit board material, thickness from 0.031" to 0.125" (default is 0.62"), and SMOBC, HASL, ENTEK and other finishes. I haven't experimented with any of the options, though CEM3 with a lead-free HASL finish and a thinner board looks like it might be a good combination. My base motor/radio board weighs 10gm and my stereo board weighs 25gm, so it seems like there is an opportunity to save some weight via some board fab options.
Howard
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Howard,
Right now we're just using the standard thickness. The board itself is really small (just under 2" square) so there's not a lot of volume there. We saved weight with a SMD power supply and switching from the Parallax to the Maxbotics ultrasonic sensor, and we're well under the weight budget for the blimp, so I think we're okay for now.
Comment
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