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Brain FPV Flight Controller - Tau Labs - Full Graphic OSD - Made in USA - 36x36mm

Posted by BrainFPV on December 20, 2014 at 6:10am

We wanted to introduce you guys to something we have been working on over the past year.. Namely, the Brain FPV Flight Controller: 

brain_top_bottom.png

The Brain is a next-generation flight controller that is specifically designed for first person view (FPV) flying and includes a full-graphic on-screen display (OSD). The Brain is small and light (36mm x 36mm, 8 grams), so it is ideally suited for FPV mini quads but it can fly anything, from mini quads to large octo-copters and fixed-wing planes.

The firmware running on the Brain is open source (GPL V3) and based on Tau Labs, which gives you many exciting features and also a great cross-platform (Linux, Windows, OS-X) ground control software to configure your flight controller using USB. So far, the Brain specific code has not been merged into the Tau Labs tree and instead exists as a (friendly) fork on GitHub.

The OSD code was originally developed by the Super-OSD and OpenPilot projects. Naturally, the improved version of the code used in the Brain is available on GitHub for anyone to reuse and build-on (GPLv3 license).

The hardware files of the Brain are currently closed, but we plan on releasing them in the future. While the Brain was developed independently, it retains many of the connector pinouts used on the popular CC3D flight controler.

The most exciting feature of the Brain is definitely the full-graphic OSD. The video below demonstrates the OSD on a tricopter and also the ability of the Brain (and Tau Labs in general) to handle aggressive acro flying, as well as, GPS assisted modes, such as PH and RTH.

The Brain is now available for purchase from our website. The full specs are given below.

FPV Specific Features:

  • Full-graphic OSD (360x266 for PAL):
    - Software adjustable black and white levels
    - PAL/NTSC autodetect
    - 4 fully user configurable OSD pages, selectable using switch on transmitter
  • Audio output (not yet supported by software)
  • 3 analog inputs for voltage, current, RSSI measurement
  • RSSI measurement using PWM, PPM, or analog input

Other Features:

  • CPU: STM32F405RG (32bit, 168MHz, 192kB RAM, 1MB Flash)
  • 64Mbit flash for settings, way points, logging
  • InvenSense MPU-9250 latest generation 3-axis gyro/accel/mag
  • Barometer: MeasSpec MS5611
  • Receiver compatibility: PWM, PPM, S.Bus, DSM2, DSMX, HoTT SUMD/SUMH
  • Up to 10 PWM outputs (up to 400Hz update rate) 
  • Up to 3 serial ports for telemetry, GPS, RC receiver, etc.
  • External I2C port, can e.g. be used with an external HMC5883 compass
  • Micro USB port for configuration via PC
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