Blogs

3D Robotics

ArduPilot: New Thermopile Boards!

Posted by Chris Anderson on June 13, 2008 at 10:00pm

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

E-mail me when people leave their comments –
Follow

You need to be a member of diydrones to add comments!

Join diydrones

Comments

  • 3D Robotics
    Chris Anderson 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.
  • Ritchie 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 :)
  • Bill Eason November 30, 2009 at 7:06pm
    Your killing me. The sensors are OOS on DIY Drones and the price is back up from $99!
  • frankd 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?Produ...
  • 3D Robotics
    Chris Anderson May 6, 2009 at 5:24pm
    Jordi has a few dozen of them. We're setting up an ecommerce site now and he may be able to offer them. Stay tuned...
  • Eduardo May 6, 2009 at 4:39pm
    Chris, would you sell some of those thermopile sensors? Or our only option is to pay $18.00 per sensor to digikey?
  • Jean-Luc Fornier April 11, 2009 at 1:29am
    and maybe a through-hole board if you have some in stock?
    Thanks
  • Jean-Luc Fornier April 11, 2009 at 1:13am
    Hello Chris,

    would it be possible to get 4 pieces sent to France (Paypal)?

    I have ordered the new Ardupilot board last week at Sparkfun but still have no news... Any idea of when they will be available?

    Thanks, and sorry for the previous silly question regarding TP boards usability with arduPilot :-(
  • 3D Robotics
    Chris Anderson April 9, 2009 at 1:41pm
    Jan, there is no ArduPilot Pro (yet), and it will probably be IMU based. These are for ArduPilot.
  • Jean-Luc Fornier April 9, 2009 at 1:37pm
    Hello Chris,

    Sorry for the stupid question, but do these work with Ardupilot or only with Ardupilot Pro?
This reply was deleted.