We wanted to introduce you guys to something we have been working on over the past year.. Namely, the Brain FPV Flight Controller:
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
Comments
I made a few notes from my first impressions playing with the OSD and installing it into my MHQ. Now I really need to go practice my FPV.
http://buildandcrash.blogspot.com/2014/12/brainfpv-cool-new-board-u...
Hi Roberto,
Yes, the VR uBrain is indeed similar, the Brain is even smaller, so maybe we should have called it the Nano Brain ;).
The OSD uses approximately 15% of the CPU, out of which 5% is for outputting pixels over two SPIs with DMA and 10% is for drawing operations. If the OSD has to draw things like a map with 100 waypoints, the CPU utilization is a few percent higher. It would definitely be possible to port the code to a different RTOS, most of it is OS independent. The main work would be adapting the OSD code and extending the GCS so it can be used to configure the OSD.
Hi BrainFPV,
your board is very similar to my VR uBrain 5
http://www.virtualrobotix.it/index.php/en/shop/autopilot/vrbrainmic...
, the name ,too is very similar :) My opinion is that OSD is interesting part of your project but how many resource need %cpu and in/out ? Could be interesting to port the that module on nuttx.
I already test the Taulabs on VR Brain and it work fine , i think that the automatic function is not so good, but the main problem is the CGS software have a lot of iusse with the usb driver . At the moment i prefer a lot our APM Copter firmware no real reason for switch to TauLabs code only for curiosity :)
Very nice work, and great to see the OSD code finally being cleaned up and put to use! It's exciting to see more targets using the Tau Labs codebase.
Thanks. We are planning to open the hardware in the future. The connectors are JST-SH 4 pin and 8 pin. Compared to Pixhawk, which is also a great flight controller, it has an integrated OSD and is much smaller. So you can easily fit it on a 250 mini quad.
Higher resolution OSDs are difficult to achieve using current technology and a single processor solution (which is a big advantage, as the OSD has direct access to the state of the flight controller). Besides, for 720p you would need a digital video downlink and you would probably render the OSD on the ground. The Brain is designed from analog NTSC and PAL video signals, which are most widely used in the FPV community.
Great board but OSD is only 360x266 :(
People are really desperate to see an OSD that can handle at least the low-end HD video, I'mn at least 720p video.
What are advantages of this board over Pixhawk?
Awesome board! I've been waiting a long time for a solution like this. It would be great if the design would become open source. By the way, which connectors are you using?
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