Quite some time has passed since our last post on the topic, so it's time to make another one.
Sapog
For those uninitiated, PX4 Sapog is an open source ESC design which you can get familiar with right here: kb.zubax.com/x/cYAh. Over the last months, the following noteworthy things happened to the project:
- Proper documentation has finally been written: meet the Sapog Reference Manual. Feel free to contribute on Github.
- The firmware has obtained a much more advanced spin-up algorithm (the new one is now documented in the Reference Manual).
- After a brief interruption, Zubax Orel 20, which are Sapog-based ESC (pictured), are back in stock at Titan Elite.
I'd like to use this opportunity to remind users about the vices of believing the current capability characteristics stated in marketing materials of certain vendors of low-cost ESC. The issue was somewhat explained in our older post here, and here's a TL;DR: many of the widely used low-cost ESC tend to be unable to achieve the stated performance characteristics. Not ours, no sir.
What's next?
The past few years have been spent working on a brand-new motor control solution which is intended to go much further than a simple ESC for a light UAV. Meet Télega - a completely new PMSM controller which incorporates several groundbreaking improvements which open new horizons for low-cost electric drives. Télega allows you to take virtually any existing low-cost electric drive, replace the existing legacy ESC in it with a Telega-based one, and gain 15% to 30% longer flight time as a result.
The teaser pic on the right shows the first motor controller design that is based on Telega, which we call Myxa. While the project is not really market-ready yet, we're looking for testers who are willing to work with us to weed out the remaining corner cases in exchange for certain benefits. Those who might be interested, please write us (or stop by our new lab in Tallinn, we have cookies).
Speaking of UAVs
The UAVCAN project has received an unexpected development: a new implementation has appeared, this time in Rust. Check out the project here on Github, and read the background discussion here.
Comments
Yes. In fact, Myxa already supports UAVCAN and is compatible with PX4/APM.
Regarding the underlying Telega technology and the Myxa ESC (specifically the Myxa B), is it currently intended for the CAN interface logic to be cross-compatible with Sapog?
More specifically, are there plans and/or current work to support UAVCAN integration of the Myxa B with the likes of PX4 and Ardupilot?
Ah, right. Sorry, I hadn't realised that Sapog was never FOC, and was wondering how you had managed an additional boost in efficiency with Telega.
Looking forward to a market-ready Myxa. UAVCAN and FOC are definitely the way forward.
Sapog does not support field-oriented control, it never did. We first implemented this technology in PX4ESC and then in Telega.
Is Sapog still using field-orientated control?
Myxa is rated for 20 A without a heat sink, up to 30 A with a heat sink.
I meant UAVCAN. But thank you for the info. What is the highest current for the new ESC?
Sapog is a basic open source BLDC controller.
PX4ESC is a now-defunct project that no longer exists. In the past, we used it to bootstrap the Telega project.
Telega is a much more advanced design than the above.
CANESC is unknown to me.
What is difference between Sapog, PX4ESC, CANESC, and Telega?
At the moment we don't plan to open source the Telega technology.
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