Tracking Antenna Prototype Electrical Solution

Owned by Hardy Yu
Last updated: 2023-06-30
2 min read

After several discussions on the tracking antenna power supply and harness solution, we found out the overall architecture could be pretty simple. There aren’t many requirements for the tracking antenna PCB, therefore most of what the PCB should be able to do is to give a reliable power supply and make the system compact and easy to set up.

Preliminary Tracking Antenna PCB Requirements

Item

Reason

Item

Reason

6s to 12V voltage step down

The board need to be compatiable working along with VTX system, which needs 12V power supply

6s to 5V voltage step down

Many electronic components on tracking antenna are using 5V power supply

Shield for plugging nucleo l5

(I am wondering maybe we could use a smaller nucleo if it is not too hard to tell EFS ppl to change it)

We need the nucleo board for its strong functionalities while allowing the code can be easily flash to it. Also this makes the pcb design less complicated

Grouped pinout for tracking antenna firmware peripherals

 

Sensors talks to nucleo through the pcb board

Current rated for 8A

Servos and the VTX consume a lot of current, which requires the board being able to withstand consistent high current draw

Current & Voltage Sensing

Protect the important components from burning

 

First Prototype Power Supply Solution

Nucleo L552ZE-Q

 

The purpose of having such a prototype testing solution is for allowing the EFS team to get their algorithm testing started while the EE team could spend their time designing on the PCB. This is also a backup solution if the PCB couldn’t be done on time.

A perf board is used here for safer and cleaner routing.

The drawback of this plan is that it couldn’t support enough current for the servos to run at full speed, since the 5V buck is rated to 2 A. Also, this plan can’t support any VTX system to go along with it.

To-Do List:

  • Sync with the EFS team to secure the list of peripherals for tracking antenna firmware

  • Understand the VTX power supply requirement

  • Design high-level architecture for PCB

  • Start thinking of the buck systems with the high current rating requirement