ST Microelectronics has produced some of the most useful and easily implemented sensor modules to date, and the STEVAL-FCU001V Flight Controller Evaluation Board is no exception. Designed to support quadcopter drone designers, this evaluation board comes with all the firmware necessary to begin piloting a drone immediately, making it perfect for learning how design your own drone.
The main purpose of the evaluation board is to allow users to evaluate the array of sensors that are used during real flight conditions in quadcopters. This makes the prototyping journey much more digestible from the start. The onboard inertial measurement unit (IMU) is ST’s LSM6DSL iNEMO 3D accelerometer and gyroscope which, when paired with the onboard pressure and magnetometer sensors, support 3D navigation applications. The evaluation board provides SWD, I2C, and USART connectors to allow further firmware development and additional sensors and RF modules.
This evaluation board also works with brushed or brushless DC motors and can be controlled via a standard external remote controller or through a tablet or smartphone via Bluetooth. The FCU is an ARM Cortex-M4 microcontroller that can control 4 DC motors via the four 30 V 6A on-board MOSFETs.