The AeroQuad Shield v1.7 allows you to easily connect the proven Sparkfun IMU 5 degree of freedom and the IXZ500 yaw gyro breakout boards to an Arduino to create a 6 degree of freedom inertial measurement unit (IMU). The pinouts from the shield to the Arduino are directly compatible with the AeroQuad quadrocopter flight control software, and can also be easily adapted to any application where absolute angle position is required.
This is a great alternative to wiring the sensors and other connections by hand. It reduces the introduction of accidental errors, reduces the amount of wires for a cleaner build and ultimately saves you time getting your quadrocopter in the air!
The AeroQuad v1.7 Shield is delivered to you as a kit. You will need to solder the components listed below to the Shield. This gives the end user the flexibility to experiment with things like alternate capacitor values. There is also a prototype area below the motor control connectors for additional experimentation.
Features:
- 0.68uF capacitors added to increase flight stability by reducing unwanted analog sensor noise (capacitors included)
- Four PWM outputs for front/rear/left/right motor control (header pins included)
- 3.0V precision voltage reference and 4.7k ohm resistor for the AREF input (included)
- 5mm LED and 330 ohm resistor for AeroQuad ready light (included)
- Pads reserved for mounting the Sparkfun IMU 5 Degrees of Freedom and IXZ500 gyro breakout board (sensors not included)
- The shield can be interfaced to either the Arduino Duemilanove directly or to the Arduino Mega by adding additional jumper cables for receiver input
Depending on your application you have the choice to either install standard header pins or stackable header pins to connect the shield to your Arduino. Stackable headers pins gives you greater flexibility as you can stack additional shields in the future.
What is still needed:
- Stackable Header Pins or Standard Header Pins to connect the Shield to an Arduino
- Sparkfun IMU 5 Degrees of Freedom board
- Sparkfun Gyro Breakout Board - Dual 500 degree/sec (IXZ500)
- Straight Male Header pins to install onto the sensors to connect them to the Shield
- Optional Female Headers to install onto the Shield to allow a plug and play solution for mounting sensors to the shield (or the user can solder the sensors directly to the board)
- Optional Straight Male Header pins and Female to Female Receiver Cables to connect the Shield to an R/C receiver (Male Header Pins and Receiver Cables are available for purchase, or the user can wire their own custom cabling solution to an R/C receiver)
Documentation:
Technical Support:
For additional technical details and questions about the AeroQuad Shield, please visit our dedicated forum thread at:
http://carancho.com/AeroQuad/forum/index.php?topic=272.0
Also, please note that the two included resistors are labelled R1 and R2 on the shield:
R1 = 330 ohm (color bands for that resistor are orange, orange, brown, gold)
R2 = 4.7k ohm (yellow, purple, red, gold)
