AutoQuad M4

AQ M4 – Full AutoQuad Capabilities in the Palm of your Hand

The AutoQuad M4 is first in a new generation of AutoQuad flight controllers. It is designed to be scalable from pocket sized quads and up to heavy payload copters with up to 16 brushless motors by using expansion boards.

M4_demo

AutoQuad M4 offers an easy and affordable entry into the world of AutoQuad with Quatos adaptive attitude control.It it is fully software compatible with all AutoQuad features. And a number of new features including the quatos adaptive controller makes the M4 a very stable, easy and affordable AutoQuad controller.

M4 SIZE

Simplified Sensor Calibration

Basic IMU calibration can be done in 5 mins, and with a small nanoquad frame, it it easy and fast to create a pocketquad with superior stability and full autonomous mission capability.

But it can also be expanded to be the heart of a heavy payload copter with up to 16 motors. So its versatile and can be adapted from crafts that fits in your pocket to crafts that fits in your car…and to everything in between those 2 extremes

And with Quatos adaptive attitude control now included along with every M4 controller, AutoQuad now offers unsurpassed stability and disturbance rejection.

Red_Top  Blk_Top

Features of the v1 (r4, r5) Beta Boards:

  • STM32F405 MCU
  • Native USB with 1S battery charging
  • 4 onboard motor drivers for brushed motors
  • Full 9-axis digital IMU with Altimeter
  • Onboard Ublox7 GPS module
  • Onboard Deltang DSM2 7-channel receiver
  • Expansion board headers containing PWM, GPIOs, SD-Card, UART and power
  • Onboard CAN bus transceiver
  • Included Quatos license for hobby and recreational crafts up to 1kg. Upgrade, educational and commercial licenses available.

Features of the v2 (r6) Production Boards:

  • CYRF6936 based DSM2/DSMX capable 12channel transceiver onboard (no telemetry at this point, but it could be added…)
  • 3.3 supply from buck/boost converter. Should be enough to run both internal and external radio and BT
  • Antenna for CYRF module now has a u.fl connector
  • GPS backup battery
  • Vin sense circuit
  • Vbus pads for clean 5V supply (no need to supply onto Vcom via diodes or regulators)
  • Option to mount Picoblade connectors for motors
  • MAX-M8Q GPS/GLONASS module. (V1 had MAX-7W, which is GPS “only”)

The 4 onboard motor drivers allow to build a pocket sized AutoQuad by just adding 4 coreless motors and a small frame. It is a direct fit to a Ladybird frame and can be combined with a number of other pocket-quad parts from Hubsan, CrazyFlie, Walkera, WLtoys, e-flite and many others.

m4-example  M4-crazyfly  M4-example3

Full autonomous capability

By connecting a small GPS antenna (you can make one for a few bucks) you can add full navigation and autonomous mission capabilites to your M4 nanoquad. Or, if you are using your M4 to control your big rig, you can use the standard 35mm patch antenna and get really excellent GPS reception even in challenging places.

Adaptive Control

M4 introduces the new Quatos Adaptive control unit to AutoQuad. Quatos is a nonlinear adaptive attitude controller that increases stability and disturbance rejection in AutoQuad.
Every M4 will come with a license that allows personal hobby use on crafts up to 1kg. Upgrade paths for crafts over 1kg and commercial use and licenses for existing AQ controllers will be made available from Dynamic Software, the company behind Quatos.

Expand it!

The expansion headers makes it possible for the M4 controller to be very versatile and offer the same functions as a full AQ controller board with up to 8 PWM channels (including the 4 internal channels), SD-Card and wireless telemetry just like its bigger counterparts. And with CAN and ESC32, you dont need to worry about PWM channels, but can control up to 16 CAN ESC´s directly from the M4 and fly your big rig with it too.

Use it to control your Big Rig

The combination of GPS receiver, CAN bus  and expansion headers allows the M4 to be used to control a fullsize rig with full nav capability. We are also working on several  “Motherboards” for the M4 and other AQ controllers that we will release soon.

These motherboards can be connected to any AutoQuad main board via CAN bus. They add functions such as OSD, power distribution, signal distribution, power supplies, UART´s, Xbee socket and PWM channels.SwissM4