• Designed to be the ideal solution for research & education
• Supports the popular Gumstix Overo series of powerful computer on modules
• Communication through Bluetooth/WiFi module
• Controlled via 2.4GHz remote control
• Autonomy: up to 20min
• USB camera is included
The Skybotix CoaX Autonomous UAV Micro Helicopter Drone is a robotic coaxial helicopter designed to be the ideal solution for research & education. It is ready to fly out of the box and extremely easy to use. It is equipped with state of the art sensors and processors. The helicopter is equipped with two brushless motors for the main rotors and two servo motors for the swash plate-based steering. Below picture shows the CoaX with all the possible options (peripherals) mounted on the helicopter. The USB camera is included.
The Helicopter was built around the CoaX® board, a highly integrated piece of electronics with an important connectivity to peripherals and extension modules. The CoaX board is the master piece of the CoaX system. It is an integrated piece of electronics, comprising several sensors and chips which must be handled with care. The CoaX® helicopter supports the popular Gumstix Overo™ series of powerful computer on modules. With only 17mm x 58mm x 4.2mm in size, and only 6g in mass, the Overo™ motherboard is the tiniest, lowest-cost Linux computer available today from Gumstix for the open-source community. Overo™ is based on the ultra-fast OMAP35x processor, and exists in four (04) different variants, all supported by CoaX. The Overo™ module is simply plugged below the CoaX® board. The necessary Overo I/O lines are routed through the CoaX board and made available for the CoaX users.
The CoaX® helicopter can be equipped with two types of WiFi modules. It can be equipped with two types of cameras. Both of them are used usually at a standard resolution of 640x480 and a frame rate of 15fps. This corresponds to a data rate of about 37Mbps, effectively sent through the WiFi connection. A maximum lies around 25fps, so about 60Mbps for VGA resolution. Tests have shown that it is possible to go up to 90Mbps with the n-standard WiFi module. The CoaX® helicopter has a full serial port (3V3 TTL level, incl. flow control) available for standard serial devices through a 6pin connector. Skybotix offers the choice between two types of wireless communication modules, directly adapted and connected to the 6pin serial port of the CoaX board.
The CoaX can be equipped with 3 lateral IR range finders. The CoaX supports the Sharp GP2Y0A02YK0F sensor, which works until ~1.2m (4ft) with a precision of a couple of centimeters. The use of lateral range finding on a helicopter is quite tricky. It depends a lot on the environment, the application and the flight itself (height, etc.). Thus, the kit of three (03) sensors is to be ordered separately. The code of the main dsPIC provides already a library to read this sensor. However, any obstacle avoidance functionality has to be programmed by the user himself.
For the detailed information on Electronics, Main board, Gumstix Overo™ module, WiFi module etc. please see the useful links tab.
• Supplier code : COAX