This blog page is dedicated to the motors of the AR Drone.
You can download an on-drone c program (source+compiled) to control the motors and leds.
Pinout
Pin 1 Battery 11.4V Pin 2 VCC 5V (ATMega8a VCC Pin4+5) Pin 3 TX+RX (ATmega8a Pin30+31) Pin 4 IRQ to main board (ATmega8a PC3 Pin26) Pin 5 GND Pin 1 Red Pin 2 White Pin 3 Motor1=Yellow,M2=Orange,M3=Blue,M4=Green Pin 4 Motor1=Purple,M2=Gray,M3=Brown,M4=Pink Pin 5 Black
IRQ
Whenever the motor controller detects a problem, it will stop running and toggles the IRQ pin. A rising edge to 5v on the IRQ pin sets GPIO 106 (i.e. `gpio 106 -r` returns 1). Pin 106 can be reset to 0 by toggling GPIO 107, i.e. `gpio 107 -d ho 0; gpio 107 -d ho 1`.
In other words this is a flipflop circuit, with Set=IRQ, Reset=GPIO107 and Data=GPIO106.
GPIO
gpio 68 -d i = select motor1 gpio 68 -d ho 0 = deselect motor1 gpio 69 -d i = select motor2 gpio 69 -d ho 0 = deselect motor2 gpio 70 -d i = select motor3 gpio 70 -d ho 0 = deselect motor3 gpio 71 -d i = select motor4 gpio 71 -d ho 0 = deselect motor4 gpio 106 -i = IRQ input, 1=IRQ requested gpio 107 -d ho 0; gpio 107 -d ho 1 = reset GPIO 106 to 0
Serial Communication
Baud rate: 115200, 8n1
Unicast Commands
Configuiration sent to single motor. The motor is selected with GPIO 68 to 71.
write -> reply in hex, null means no reply
E0 -> status : get status 00=ok, 50=need reflash
if(status==50){
71 64bytes 70 -> null : program flash, repeated 120 times (120 blocks of 64bytes = 7920bytes)
91 -> 120 bytes : get 120 checksums of 64 byte flash blocks
A1 -> A0 FF : set status OK (command send after command 91)
}
01 or 02,03,04 -> null : assign as motor1,2,3,4
40 -> 11 bytes : check versions (eg 01 0b 03 00 01 01 0a 0a 1a 0a 0a = soft version 1.11, hard version 3.0, supplier 1.1, lot number 10/10, FVT1 26/10/10)
Multicast commands
Sent to all motors.
A0 A0 A0 A0 A0 A0 -> null : start of multicast 2x xx xx xx xx -> null : set speeds sent every 5ms 89 or 8A,8B,8X -> 28 2f : check motor1,2,3,4 alive - sent one command every 25 frames (i.e. every 125ms one motor, same motor every 500ms) 6x xx,7x xx -> null : set leds bit5=Red Rear Left, bit6=Green Rear Left, bit7=Red Rear Right, bit8=Green Rear Right, bit9=Red Front Right, bit10=Green Front Right, bit11=Red Front Left, bit12=Green Front Left (011grgrg rgrxxxx)
Init Sequence
(as used by program.elf)
for x=1 to 4
CSx_ Low
TX E0, RX 2 bytes
TX 91, RX 121 bytes
TX A1, RX 3 bytes
TX 00+x, RX 1 byte
TX 40, RX 12 bytes
CSx_ High
wait 500ms
end for
for x=1 to 4
CSx_ Low
TX E0, RX 2 bytes
TX 00+x, RX 1 byte
TX 40, RX 12 bytes
CSx_ High
end for
wait 500ms
CS1_,CS2_,CS3_,CS4_ Low (select all)
for x=1 to 6
TX A0 -> RX 1 byte
end for
Set Speeds
001aaaaa aaaabbbb bbbbbccc ccccccdd ddddddd0
a,b,c,d = 9 bits for motor 1,2,3,4 (msb first)
transmitted every 5ms (200Hz)
every 80ms send 2x + one 8x code
References
http://fenrir.naruoka.org/archives/000805.html
http://www.ardrone-flyers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=1025&start=15
Test Script
The following script initializes the motor and starts the control loop. The control loop flashes all leds. The script has been tested as replacement for program.elf on a AR.Drone with firmware version 1.7.4 and 1.3.3, motor software version 1.20 and 1.11, motor hardware version 3.0, motor supplier 1.1 and 2.2.
#set baud rate stty -F /dev/ttyPA1 115200 #reset IRQ flipflop - on error 106 read 1, this code resets 106 to 0 gpio 106 -d i gpio 107 -d ho 0 gpio 107 -d ho 1 #all select lines inactive gpio 68 -d ho 1 gpio 69 -d ho 1 gpio 70 -d ho 1 gpio 72 -d ho 1 #configure motor1 gpio 68 -d i echo -en "\xe0" > /dev/ttyPA1 usleep 100 echo -en "\x01" > /dev/ttyPA1 usleep 100 echo -en "\x40" > /dev/ttyPA1 usleep 100 gpio 68 -d ho 1 #configure motor2 gpio 69 -d i echo -en "\xe0" > /dev/ttyPA1 usleep 100 echo -en "\x02" > /dev/ttyPA1 usleep 100 echo -en "\x40" > /dev/ttyPA1 usleep 100 gpio 69 -d ho 1 #configure motor3 gpio 70 -d i echo -en "\xe0" > /dev/ttyPA1 usleep 100 echo -en "\x03" > /dev/ttyPA1 usleep 100 echo -en "\x40" > /dev/ttyPA1 usleep 100 gpio 70 -d ho 1 #configure motor4 gpio 71 -d i echo -en "\xe0" > /dev/ttyPA1 usleep 100 echo -en "\x04" > /dev/ttyPA1 usleep 100 echo -en "\x40" > /dev/ttyPA1 usleep 100 gpio 71 -d ho 1 #all select lines active gpio 68 -d i gpio 69 -d i gpio 70 -d i gpio 71 -d i #start multicast echo -en "\xa0" > /dev/ttyPA1 usleep 100 echo -en "\xa0" > /dev/ttyPA1 usleep 100 echo -en "\xa0" > /dev/ttyPA1 usleep 100 echo -en "\xa0" > /dev/ttyPA1 usleep 100 echo -en "\xa0" > /dev/ttyPA1 usleep 100 echo -en "\xa0" > /dev/ttyPA1 usleep 100 #reset IRQ flipflop - on error 106 read 1, this code resets 106 to 0 gpio 106 -d i gpio 107 -d ho 0 gpio 107 -d ho 1 #multicast loop while true do echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 #all leds orange echo -en "\x7f\xf0" >/dev/ttyPA1 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 echo -en "\x20\x00\x00\x00\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 usleep 5000 #all leds off echo -en "\x60\x00" >/dev/ttyPA1 done
> Set Speeds
> 001aaaaa aaaabbbb bbbbbccc ccccccdd ddddddd0
> a,b,c,d = 9 bits for motor 1,2,3,4 (msb first)
I found the 9th bit of each are always 0.
Looking into the raw NavData dump, the motor PWM speed value is in range of 0~255.
So I think it should be a 8 bits speed value ,and the 9th bit is just a fill-in bit.
That is:
001aaaaa aaa0bbbb bbbb0ccc ccccc0dd dddddd00
Apparently the mainboard control program always sets the lsb bit to zero. Digging into a re-assembly of the motor controller’s AVR flash dump I found that the controller does use this 9th bit.
For safe test with AR.Drone motors, I removed the spin-blades. But I got motor CUTOUT after ~3 seconds of running. How to avoid it and make a continued long running? (So I’m able to test the speed changes with different PWM values)
You probably need to put the spin-blade back on. I suspect that the motor controller senses that it is running without a blade and cuts out. On my test setup with the drone securely fixed to the table it keeps on running. The motor needs at least 0×66 to startup, after startup the value can be reduced to 0×33.
Hello Hugo,
I am attempting to create an Arduino program that can be used as an adapter, taking the output from the stock AR Drone boards (stock firmware too) and ultimately outputting a set of PWM signals for use with conventional ESC’s, for bigger motors. It would compare the four motor values against each other to determine ultimately what the drone is asking for Roll, Pitch, Yaw, and Throttle outputs, and then would multiply each against an adjustable gain, and then mix them again and output to their respective motors. The adjustable gains would be used to make the new airframe and motors respond at the same rates, tuning them to match what the AR Drone board is doing.
The toughest part is learning Arduino, I2C, all of this stuff, it’s all new to me. If there is any help you could give, please let me know, and if you want, feel free to check out my thread about what I’m doing:
http://www.ardrone-flyers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=4529
And yes, I really would give you $200 if you could provide me an Arduino program that can read the I2C stream, communicate back to the Drone whatever is needed for the Drone to be happy thinking it’s talking with regular Motor controllers, and then output to four PWM’s for regular ESC’s to plug into. This is all in tons of more detail in my thread. I look forward to hearing from you!
Hi Hugo,
Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge about the AR Drone motor controller. I’m trying to control de motor with an Arduino board, but I am not able to read and write serial data on the same line (Pin 3) to communicate with the controller. Can you give me any tip?
Hi Adrian, in order to use an Arduino you will have to connect the TX & RX pins of the Arduino together. Then you have to modify the Serial library (or write your own library) in such a way that the TX pin is released (i.e. set as input) when the Arduino is not sending data. If the TX pin is kept as output you will not be able to “hear” the controller, and you potentially blow up the Arduino + the motor controller. In your experiments I would add a 1k resistor in series to the TX pin as protection. Good luck, Hugo
Hi I have the AR DRONE 2.0 and have snapper the small shaft/pin to that comes from the motor. Does anyone know if this motors shaft/pin can be replaced or do I have to go buy a whole new motor?
I’m can’t find anywhere that sais I can change motor pin. Ideally would like to avoid having to pay $50 for a new motor.
Regards,
Adam
Hello,
I am using AR DRone with PX4FMU autopilot and PX4IOAR board. Three out of four motors on my AR DRone 2.0 have stopped working. I see only a solid red light on them upon powering.
How can I communicate to the motor controller through PX4 to reset the IRQ pin ?
Thank you for your help.
Hi! Thank you for this post !
I’m trying to control the motor with an arduino
Pin 1 12V Supply
Pin 2 5V
Pin 3 TX+RX Arduino Serial with 2 resistors
Pin 4 Disconnected
Pin 5 GND ( Common )
If I try sending 0xE0 but i receive no answer from the motor….
If i sniff the connection between the motor and the ARdrone1 I get a lot of bytes (the same in this post es. E0 50 … )
I know there are only a little bit of information in mu comment, have you any idea about the issue?
Thank you!
Hi,
I am trying to build a real-time defense system in AR Drone – 1 quadricopter using arduino uno and PIR(Passive Infrared Sensors). The Idea is, whenever the flying drone senses high spped objects approaching towards it through the arduino. So when it senses this, arduino will communicate with the AR drone via WIFI and it will try to defend itself by changing its path according to sensor information.
My questions are:
1. Can we make the both the WIFI (AR drone wifi & arduino wifi) communicate directly without connecting it to the computre. If it is possible, what will be the drive commands to be sent to AR Drone using arduino to control flight further?
2. Is there a hack possible in the AR drone by any other way using which we can control the AR drone directly by interfacing it with arduino?
Thanks in Advance
Hello Hugo,
Thanks for sharing your information. I want to use Ardrone’s microprocessor on brushed motor but I couldn’t run my motors cuz Ardrone’s microprocessor always look for its brushless motor . can you give me a tip ?
Hi all,
This is Prasanna and I am trying to interface an AR DRone 2.0 unit with PX4FMU autopilot and PX4IOAR board.
3 of the 4 motors get initialized also the led under the rotors (in front of the motors) seems to be Red.
Can you pls help?
Also – To incorporate the code given here with the above mentioned unit, is there an application or system that I need to interface with?
Thanks
Prasanna
exactly that string sends to the motor controller to turn on, I turn the engine but with arduino pins and connect the black battery red white 5 volt Arduino and the middle one a Pwm signal but the engine will not start , sorry for the bad English
Hello friend
I wonder if you can help me with a project I have, which is to manage the drivers esc with motors with arduino but understand that generated signal to move, but I think they are bytes would like to know how to do it
Sorry for the bad english
Hello Hugo
thank you for the source codes.
My problem is with the AR Drone 2.0 , because when I tried to apply the programs ( for exemple mtorboard) Linux deliver an error ( ttyPA1 file doesn’t exist ) , I changed ttypA1 by ttyO0 according to the link https://sites.google.com/site/projetsecinsa/documents-techniques/outils-et-methodes/controle-moteurs
the error has gone, the program could be executed , but it didn’t work ( the motors didn’t turn and the leds didn’t change their colors. May the problem is due to the fact that the AR Drone works with cortex A8 , so I have to change some things in the program???
please help me
Hi.
I’m university student from South Korea. I am trying to operating Ar.drone motor controller with ATmega. I face to the problem that motor is not working. It doesn’t work referenced your blog. There are difference between our USART data and yours. Is there difference by firmware version? Want know for how to configure motor? Can you help me?
hello
i have ar drone 2
unfortunately burn the mainboard;
although the engines and body work;
i want to know more of the protocol and I want to use the engines;
I can connect the motors as in the guide;
the idea is to use an external controller like a texas or atmel;
my guide px4iaor board;
You can guide me if this will work
Pin 1 Battery to LIPO 3S min 9,9v max 12,6
Pin 2 VCC 5V example 7805
Pin 3 TX+RX ttl fdti TX and RX
Pin 4 IRQ to a led red
Pin 5 GND
and send comands via UART
regards
Hello Hugo
thank you for the source codes.
My problem is with the AR Drone 2.0 , because when I tried to apply the programs ( for exemple mtorboard) Linux deliver an error ( ttyPA1 file doesn’t exist ) , I changed ttypA1 by ttyO0 according to the link https://sites.google.com/site/projetsecinsa/documents-techniques/outils-et-methodes/controle-moteurs
the error has gone, the program could be executed , but it didn’t work ( the motors didn’t turn and the leds didn’t change their colors. May the problem is due to the fact that the AR Drone works with cortex A8 , so I have to change some things in the program???
please help me