CUAV V5+ Autopilot

V5+® is an advanced autopilot manufactured by CUAV®. It was designed by CUAV® in collaboration with the PX4 team.

The autopilot is recommended for commercial systems integration, but is also suitable for academic research and any other use.

V5+ AutoPilot - hero image

Some of its main features include:

  • Full compatibility with the Pixhawk project FMUv5 design standard and uses the Pixhawk Connector Standard for all external interfaces.
  • More advanced processor, RAM and flash memory than FMU v3, along with more stable and reliable sensors.
  • Firmware-compatible with PX4.
  • Modular design allows users to customize their own carrier board.
  • Built-in vibration dampening system with high performance shock absorption system.
  • Multiple-redundant sensor and power systems for improved flight safety and stability.

Quick Summary

  • Main FMU Processor: STM32F765
    • 32 Bit Arm® Cortex®-M7, 216MHz, 2MB memory, 512KB RAM
  • IO Processor: STM32F100
    • 32 Bit Arm® Cortex®-M3, 24MHz, 8KB SRAM
  • On-board sensors:

    • Accelerometer/Gyroscope: ICM-20689
    • Accelerometer/Gyroscope: BMI055
    • Magnetometer: IST8310
    • Barometer: MS5611
  • Interfaces:

    • 8-14 PWM outputs (6 from IO, 8 from FMU)
    • 3 dedicated PWM/Capture inputs on FMU
    • Dedicated R/C input for CPPM
    • Dedicated R/C input for Spektrum / DSM and S.Bus with analog / PWM RSSI input
    • analog / PWM RSSI input
    • S.Bus servo output
    • 5 general purpose serial ports
    • 4 I2C ports
    • 4 SPI buses
    • 2 CANBuses with serial ESC
    • Analog inputs for voltage / current of 2 batteries
  • Power System:
    • Power: 4.3~5.4V
    • USB Input: 4.75~5.25V
  • Weight and Dimensions:
    • Weight: 90g
    • Dimensions: 85.5*42*33mm
  • Other Characteristics:
    • Operating temperature: -20 ~ 80°c(Measured value)

Purchase

CUAV Aliexpress (International users)

CUAV Taobao (China Mainland users)

Autopilot may be purchased with included Neo GPS module

Connections (Wiring)

CUAV V5+ Wiring Quickstart

Pinouts

Download V5+ pinouts from here.

Voltage Ratings

V5+ AutoPilot supports redundant power supplies - up to three sources may be used: Power1, Power2 and USB. You must supply power to at least one of these sources, or the flight controller will be unpowered.

On FMUv5 based FMUs with PX4IO module (as is the case for the V5+), the Servo Power Rail is only monitored by the FMU. It is neither powered by, nor provides power to the FMU. However, the pins marked + are all common, and a BEC may be connected to any of the servo pin sets to power the servo power rail.

Normal Operation Maximum Ratings

Under these conditions all power sources will be used in this order to power the system:

  1. Power1 and Power2 inputs (4.3V to 5.4V)
  2. USB input (4.75V to 5.25V)

Over Current Protection

The V5+ has over current protection on the 5 Volt Peripheral and 5 Volt high power, which limits the current to 2.5A. The V5+ has short circuit protection.

Up to 2.5 A can be delivered to the connectors listed as pin 1 (although these are only rated at 1 A).

Building Firmware

Most users will not need to build this firmware! It is pre-built and automatically installed by QGroundControl when appropriate hardware is connected.

To build PX4 for this target:

make px4_fmu-v5_default

Debug Port

The system's serial console and SWD interface operate on the FMU Debug port. Simply connect the FTDI cable to the Debug & F7 SWD connector (the product list contains the CUAV FTDI cable). It does not have an I/O debug interface.

See also: Using JTAG for hardware debugging

Peripherals

Supported Platforms / Airframes

Any multicopter / airplane / rover or boat that can be controlled with normal RC servos or Futaba S-Bus servos. The complete set of supported configurations can be seen in the Airframes Reference.

Known Issues

The issues below refer to the batch number in which they first appear. The batch number is the last two digits of the serial number that appears on a sticker on the side of the flight controller. For example, the serial number V011907XXXX01 indicates the flight controller was in batch 01.

GPS not compatible with other devices (Critical)

The Neo v2.0 GPS recommended for use with CUAV V5+ and CUAV V5 nano is not fully compatible with other Pixhawk flight controllers (specifically, the buzzer part is not compatible and there may be issues with the safety switch). The GPS will not work with other flight controllers, and is the only GPS unit that can be used with the CUAV V5+ and CUAV V5 nano.

  • Found: Batch 01
  • Fixed: -

Volt regulation varies greater than +/- 5%

The 5 volt pins on all connectors will be lower when powered from USB than the Power Module (the pins will measure approximately 4.69V when only powered by USB, and 5.28 Volts when connected to the Power Module).

We recommend that when using USB with the V5+ you also connect the power module (to avoid under-powering any connected peripherals).

Remove propellers before connecting the power module (this is important whenever bench testing with powered motors).

  • Found: Batch 01
  • Fixed: -

Do not plug Digital or Analog PM onto connectors configured for other type of PM

If you plug an Analog PM into a digital PM connector it will stop all the I2C devices on that bus. Specifically this will stop the GPS's compass due to contention, and may also damage the FMU (longer term).

Similarly, a digital PM plugged into a analog connector will not work, and may also damage/destroy the power module (longer term).

  • Found: Batch 01
  • Fixed: -

Using JTAG for hardware debugging

DSU7 FMU Debug Pin 1 is 5 volts - not the 3.3 volts of the CPU.

Some JTAG use this voltage to set the IO levels when communicating to the target.

For direct connection to Segger Jlink we recommended you use the 3.3 Volts of DSM/SBUS/RSSI pin 4 as Pin 1 on the debug connector (Vtref).

The HV_PM power module output is unfused

This is a serious safety issue.

  • Power must be turned off while connecting peripherals.
  • Improper wiring can lead to personal harm or equipment damage!

Further Information

© PX4 Dev Team. License: CC BY 4.0            Updated: 2020-10-28 22:06:47

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