Drone Research and Development - Indeema’s Case

Our Development Process

• Hardware Development: Designing Schematics

  Schematic development entailed selecting appropriate microcontrollers, power supply components, input/output interfaces, and other electronic elements to ensure efficient control of the drone's motor functions and overall flight dynamics.

• Hardware Development: PCB Design

  The PCB design phase involved translating schematics into physical board layouts. The team optimized component placement to ensure signal integrity and ease of manufacturing. Traces, pads, and vias were arranged. PCB layer stack-up was managed with the goal of meeting all electrical and thermal requirements. The phase was followed by the generation of the files required for the actual PCB manufacturing.

• Hardware Manufacturing

  The final PCB design files in Gerber format, along with a bill of materials (BOM) and assembly drawings, were sent to an electronic manufacturing services (EMS) vendor. The vendor sourced all necessary components based on the team's BOM, manufactured the PCB, and assembled and tested the PCBs to ensure they met the required specifications.

• PCB Bring-Up

  Internal testing was conducted on the initial iterations of the electronic speed controller and flight controller printed circuit boards (PCBs) to verify that they operated as intended.
  Before firstly powering on the boards, all necessary measures were taken to prevent damage, such as checking for shorts, verifying voltages, and making sure no components are overheating.
  Firmware was uploaded to activate the boards and test their functionality.

• Perform Revisions

  The bring-up phase is typically iterative, requiring multiple rounds of testing and modifications to achieve the desired system functionality and performance. Based on the initial test results, the team created a set of updated production files and communicated with the EMS vendor to begin manufacturing the second revision of PCBs.