Research Electronic Speed Controller

Electronic Speed Controllers (ESCs) are used to control the operation of electric motors in Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UASs). Research institutions require ESCs that can collect operating telemetry from the controller and motor when developing UAS technologies. Readily available ESCs do not have these functionalities and are limited to operating a narrow range of motor sizes, making them unusable in research applications.

The team built a functional ESC that operates over a wide range of motors and collects the required data within 1% accuracy.

The ESC uses a Teensy 4.1 microcontroller as its main processing unit. Speed instructions are transmitted to the Teensy 4.1 from an external flight computer, which are then processed to control the motor’s RPM. The Teensy 4.1 also collects the temperature and motor’s RPMs, current draw and voltage. All telemetry data is transmitted to the flight computer using the CAN bus protocol. The ESC is packaged in an aluminum enclosure with active cooling to safely operate motors ranging from 10V to 50V, with a maximum continuous current draw of 120A.