Introduction

DIY Antenna Tracker and OSD using STM32F4 .

This board is aimed at developers. It is currently being used to create an OSD for aircraft and to power an Antenna Tracker (in development). It is currently being used as the basis of a Flight Controller by adding external components. (In development)

Features

STM32F4 microcontroller

Black, white or gray overlay colours.

On-board switching regulator. The board can be powered by any voltage from 7 to 25 volts (or by a regulated 5 volt power)

The OSD can transmit or receive data via the video signal itself, so requiring no external transmission link for telemetry, though it can also simultaneouslyy transmit via a video audio channel or via a modem using a uart.

Automatically detects NTSC or PAL video inputs and adjusts screen size accordingly.

Default display output when there is no camera input or if the camera fails.

Simple uploading of firmware via the serial port, using a standard 6 pin Arduino style FTDI to usb connector. The board can also be programmed using ST-Link.

2 dedicated electrically isolated serial ports (UART), so that the Video subsystem (Camera, Vtx and OSD) can be electrically isolated from noise in other circuitry to provide a clear picture but can still communicate fast and reliably with other parts of the system.

2 AC coupled audio outputs are provided. Potential uses are for voice alerts, audio variometer, sending FSK modem data via the video audio channels etc.

All spare pins of the STM32F4 are broken out on standard 0.1 inch pitch header pins. Spare peripherals available include 1)

  • 2 x I2C
  • 1 x SPI
  • 3 x UART
  • 2 x Quadrature Encoder ( 1 x16 bit , 1 x 32 bit)
  • 6 x ADC
  • 1 x CAN interface
  • Up to 9 Capture/Compare I/O for signal inputs, servo control, etc. .

Board dimensions 56 mm x 31 mm.

Up to 16k is available for Flash Variables for persistent storage of settings, together with a simple API and menu system to read and write the flash variables.

The source code is written in high performance C++11 programming language. A C API is planned.

Read the documentation at:http://www.zoomworks.org/fpv/quantracker/doc/osd/index.html

The project GitHub repository is at:quantracker repository

1) Note that some peripherals are multiplexed on the available pins so check the stm32f4 schematic and :mcu schematic for full details