HardLabs

Drone FC

dark-Phoenix2077·hover·PCBs/Drone FC/Drone FC.kicad_pcb

Drone FC PCB layout, top view — open source STM32 board by dark-Phoenix2077

About the Drone FC PCB

Drone FC is an open source STM32 PCB design by dark-Phoenix2077, published on GitHub under the MIT license. It is a 4-layer board measuring 46.6 × 46.6 mm, with 58 components from 23 distinct parts.

Its main chip is the STM32F103C8T6, from the STM32 family. Other key parts include the AMS1117-3.3, MPU-6050 and BK2423. By type, the board carries 24 capacitors, 12 resistors, 7 connectors, 4 ICs, 4 transistors and 4 diodes.

It belongs with the robotics & motion and rf & radio designs in this gallery.

From the project

A fully custom mini racing/stunt drone with ML-assisted balancing, automatic stunts, and some level of autonomous operation without costly cameras or GPS.

I wanted a challenge that forced me to learn PCB design and embedded firmware from scratch, but also let me apply the area I already know well - machine learning. Designing a drone from a blank schematic, writing every driver by hand, and then training a custom tiny ML model felt like the right way to do all of that at once. My goal was simply to push my first ever hardware project as far as I could, not to have a completely polished project.

Drone FC, from the project README
From the project README

Main components on the Drone FC

AMS1117-3.3STM32F103C8T6MPU-6050BK2423

Drone FC bill of materials (BOM)

58 components, 23 distinct parts — part numbers from the project's BOM.

QtyPartRefs
1
AMS1117-3.3
U1
1
STM32F103C8T6
U2
1
MPU-6050
U3
1
BK2423
U4
4
SI2300
Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4
2
16MHz
Y1, Y2
1
BATTERY_1S
J1
1
MOTOR1
J2
1
MOTOR2
J3
1
MOTOR3
J4
1
MOTOR4
J5
1
SWD_HEADER
J6
1
CHARGE_PORT
J7
1
SLIDE_SWITCH
SW1
4
1N4148
D1, D2, D3, D4
4
10uF
C1, C3, C19, C21
15
100nF
C2, C4, C5, C6, C7, C8, C9, C10 +7
1
1uF
C11
4
22pF
C12, C13, C22, C23
5
10k
R1, R6, R8, R10, R12
Show 3 more
QtyPartRefs
2
4.7k
R2, R3
1
22k
R4
4
100R
R5, R7, R9, R11

Drone FC design files

The KiCad project lives in the dark-Phoenix2077/hover repository on GitHub; these links point at the commit this page was built from.

Drone FC: common questions

What microcontroller does the Drone FC use?

The Drone FC is built around the STM32F103C8T6, from the STM32 family.

How big is the Drone FC PCB?

The Drone FC measures 46.6 × 46.6 mm, has 4 copper layers and is 1.36 mm thick.

How many components are on the Drone FC?

58 components, from 23 distinct parts, with part numbers taken from the project's own BOM. The full bill of materials is listed on this page.

Where can I download the Drone FC design files?

From the dark-Phoenix2077/hover repository on GitHub, which has the KiCad layout, the schematic and the BOM; the links under Design files point to each one.

Can I use the Drone FC design in my own project?

Yes, under the terms of its MIT license, which dark-Phoenix2077 chose for the repository.

Can I test firmware for the Drone FC without the hardware?

Yes. HardLabs builds a simulation of the board from its netlist and BOM, so you can run and debug STM32 firmware against it before you order a PCB.

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