Pixracer Pro

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Description

Four years after the original Pixracer was designed and proven, we recognized the need to bring the design to the forefront of open-source flight controllers. With the Pixracer Pro, we maintained everything that the community loved about the original Pixracer (R15) and improved every known deficiencies.

Purchase Pixracer Pro

About IO coprocessors and AUX Pins

Historically, microcontrollers mounted on Autopilots didn’t have enough resources to handle the requirements that industry was demanding. Usually, the features needed to keep up with the trends, pushed manufacturers to add IO coprocessors to increase the number of available timers to generate and decode PWM signals and additional IO Pins. The coprocessor in these hardware architectures is usually connected via a single serial port, reducing the amount of data available in time and introducing more points of failure. This arrangement pushed the pins to be divided by MAIN and AUX Pins, where MAIN were the pins connected to the MCU and AUX to IO coprocessors.

However, later generations of hardware have increased IO pin density, timers and reduced size factor, among other enhancements.

Additionally, a special benefit also stands out for our design principles, and it is the higher amount and more sophisticated DMAs that work really well with peripherals, transferring high amounts of data and decreasing CPU usage. Besides, we are transitioning from a single MCU architecture to more distributed systems thanks to DroneCAN and Ethernet connectivity (coming soon). In practical terms, you can consider every available PWM pin in your board as you would for an AUX pin.

Specifications

Specifications	Pixracer Pro
Main Processor	32-bit STM32H743 Cortex M7 RISC core with FPU 460 MHz
IO Processor	No
RAM	1024 KB RAM
Flash	2 MB FRAM
Crypto / Hash Processor	No
Sensors	Bosch BMI085 (6DoF) Invensense/TDK ICM-20602 (6DOF) Invensense/TDK ICM-20948 (9DOF)
Internal Magnetometer	AK09916 inside ICM-20948
Barometer	Infineon DPS368 barometer (Very smooth and NO light sensitivity)
Interfaces and Protocols	6x UART [2x with HW flow control, 1x FRSky Telemetry (D or X types), 2x General Purpose & 1x GPS+I2C]. 1x PPM sum input signal 8x PWM outputs (all D-Shot capable) 1x RSSI (PWM or voltage) input 1x I2C 1x SPI 2x CAN 1x SWD (TC2030 Connector) 3x Ultra low-noise LDO voltage regulator Supported RC input protocols: Spektrum DSM / DSM2 / DSM-X® Satellite compatible input and binding. Futaba S.BUS® & S.BUS2® compatible input. FRSky Telemetry port output. Graupner SUMD. Yuneec ST24.
Connectors	JST-GH 0.1” pin headers USB-C
Conformal Coating	No
Extended Testing and Burn In	No
Custom Carrier Board Support	No
LED	Yes (RGB)
Dimensions	Width: 36.6mm (1.42”) Length: 36.6mm (1.42”)
Weight	8.92g (.31 oz)
Mounting Holes	4mm holes at 30.5mm spacing Silicone rubber grommets for M3 mounting screws
Protector Case	Not available
Typical Platforms	Multirotor Rover Fixed-Wing Boats Submarines VTOL Automatic Tractors Others
Compatibility	PX4 >1.13.0, Ardupilot

Pinout

Top View:

Bottom View:

Ports

The serial ports default assignment is as follows:

Serial	Port name	AP Serial
USART2	TELEM1	SERIAL1
USART3	TELEM2	SERIAL2
USART4	GPS	SERIAL3
USART8	Additional UART	SERIAL4
USART1	Additional UART	SERIAL5
USART7	Additional UART	SERIAL6

Connector pin assignments

POWER

Pin	Signal	Level/Voltage
1 (red)	VDD	5V
2 (blk)	VDD	5V
3 (blk)	CURRENT	3.3V
4 (BLK)	VOLTAGE	3.3V
5 (BLK)	GND	GND
6 (BLK)	GND	GND

GPS

Pin	Signal	Level/Voltage
1 (red)	VDD	5V
2 (blk)	USART4_TX	3.3V
3 (blk)	USART4_RX	3.3V
4 (blk)	I2C_SCL	3.3V
5 (blk)	I2C_SDA	3.3V
6 (blk)	GND	GND

TELEMETRY

Pin	Signal	Level/Voltage
1 (red)	VDD	5V
2 (blk)	UART8_TX	3.3V
3 (blk)	UART8_RX	3.3V
4 (blk)	GND	GND

SPI PORT

Pin	Signal	Level/Voltage
1 (red)	VDD	5V
2 (blk)	SPI_EXT_MISO	3.3V
3 (blk)	SPI_EXT_SCK	3.3V
4 (blk)	SPI_EXT_CS	3.3V
5 (blk)	SPI_EXT_MOSI	3.3V
6 (blk)	GND	GND

CAN 1 & CAN 2

Pin	Signal	Level/Voltage
1 (red)	VDD	5V
2 (blk)	CAN_H	CAN high
3 (blk)	CAN_L	CAN low
4 (blk)	GND	GND

SERIAL 1

Pin	Signal	Level/Voltage
1 (red)	VDD	5V
2 (blk)	USART2_TX	3.3V
3 (blk)	USART2_RX	3.3V
4 (blk)	USART2_CTS	3.3V
5 (blk)	USART2_RTS	3.3V
6 (blk)	GND	GND

SERIAL 2

Pin	Signal	Level/Voltage
1 (red)	VDD	5V
2 (blk)	USART3_TX	3.3V
3 (blk)	USART3_RX	3.3V
4 (blk)	USART3_CTS	3.3V
5 (blk)	USART3_RTS	3.3V
6 (blk)	GND	GND

SERIAL 5 & SERIAL 6

Pin	Signal	Voltage
1 (red)	VDD	5V
2 (blk)	USART1_TX	3V3
3 (blk)	USART1_RX	3V3
4 (blk)	GND	GND
5 (blk)	VDD	5V
6 (blk)	USART7_TX	3V3
7 (blk)	USART7_RX	3V3
8 (blk)	GND	GND

RC_Input

Pin	Signal	Voltage
1 (red)	VDD	5V
2 (blk)	RC_Input	3.3V
3 (blk)	RSSI IN	3.3V
4 (blk)	VDD_3V3_SPKT	3.3V
5 (blk)	GND	GND

GPIO (USB port side up / SD card slot down)

LEFT	Middle (servo rail)	Right
CH 8	+5V	GND
CH 7	+5V	GND
CH 6	+5V	GND
CH 5	+5V	GND
CH 4	+5V	GND
CH 3	+5V	GND
CH 2	+5V	GND
CH 1	+5V	GND

Firmware

The 3DR Pixracer Pro is compatible with the following firmware:

ArduPilot

Compatible with all vehicle types.

PX4

PX4 stable greater than v1.13.3

Usage Guide

BATT_VOLT_PIN= 14
BATT_CURR_PIN= 15

All connectors follow the Dronecode connector standard. All connectors are JST-GH.

Pixracer Pro does not have a safety switch option. If there’s a need to have one, a CAN switch is required.

What’s included

1x SD Card
1x Right angle 3×8 0.1″ header pin
1x Connector GH Housing 8 position 1.25 mm
2x Connector GH Housing 6 position 1.25 mm
4x Rubber Balls (Dampers)
1x Heatsink
2x MRC0206 3DR 6-Pins JST-GH to 6-Pins JST-GH
1x MRC0202 3DR 6-Pins JST-GH to 6 Separate 2.54mm Females
1x MRC0204 3DR 5-Pins JST-GH to 3-Pins Servo and 3-Pins JST-ZHR and 1-Pin (2.54mm) Female
1x MRC0205 3DR 4-Pins JST-GH to 4-Pins JST-GH
1x MRC0287 3DR 8-Pin JST-GH to 8PCS Dupont 1Pin Connector
1x MRC0288 3DR 8-Pin JST-GH to 2PCS JST-GH 4Pin Connector

Extra Features

Pixracer Pro has a built-in buzzer.

Downloads

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