Inside the NCore...

[darrene]

I received an I1 Raw recently that had suffered a high-speed impact - enough to wreck the bottom of the NCore

Being inquisitive, I thought this was a good opporunity to take the U/S unit apart to see what was inside and whilst I was at it, I'd take some photos for posterity...

Firstly I unplugged the fan and removed the shroud:



4x Torx screws hold the top plate of the unit on. First interesting find was the little red button (LHS of picture) I guess this is some kind of reset button? It's just visible with the unit assembled but is almost hidden by the shroud. Has anyone pressed theirs before?



An exterior ribbon cable joins the top board in place. Unsticking it allowed me to remove the top board. Top and bottom boards connect with 2 small molex connectors that press together - one just by my thumbnail and the other near the bottom of that board - with the ribbon cable take-off.

Here was interesting find number 2 - the micro-SD card which will hold the firmware. The micro-SD cage is, understandably, glued shut.


Removing the silicon proved a chore and in the end I prised off the cage instead to reveal a 4GB SanDisk. It'd be nice to try reading this outside of the unit, but I suspect that's not possible.


4x PH screws hold the lower (interfaces) board in place. removing these allows removal of the lower board and exposes a few thermal transfer pads, just like the top board, which DJI use to heatsink through the case, just as they do with the Mavic and others.


It was a fun exercise, and interesting. I doubt it's useful to anybody but thought I'd share for the sake of interest!

 

[FCD]

The red button is used for binding the transmitter to the unit.


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[darrene]

The red button is used for binding the transmitter to the unit.
InspirePilots

Ahhh! Thanks

 

[Silent99999]

The SD Card holds the flight data logs.

 

[flyhotstuff]

The SD Card holds the flight data logs.

That is correct. it doesn't hold the firmware. It holds the flight logs like every other latest DJI UAV

 

[Mr Phantom]

Does that SD-card hold the flight data that we can read or is it something that only DJI can read? In that case i wonder what format it is in?


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[Silent99999]

It's not in an easily readable format, but there are a few websites that you can upload the ".dat" files to and get them decrypted.

 

[Mr Phantom]

It's not in an easily readable format, but there are a few websites that you can upload the ".dat" files to and get them decrypted.

Okay so basically people can access all the flight data information that DJI can access? So there is no additional flight log information that only DJI can read?

I think i read something a long time ago that DJI has some special software that can read some flight data that users can not access, and that this special software was not released to the public? But i might be wrong?

 

[Silent99999]

Yes it seems that only some of the data can be read via some of the websites, but DJI can obviously read all the data.

 

[Mr Phantom]

Yes thats what i thought as well.


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[skyranger]

Thanks for the great internal views of the NCore!
I'm trying to create a simple block diagram of the Inspire flight control system for a drone class and I'd be grateful if anyone could ID the major components in your snapshots...IMU, etc.
I read it is based on the A2...and have read up on that.
In diagramming data flow and analysis for flight control on the Inspire 1, I am curious if the only accelerometer(s) and gyroscope(s) on the Inspire are in the IMU itself or if there are others.
Is the IMU a card with components attached to it?
I see at the DJI Wiki site they say that the IMU contains "3-axis accelerometer, a 3-axis angular velocity meter and a barometric altimeter".
I assume the "angular velocity meter" is a gyro?
I read in other MEMS references there are usually 3 perpendicularly mounted accelerometers and 3 gyros to provide info on the orientation and motion.
Is that the case with the DJI IMU...when they say "an" accelerometer and a gyro, does that actually mean that inside these, since they are 3-axis, there are 3 perpendicularly oriented accelerometers and gyros?
I am also assuming there is only one magnetometer (compass) and that is the primary one on the forward extension of the NCore?
Or does the IMU also have a magnetometer?
I also saw a reference in another post here that the data from the magnetometer is compared to the heading data generated by the GPS and that's why it is important to calibrate the compass properly and without interference from nearby metal, etc
The writer of that post said failure to calibrate the compass was the number 1 reason for fly-aways.
They said in that post, "When the compass data is out/skewed it causes a conflict with the GPS in calculating true/magnetic North. This conflicting information is constantly at odds with what the GPS is seeing as North and the flight controller will try and correct the position of the aircraft causing what is commonly known as The Toilet Bowl Effect or 'TBE'".
Appreciate insight from folks in the know on the Inspire flight control system.
Thanks

 

[jlrsn]

Thanks for the breakdown. I save all of these!