STEVAL-ESC001V1 Electronic speed controller reference design for drones

The STEVAL-ESC001V1 reference design for electronic speed controllers (ESC) for drones fits entry-level commercial drone designs and drives any three-phase brushless (or PMSM) motor running off 6S LiPo battery packs, or any equivalent DC supply, up to 30 A peak current.

The STEVAL-ESC001V1 lets you spin a motor and its propeller in minutes thanks to STM32 Motor Control Software Development Kit (MCSDK) with ST Motor profiler (X-CUBE-MCSDK). It implements a sensorless field oriented controlled (FOC) algorithm with 3-shunt current reading, speed control and full active braking.

The reference design board can accept commands from a flight control unit through PWM signals; other communication bus interfaces like UART, CAN, and I²C are also available. The reference embeds a battery eliminator circuit working at 5 V, an NTC sensor for temperature measurement and circuitry for overcurrent/overvoltage protection (OCP/OVP). The compact form factor and current capability render this reference design suitable for electronic speed controllers on small and light unmanned aerial vehicles like professional drones.

The X-CUBE-MCSDK software package lets you refine your electronic speed controller design. They act on the FOC parameters embedded in the STM32 and experiment with the ST motor profiler to retrieve rapidly the motor parameters. The ST sensorless FOC algorithm ensures longer flight times and optimal dynamic performance.

The STEVAL-ESC001V1 is designed around the highly efficient, low Rdson STripFET F7 power MOSFETs, the high-performance STM32F303CBT7 microcontroller with Arm® Cortex®-M4 core and the L6398 drivers.