Jetson TX2 on DJI Matrice 100?

Autonomous Machines Jetson & Embedded Systems Jetson TX2
#1

Hi,
I just got my Jetson TX2 Dev Kit and I want to attach it as an onboard computer of my DJI Matrice 100 drone.
If anyone has successfully done this before, can you please help me out?

One of my problems is below:
Ideally, we can get the power from either XT30 or XT60 jack of the drone and power up the Jetson TX2 thing.
However, from what I have learned so far, the Matrice 100 uses LiPo 6s battery (~22.7V output I guess, please correct me). The given carrier board for TX2 (Dev Kit) needs 19V, 4.74A. So, probably the TX2 cannot get the power directly from my drone because it would receive damage (?). Do I need some kind of power regulator in between? If so, what kind of regulator should I use?

#2

You probably do want a regulator from the battery even if the voltage was correct…but you are right, 22.7V is too much. I think 19.6V is the maximum.

There is a wide range of voltages the Jetson dev kit works with, so basically something in the range of 6V to 19V. However, the Jetson may still have problems with rapidly changing voltage even if the voltage is within this range. Motors can introduce noise, voltage spikes, and momentary very short fluctuations in voltage, so you want your Jetson on some sort of regulator or isolation from this.

I don’t have suggestions on a specific regulator, but probably a lot of people here can suggest something with an approximate 22V input range.

#3

Hi, 22.7V is too high for TX2, please use regulator to switch to 6V~19.6V otherwise the board will be damaged. Generally the DC/DC can fulfill the request, please check with vendor, such as TI, Maxim, for that.

#4

I saw many discussions on using battery for TX2 but those are LiPo 3s or 4s. I haven’t seen anyone who used LiPo 6s for it or posted any tutorial on how to attach TX2 dev kit to Matrice 100 (since Matrice 100’s battery is LiPo 6s).

I am thinking about buying a step-down regulator but I am not sure what to search for. So, from Trumany’s and linuxdev’s answers, it should have an output within 6V~19.6V. How about the input range? From what I saw on DJI Matrice 100’s info page (https://www.dji.com/matrice100/info), under Battery info section, the voltage is 22.8V. Does input and output range have to strictly be or be close to the numbers required? Also, please explain to me why it cannot be too high (22V) but can be too low (6V). Is there any difference if the output is 6V and if it is exactly 19V that TX2 needs?

My apologies if my questions are stupid since I literally know nothing about electrical engineering or electricity stuff.
Thanks!

#5

I don’t have a specific “inexpensive” example, but your assumptions are basically correct. Because a LiPo which isn’t 100% new might actually go to a higher voltage during charge (or to some extent even when new) you want some input tolerance for safety. Maybe a max input of 36V? Just a guess.

Depending on peripherals (SD card, SATA drive, USB devices, PCIe) you would likely not need close to max current, but 5A output current would cover a lot of peripherals.

Any drone could use “isolation” against static discharge…this would be a good idea, but not strictly mandatory. Ordinary regulation should take care of any motor spikes, but if you see isolation I’d go for that.

Someone else probably has concrete suggestions.

#6

Please see comments under AerialRoboticsGuru

#7

I have used the DJI Manifold which is a Jetson TK1. Power requirements for that are 14V to 26V. DJI supplied the XT30 power cable. The Matrice 100 has 4 power ports, 3 XT30 and 1 XT60 located on the main body frame. The output of these ports is 20V to 26.1V. The total output of these ports can not exceed 10A. I am investigating to see if I need a voltage regulator or not.

#8

The TX2 will work with 12.5-19V.

Just get one of those adjustable dc/dc step down converters of ebay, i use one that can do 300w and it’s accaly small in size, works perfect, but this is in a human robot :)

Connect the battery and and adjust the output before attaching it to your TX2 :)

#9

Thanks Spawn32. The measured voltage coming out of the XT30 and XT60 is 25.4V. I believe one of these will work:

https://www.amazon.com/DROK-180057-Converter-Step-down-Stabilizer/dp/B01MT8BBC1/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1530394911&sr=8-5&keywords=dc%2Fdc+step+down+converter

I think I have one in the lab.

#10

Should work, but please notice the:
“please note the input voltage should be higher than output voltage at least 2V”
Or you will have some nasty magic smoke in the room, been there, done that, lol

#11

Have you managed to connect the matrice 100 to jetson TX2;

#12

Were you able to solve this problem? I am also having a similar issue. I am trying to power an Intel Nuc (requires 19V power supply) from my DJI Matrice 100. I tried using a voltage regulator to get 19V from the XT30 port on the Matrice and it worked fine at first. However, now the NUC shuts down abruptly when it is about to boot into Ubuntu.