What is T-STorM32 about?

T-STorM32 is the encoder version of the STorM32 gimbal controller.

Concept

The T-STorM32's encoder support builds on the NT concept, and especially on the possibility of connecting specialized motor modules to the NT bus. T-STorM32 achieves its goals by using motor modules which also include and/or handle the encoders. These modules could thus be called NT Motor-Encoder modules.

The T-STorM32's concept consists of a main STorM32 controller board and three NT Motor-Encoder modules, one for each axis. Motor drivers on the main STorM32 board cannot be used, and unlike with Basecam/Alexmos, it is also not possible to connect encoders to the main board. The NT Motor-Encoder modules are connected to the NT bus, and also to battery power. Thus, the NTX bus has been introduced, which carries both the NT bus signals and the battery power lines.

The concept, also sketching a typical wiring scheme, thus looks as this:

Currently, two setup configurations for the NT Motor-Encoder module are supported: First, the encoder chip could be mounted on the NT Motor-Encoder module itself, in which case a TLE5012B encoder is used. Alternatively, the encoder chip can be externally installed, e.g. in a commercially available encoder motor, in which case the encoder can be a AS5048A connected via SPI to the NT Motor-Encoder module. Also resistive rotary encoders (potentiometers) are supported, but this intended only for some specialized applications. The two configurations are shown in this sketch:

The PCB design of the v2.5E NT Motor-Encoder modules are dual-use, i.e., they can be used in either way.

Documentation

For a tutorial, see Getting Started with T-STorM32.

The discussion thread on rcgroups you find here.

Some videos: