When working with drones, especially under autopilot, it can be important to know just how fast things are spinning. Depending on the setup, a magnetic sensor or an optical sensor may be most appropriate, but what if you’re not sure what will work best? Or what if you’d like some design flexibility for future adaptation? If that sounds like your situation, then the TFPROBE by ThunderFly could be an excellent option.
This PCB-based device is quite small, but mounts an AH3572 magnetic sensor, as well as a VCNT2020 reflective optical sensor, plus supporting components. The device comes with straight and 90º headers that you can solder to suit, along with a 3-wire, 20cm Dupont connector and cable setup.
To actually transfer data to a drone, this dual-sensor setup is meant to be used with the TFRPM01 tachometer device, which interfaces with the Pixhawk/PX4 autopilot software. Alternatively, you can use multiple RPM sensors with the TFI2CADT01. As these devices communicate via I2C, this setup could be used with Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and other computing systems, providing a wide range of implementation possibilities.
So the next time you’re working on a drone project, pick up this compact, useful sensor!
