What is under the hood :)

Lifeisfun · May 11, 2020

This morning someone on FB posted some pics what's under the hood of the S2
His S2 would not finish calibration.
I thought that it could interest others.
In the last pic you can see the camera assembly between the main board and the camera. The other is mirror image on the other side.

Those NO STEP markings are priceless

Now we know this is true Aircraft!

skydioconvert · May 11, 2020

Thanks for the very interesting post....first I've seen of this little guys innards.

I'm not into FB but should you run across any assembly or disassembly videos they'd be most welcome.

Lifeisfun · May 11, 2020

skydioconvert said:
Thanks for the very interesting post....first I've seen of this little guys innards.

I'm not into FB but should you run across any assembly or disassembly videos they'd be most welcome.

Nothing to it, remove those 6 screws on the bottom and sandwich will come a part.

skydioconvert · May 11, 2020

That's the easy part but I was looking for a much further tear down....the Mavic's had some full length videos spanning quite a few minutes actually showing disassembly down to the individual board levels.

One of things I'm most interested in is the S2's antenna which didn't appear to be shown in the pic's.

Lifeisfun · May 11, 2020

skydioconvert said:
That's the easy part but I was looking for a much further tear down....the Mavic's had some full length videos spanning quite a few minutes actually showing disassembly down to the individual board levels.

One of things I'm most interested in is the S2's antenna which didn't appear to be shown in the pic's.

Clearly shown in the last pic, and I did describe it in the text
Easy to take it a part like a laptop or smartphone.

Ridefreak · May 11, 2020

skydioconvert said:
That's the easy part but I was looking for a much further tear down....the Mavic's had some full length videos spanning quite a few minutes actually showing disassembly down to the individual board levels.

One of things I'm most interested in is the S2's antenna which didn't appear to be shown in the pic's.

On the first picture you can see the triangle with the Taoglas antenna on it. It's removed in the later pictures.

skydioconvert · May 11, 2020

I think you're only looking at part of the antenna processing array... Adam Bry described the actual antenna as being located on the aft portion of the S2 (i.e. on the end opposite the gimbal).

Vib.ribbon · May 12, 2020

This is excellent - thanks for posting. Been looking for a tear down/disassembly video for a while, so this is the next best thing!

Going to do some research on some of the components they have used!

Vib.ribbon · May 12, 2020

Well.....this is most interesting...I hope I am wrong about this.

So, as far as I can tell, each motor has blue, black and grey set per motor - can clearly see that on the 3rd picture (all going into some type of controller board which is separate from the main board). There are other wires for the OA cameras...but what has has peaked my interest is that single white wire!

Could it be likely that the white wire shown in the 3rd and (mainly) 7th picture is the antenna wire? If it is, I am slightly concerned there is only one of them? I have watched a few tear down videos of a number of DJI drones and some have two antenna wires (the mid to high spec drones) - going in opposite directions (makes sense). I hope there is another antenna in there somewhere we can't see!?

I really hope Skydio hadn't skimped on the WiFi module and wiring in this.....would be such a shame. Would love to be able to see what WiFi module they are using!

Lifeisfun · May 12, 2020

Ridefreak said:
On the first picture you can see the triangle with the Taoglas antenna on it. It's removed in the later pictures.

I believe that the Taoglas module is the GPS antenna.
The actual WiFi antenna is on the last picture as described.

Vib.ribbon · May 12, 2020

Lifeisfun said:
I believe that is the GPS antenna
The actual WiFi antenna is on the last picture as described.

It is - I can't tell exactly which as the printed model number is not defined enough in the picture. ?

Vib.ribbon · May 12, 2020

Lifeisfun said:
I believe that the Taoglas module is the GPS antenna.
The actual WiFi antenna is on the last picture as described.

View attachment 114

Ohhhhhh...so that's the antenna module?!? So it does have two? I wonder that the white wire on the opposite side is for as it does appear on any other prop shaft?

Lifeisfun · May 12, 2020

Vib.ribbon said:
Ohhhhhh...so that's the antenna module?!? So it does have two? I wonder that the white wire on the opposite side is for as it does appear on any other prop shaft?

Yes, that's it, you can see it on both sides. The lead could be hidden under.

skydioconvert · May 12, 2020

An enlarged view of the bottom portion of the Facebook photo better shows the antenna wire running (in the shadows)across the rear of the S2 between the antenna modules.

Ridefreak · May 12, 2020

Lifeisfun said:
I believe that the Taoglas module is the GPS antenna.
The actual WiFi antenna is on the last picture as described.

View attachment 114

Gotch Ya, if that's the WiFi antenna it looks like they're using the 4 cards as the elements (array) so they can polarize horizontally and vertically. I have no idea if that's the case but it's what it appears to be, otherwise there's no reason for the daughter boards, the could include that circuitry right on the antenna's motherboard. If that is the antenna assy then it doesn't appear to have a separate antenna wire routed around the chassis.

Lifeisfun · May 12, 2020

Ridefreak said:
Gotch Ya, if that's the WiFi antenna it looks like they're using the 4 cards as the elements (array) so they can polarize horizontally and vertically. I have no idea if that's the case but it's what it appears to be, otherwise there's no reason for the daughter boards, the could include that circuitry right on the antenna's motherboard. If that is the antenna assy then it doesn't appear to have a separate antenna wire routed around the chassis.

I think the white wire trace is the coax joining them together.