Drone power distribution board

What is a drone power distribution board?

It is the board that takes the battery input and splits it into the regulated rails the autopilot, servos and payload need, while reporting what the pack is doing. Ours takes 12 to 60 VDC at 100 A continuous, carries three independent step-down regulators feeding one 12 V rail and two 5.3 V rails, and reports current and voltage over DroneCAN with no calibration required, at 30 g.

See: Rails and telemetry compared, Airframes it powers

How many regulated rails does this board provide?

Three independent step-down regulators: a 12 V rail at 5 A and two 5.3 V rails at 2 A each. That is the differentiator in its set. The CUAV CAN PMU, Holybro PM06 and Holybro PM02D each publish a single regulated 5 V-class output, so if you need a 12 V payload rail alongside separate 5 V rails for the autopilot and peripherals, ours delivers that from one board.

See: Rail count against alternatives

How much current can this power distribution board handle?

It takes 12 to 60 VDC at 100 A continuous. For comparison the Holybro PM06 states 120 A continuous PCB current, the CUAV CAN PMU 110 A max, and the Holybro PM02D 60 A continuous. On raw continuous current the PM06 leads slightly; on regulated rails ours leads with three independent outputs. Confirm the continuous rating at your bus voltage in a trial.

See: Current and input range compared

Does this board report power over DroneCAN?

Yes. It reports current and voltage in real time over DroneCAN with no calibration required. The CUAV CAN PMU also reports over CAN with no calibration; the Holybro PM06 is analog and the PM02D uses I2C. For a platform standardising on DroneCAN, a CAN telemetry board fits without a conversion step and removes a bench calibration task.

See: Telemetry interface compared

Power distribution board with a 12 V rail for a payload plus 5 V for the autopilot

That mixed-rail need is exactly what three independent regulators cover. Ours provides one 12 V / 5 A rail and two 5.3 V / 2 A rails from one board, so a 12 V payload runs alongside separate 5 V rails for the autopilot and peripherals. The single-rail competitors, the CUAV CAN PMU, PM06 and PM02D, each need an added regulator to match that rail set. List every rail and its current draw for the review.

See: Independent rails detail

Power board that isolates rails so one fault does not take down the autopilot

Three independent step-down regulators isolate the rails, so a fault or a heavy transient on one does not cascade into the others and pull down the autopilot. The three competitors each publish a single regulated output, and none publishes rail isolation. For a flight-critical build, keeping the autopilot rail independent of a noisy payload rail is worth the extra regulators.

See: Rail isolation compared

Lightweight power distribution board with CAN telemetry for a small airframe

It is 30 g at 85 x 55 x 12 mm and reports over DroneCAN. The Holybro PM02D (20 g) and PM06 (24 g) are lighter, but each carries a single rail against our three, so it is not a weight-for-weight comparison; the CUAV CAN PMU is heavier at 76 g. If the airframe needs several isolated rails and CAN telemetry, ours packs that into 30 g rather than adding separate regulators to a lighter single-rail board.

See: Weight and rails compared

Power board that needs no calibration to report accurate voltage and current

It reports current and voltage over DroneCAN with no calibration required, so there is no bench step to set it up. The CUAV CAN PMU is the same, factory calibrated with none needed. The Holybro PM06 is analog and the PM02D is I2C, both configured in the autopilot parameters. On a line building many aircraft, the no-calibration CAN boards save a step per unit.

See: No-calibration telemetry compared

How does this compare with a Holybro PM06 or CUAV CAN PMU?

The Holybro PM06 is an analog integrated PDB rated 120 A continuous with one 5 V UBEC. The CUAV CAN PMU reports over CAN to 110 A with one 5.4 V rail and a wide -20 to 100 C range. Ours reports over CAN at 100 A continuous with three independent rails, including 12 V, over -40 to 85 C. Where ours leads is the rail count and cold rating; where the CUAV leads is the high-temperature ceiling.

See: Full head-to-head comparison

We had a payload short pull down our autopilot mid-flight. Would independent regulators have prevented that?

That is the case for three independent regulators. When one regulator feeds everything, a short or a heavy transient on a payload rail drags down the autopilot rail with it. Isolating the rails means a fault on the payload rail stays on that rail while the autopilot keeps its own clean supply. No board makes a system immune to every failure, so pair the isolated rails with proper fusing and a tested power architecture, but the isolation removes one common cascade path.

See: Why three regulators, not one

Our aircraft flies in cold conditions. What temperature range does this board cover?

It is rated -40 to +85 degrees C, which reaches well into the cold. The CUAV CAN PMU publishes -20 to +100 C, so it goes higher into the heat but not as low into the cold; the Holybro PM06 and PM02D do not publish a temperature range. Ours is the better choice on the cold end and the CUAV on the hot end, so pick the envelope that matches where the aircraft flies and confirm it in a soak test.

See: Operating range compared

Why does the supplier of the power board matter for a sovereign drone programme?

Because the board sits between the battery and everything that flies the aircraft, and its telemetry feeds the flight record. The Holybro PM06 and PM02D and the CUAV CAN PMU are all Chinese vendor parts, so firmware and resupply run through them. Ours comes from one independent, non-aligned team that supplies and sustains it, with optional custom firmware development, so the board can be extended and resupplied inside your jurisdiction. The power electronics are the same class; the supply relationship is what differs.

See: Origin and support line compared

Can this power board pair cleanly with a CAN flight controller and GNSS on one bus?

Yes. It reports over DroneCAN, so it joins the same CAN bus as a DroneCAN GNSS module and a CAN-capable autopilot rather than needing a separate link. That keeps the power telemetry, the navigation data and any other CAN nodes on one wiring run. Plan the bus as a whole, since node addressing and bus load are shared, and confirm the full node list in the review so the CAN architecture is scoped once.

See: CAN telemetry detail, The autopilot on the same bus

Can custom firmware be developed for this board if our programme needs different behaviour?

Yes. Optional custom firmware development is offered, and the board runs an STM32 main processor and is compatible with ArduPilot and PX4. That means the telemetry behaviour and any programme-specific logic can be adapted from one accountable, non-aligned team rather than being fixed by a foreign vendor. Bring the behaviour you need, the rails and the telemetry rates to the review so the firmware work is scoped against the real requirement.

See: Custom firmware and compatibility, The wider unmanned architecture

Can one power distribution board serve both our light ISR drones and heavier platforms?

The 12 to 60 VDC input at 100 A continuous and the three regulated rails give it a wide enough envelope to cover a range of airframes from one part number, which simplifies spares and wiring across a fleet. Lighter aircraft simply draw well below the current ceiling and may not use every rail. Confirm the current draw and bus voltage of your heaviest platform against the 100 A and 60 V limits, and treat the -40 to 85 C range as the constraint that must suit every airframe you field.

See: Rating and rail detail, ISR platforms it powers

What is Drone power distribution board?

Drone power distribution board is Unstrat's Sky (Air Domain) capability: A 30 g power-distribution board handling 100 A continuous from a 12-60 VDC input, with three independent step-down regulators feeding 12 V and dual 5.3 V rails. Reports current and voltage in real time over DroneCAN with no calibration required, from -40 to +85 degrees C.

How does Drone power distribution board work?

Drone power distribution board delivers its effect through 12-60 VDC input with 100 A continuous current capacity, Three independent step-down regulators: one 12 VDC / 5 A and two 5.3 VDC / 2 A rails and Current and voltage sensing with real-time monitoring over DroneCAN, no calibration required, capabilities matched to the requirement and confirmed under briefing rather than published.

Who makes Drone power distribution board?

Drone power distribution board is built by The Robotics & AI House, whose focus is unmanned systems, eo/ir sensors & ai video analytics. Unstrat represents The Robotics & AI House to government and enterprise buyers worldwide as an independent, non-aligned prime vendor.

Why choose Drone power distribution board over a major-power alternative?

Drone power distribution board is sourced from an independent, non-aligned manufacturer, so it carries no major-power disclosure rules, upgrade-locks or political ramifications. Concretely: three independent step-down regulators isolate rails so one failure does not cascade. The capability is accountable to you, not to a foreign vendor's government and its release schedule.

How is Drone power distribution board procured, and where can it be exported?

The 30-gram board that decides whether everything else flies: 100 A continuous, three independent regulators, and real-time power telemetry over DroneCAN with no calibration step at all. Every engagement begins with a briefing, and export eligibility is confirmed per market under briefing rather than published. Where controlled capabilities are involved, the classification and end-user-certificate chain is confirmed first. Drone power distribution board is then sustained in-region by one accountable team from briefing through long-term operation.