The time period “aftermarket” finds most frequent use, in my expertise, in describing {hardware} purchased by house owners to improve autos after they initially go away the vendor lot: audio system enhancements, for instance, or extra highly effective headlights. However does it apply equally to drone equipment? Certain (IMHO, after all). For what functions? Right here’s what I wrote final October:
No matter whether or not you fly recreationally or not, you additionally usually (however not all the time) have to register your drone(s), at $5 per three-year timespan (per-drone for business operators, or as a lump sum in your complete drone fleet for leisure flyers). You’ll obtain an ID quantity which you then have to print out and connect to the drone(s) in a visual location. And, as of mid-September 2023, every drone additionally must (once more, usually however not all the time) help broadcast of that ID for distant reception functions…
DJI, for instance, firmware-retrofitted many (however not all) of its present drones with Distant ID broadcast capabilities, together with together with Distant ID help in all (related; maintain that thought for subsequent time) new drones. Sadly, my first-generation Mavic Air wasn’t able to a Distant ID retrofit, or possibly DJI simply didn’t trouble with it. As an alternative, I wanted so as to add help myself through a definite hooked up (usually through an included Velcro strip) Distant ID broadcast module.
I’ll allow you to return and browse the unique writeup to discern the small print behind my a number of “usually however not all the time” qualifiers within the earlier two paragraphs, which issue into one in every of this month’s deliberate weblog posts. However, as I additionally talked about there, I ended up buying Distant ID broadcast modules from two fashionable gadget producers (since “since embedded batteries don’t final eternally, don’cha know”), Holy Stone and Ruko. And…
I additionally received a second Holy Stone module, since this appears to be the extra fashionable of the 2 choices) for future-teardown functions.
The longer term is now; right here’s a “inventory” picture of the gadget we’ll be dissecting at present, with dimensions of 1.54” x 1.18” x 0.51”/3.9 x 3 x 1.3 cm and a weight of 13.9 grams (14.2 grams whole, together with Velcro mounting strips) and a mannequin quantity variously reported as 230218 and HSRID01:
Some outer field pictures to start out (I’ve saved you from boring images of the clean sides):
And opening the field, its contents, with our sufferer within the center, inside a cushioned envelope:
At backside is the person guide; I can’t discover a digital copy of it on the Holy Stone help website, however Manuals+ hosts it in each HTML and PDF codecs. You may as well discover this documentation (amongst different fascinating information) on the FCC web site; the FCC ID, imagine it or not, is 2AJ55HOLYSTONEBM. At high is the Velcro mounting pair, additionally initially cushion-packaged (for unknown causes):
And now, totally free of its prior captivity, is our affected person, as-usual accompanied by a 0.75″ (19.1 mm) diameter U.S. penny for dimension comparability functions (as soon as once more, I’ve deliberately saved you from publicity to boring blank-side pictures):
A notice on this subsequent one; the USB-C port proven is used to recharge the embedded battery:
Previous to disassembly, I plugged the gadget into my Google Pixel Buds Professional earbuds charging cable (which has USB-C connectors on each ends) to check cost performance, however the left-side battery indicator LED on the entrance panel remained un-illuminated. That stated, after I punched the gadget’s entrance panel energy change, it got here to life. The consequence wasn’t definitive; the battery might have been precharged on the meeting line, with the charging circuitry inside nonetheless inoperable.
However, on a hunch, I then as an alternative plugged it into the ability cable for my Google Chromecast with Google TV, which has USB-A on the power-source finish, and the charge-status LED lit up and commenced blinking, indicative of charging in progress. What’s with Chinese language-sourced gear and its non-cognizance of USB Energy Supply negotiation protocols? The person guide reveals and discusses an “unique charging cable” with USB-A on one finish which, had it really been included as inferred, would have constrained the doable charging-source choices. Simply sayin’.
Talking of “circuitry inside,” notice the seen screw head on the backside of this subsequent shot:
That’s, I think, our pathway inside. Earlier than we dive in, nonetheless, what ought to we anticipate to see there, circuitry-wise? Clearly there’s a battery, possible Li-ion in formulation, together with the aforementioned related charging circuitry for it. There’s additionally certain to be some form of system SoC, plus each unstable (RAM) and nonvolatile reminiscence, the latter holding each this system code and user-programmable FAA-assigned Distant ID. Broadcast of that ID can happen over Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or each, through an accompanying antenna. And for geolocation functions, there’ll must be a GPS subsystem, comprising each one other antenna and a receiver.
Now that the stage is ready, let’s get inside, after each eradicating the beforehand proven screw and slicing via the serial quantity sticker on one facet:
Voila:
The wire within the decrease proper nook is, I think, the wi-fi communications antenna. Given its elementary nature, together with the shortage of point out of Wi-Fi within the product documentation, I’m guessing it’s Bluetooth-only. To its left is the sq. mostly-tan GPS antenna. Within the center is the multifunction change (energy biking and person (re)configuration). Above it are the 2 LEDs, for energy/charging standing (left) and present working mode (proper).
And on either side of it are Faraday cages, the lids of which we’ll want to tear off (maintain that thought) earlier than we are able to additional examine their contents.
The PCB subsequently lifts proper out of the opposite (again) case half:
revealing the “pouch” battery adhesive-attached to the PCB’s different facet:
Peel the battery away (revealing a near-blank PCB beneath).
Peel off the tape, and the battery specs (3.7V, 150mAh, 0.55Wh…why do battery producers regularly really feel the necessity to redundantly present each of the latter two? Can’t of us multiply anymore?) become visible:
Again to the entrance of the PCB, post-removal of the 2 Faraday cages’ tops, as foreshadowed beforehand:
Now totally seen is the USB-C connector, alongside a rubberized ring that had been round it when totally assembled. As for what’s inside these now-mangled Faraday cages, let’s zoom in:
The landscape-dominant IC throughout the left-located Faraday cage, unsurprisingly given its GPS antenna proximity, is Bekin’s BK1661, a “totally built-in single-chip L1 GNSS [author note: Global Navigation Satellite System] answer” that, because the acronym infers, helps not solely GPS L1 however “Beidou B1, Galileo E1, QZSS L1, and GLONASS G1,” for worldwide utilization.
The one to the precise, however, was a thriller (though, given its antenna proximity, I suspected it dealt with Bluetooth transceiver performance, amongst different issues) till I got here throughout an enlightening Reddit dialogue. The corporate brand mark on the highest of the chip is a mix of the letters J and L. And the half quantity beneath it’s:
BP0E950-21A4
Right here’s an excerpt of the preliminary submit within the Reddit dialogue thread, titled “How you can determine JieLi (JL/π) bluetooth chips”:
In case you wish to open issues, significantly bluetooth audio gadgets, you’ll have seen chips from producers like Qualcomm, Bestechnic (BES), Airoha, Vimicro WX, Beken, and so on.; however cheaper gadgets have these mysterious chips marked with A3 or AB (from Bluetrum), or these with the JL or “pi” brand (from JieLi).
Bluetrum and JieLi chips have a printed code (like most IC chips), however these codes don’t match any outcomes on Google or the producer’s web sites. Why does this occur? Nicely, it appears just like the label on these chips is particular to the firmware they’re working, and there’s no method to know which chip it’s precisely (except the producer of your bluetooth gadget shows that info someplace on the bundle).
I used to be just lately wanting on the datasheet for some JieLi chips I’ve mendacity round, and observed one thing fascinating: on every chip the label is formatted like “abxxxxxxx-YYY”, “acxxxxx-YYYY” or comparable, and the characters after the “-” seem like they point out a part of the mannequin variety of the IC.
…
In conclusion, in the event you discover a JL chip inside your gadget and the label doesn’t present any outcomes, use the final characters (those after the “-“) and add ac69 or ac63 at first (these are the sequence of the chip, like AC69xx or AC63xx. There are extra sequence that I don’t keep in mind, so if these codes don’t be just right for you, attempt looking for others).
…
Additionally, in the event you discover a chip with just one quantity earlier than the letter within the character group after the “-“, add a 0 earlier than it after which add a sequence code at first. (For instance: 5A8 -> 05A8 -> AC6905A)
By doing so you’ll in all probability discover the pinout and datasheet of your bluetooth IC.
Based mostly on the above, what I assume we now have right here is the AC321A4 RISC-based microcontroller with Bluetooth help from Chinese language firm ZhuHai JieLi Expertise. To offer you an concept of how a lot (or, maybe extra precisely, little) it prices, take into account the headline of an article I got here throughout on an identical product from the identical firm, “JieLi Tech AC6329C4 is One other Low Value MCU however with Bluetooth 5.0 Help.” Take a look at the value tag within the related graphic:
That stated, an AC6921A additionally exists from the corporate, though it appears to be primarily meant for stereo audio Bluetooth, so…
That’s what I’ve received for at present, of us. Hold forth within the feedback together with your ideas!
—Brian Dipert is the Editor-in-Chief of the Edge AI and Imaginative and prescient Alliance, and a Senior Analyst at BDTI and Editor-in-Chief of InsideDSP, the corporate’s on-line publication.
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