TFUSBSERIAL01 - USB-C to serial converter with Pixhawk telemetry connectors

The converter is designed to service and debug operations on UAVs. It respects the Pixhawk DS-009 connector standard.

TFUSBSERIAL01 Enclosure

TFUSBSERIAL01 enables a computer to communicate with UART-based telemetry devices such as flight management units (FMUs / autopilots) and serial peripherals including radio modems, companion computers, and various onboard sensors.

The interface exposes two dedicated Pixhawk telemetry connectors — one for an FMU port and one for a peripheral port — both following the standard 6-pin telemetry pinout (TX, RX, RTS, CTS, VCC, GND) with 3.3 V logic levels. This allows direct, 1:1 cabling without custom RX/TX crossover cables and makes the device suitable for configuration, debugging, monitoring, and passive sniffing of UART telemetry links between an autopilot and its peripherals.

Key features

  • Could be connected to both the peripheral and FMUs UART based telemetry links
  • The FMU and peripheral connectors are separated; therefore, there is no need for a special RX/TX cross-cable
  • Could be used for sniffing serial communication on telemetry links between autopilot and its peripheral (Both connectors could be used at once)
  • Supports hardware flow control
  • The power delivered from USB is protected from excess current, possibly drawn by the peripheral or FMU
  • The accidental power from the FMU to the USB is protected by a reverse diode

How to Buy

Usage

Connect the FMU or peripheral device to the corresponding PixHawk connector. The standard serial terminal tools could be used for communication with the devices.

Self-test

The proper function and cable could be easily tested by connecting the cable between the “to FMU” and “to Peripheral” connectors.

TFUSBSERIAL01 self test

All communication sent by UART is, in that case, forwarded in the loop. Therefore, the cable behaves the same as “local echo”.