DaedaLink
CAN bus avionics network for modular wiring & I/O expansion
DaedaLink replaces heavy parallel wiring looms with a unified 4-wire CAN bus running throughout the airframe. Only 2 lines for power and 2 for digital signals — peripherals tap in anywhere on the bus. The system eliminates signal degradation, simplifies assembly, and enables plug-and-play expansion of servos, sensors, and lighting.
- Master MCU
- ESP32-C3
- I/O MCU
- STM32 ×2
- Protocol
- CAN Bus
- Servo Ch.
- 18
This system is currently under active development and hardware validation. The PCB design is complete and prototypes are being assembled and tested. Specifications and features are subject to change.
The master unit sits adjacent to the flight controller and acts as the central communication bridge. Built on the ESP32-C3 with two additional STM32 microcontrollers for I/O expansion and dedicated CAN transceivers, it manages two independent buses — each handling up to 9 PWM inputs for a total of 18 servo channels across the aircraft. All telemetry, control feedback, and sensor data are relayed back to the flight controller via CAN or UART.
Slave units are ultra-compact receivers placed locally at the point of action — inside wings, tail assemblies, or anywhere along the 4-wire bus. Each slave dynamically adapts through software configuration: two assignable PWM outputs mappable to any of the 9 available bus channels, a dedicated high-power PWM output for navigation lights or strobe LEDs, a shared-pin UART/I²C interface for digital sensors, and an analog sensor input with native DAC replication on the master unit.
By converting sensitive analog and PWM signals to digital CAN packets right at the source, DaedaLink eliminates signal degradation over long wire runs — critical as airframes scale in size. The entire system is standardized at 5 V, and once the main bus is embedded in the airframe, adding a new sensor, servo, or light module requires zero extra wiring back to the fuselage.
Looking ahead, we plan to build an interactive node-tree interface accessible from the master unit, allowing real-time configuration of every connected device on the fly. DaedaLink is currently in active software development, with hardware prototyping complete.