Link Servos to CAN-Bus

Greetings Travelers,
we are in the process of making a new drone. It’s an coaxial drone and will need 6 servos.

To not use so many wires, we decided to use a CAN-bus. But how exactly can I connect a servo to the CAN-bus? How can you translate a PWM-signal to CAN and the other way around? Is there a board that can do that? Or do I use something else?
I saw a guy (http://www.olliw.eu/2017/uavcan-for-hobbyists/) do it with ESC’s but to be honest: I didn’t understand how he managed to do it :frowning: And that’s the closest to a servomotor, right?

What am I missing? Which Hardware will I need? Can I actually do it? Can I “steer” my drone via CAN?

Sorry for bad english, I’m trying my best :slight_smile:

Sincerely

Johnny

hey
I am that guy you saw doing it for an ESC :slight_smile: With the very same hardware and firmware which you saw me using, you also can drive a servo, actually up to 4(6) servos with a board.
In general, in order to connect a servo which uses PWM to the CAN bus you need a piece of electronics which translates between the CAN bus and outputs the PWM signal for the servo. It’s kind of a converter if you like, CAN on one side, PWM on the other side.
I did create such a piece of electronics, hardware and firmware, and that’s how I managed to do it with the ESC’s.
Hope that clarifies things a bit.
Cheers
Olli

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hey olliw,
omg, thank you for your reply!! That’s perfect, I will need 6 servos (3 for upper rotor and 3 for the other one). You think that is possible? Because we just have one CAN-cabel connecting those two layers. And which exact hardware, electronics and firmware do I have to use? And where can I buy it?
Again: thank you for your help
Cheers
Johnny