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Carrier Board Manufacturers & Suppliers
Neousys Technology
Industrial-Grade Embedded Computer Systems for AI Edge Computing & Machine Learning
Gold Partner
CubePilot
Open-source flight control systems, navigation sensors and UAV electronics for autonomous platforms
Silver Partner
Eroot Electronics
Professional UAV Components & Sensors: Drone Flight Controllers, GNSS Modules, Telemetry Solutions
Silver Partner
ARK Electronics
Cutting-Edge Flight Controllers, Sensors, and Other Electronics Technologies for Drones & Robotics
Silver Partner
Carrier Boards
Overview of Carrier Boards for UAV Autopilots & Embedded Computing
Introduction to Carrier Boards for Drones & Unmanned Systems
Carrier boards provide the physical and electrical foundation for integrating processing modules, flight controllers, sensors, communications hardware, storage, and other peripherals into drones and autonomous platforms. They expose the interfaces of a computer-on-module or autopilot while adding application-specific power conditioning, connectors, expansion interfaces, and supporting electronics.
For UAV designers, the right carrier board can simplify avionics integration while reducing cabling, board count, size, and weight. Designs range from development platforms to compact, rugged, deploy-ready carrier boards engineered around particular compute modules, autopilots, payloads, power budgets, thermal limits, and environmental requirements.
Carrier Board Types & Compute Platforms
Jetson Carrier Boards
A Jetson carrier board connects an NVIDIA Jetson compute module to cameras, networks, storage, sensors, and vehicle systems. NVIDIA Jetson carrier board designs are particularly relevant to edge AI, computer vision, autonomous navigation, mapping, and multi-sensor processing. Jetson boards may support modules including Jetson Orin Nano, Orin NX, AGX Orin, and earlier platforms such as Xavier NX. Compatibility must account for module pinout, high-speed lane allocation, power and thermal requirements, and carrier-specific software configuration.
COM Express Carrier Boards
A COM Express carrier board provides application-specific I/O and power around a standardized COM Express compute module. The architecture separates the processor, memory, and core computing functions from the carrier board, allowing UAV and robotic system developers to tailor networking, storage, serial interfaces, expansion, and mechanical integration. Module type, size, pinout, power sequencing, and carrier implementation must remain compatible.
COM-HPC Carrier Boards
A COM-HPC carrier board supports high-performance modular computing where large sensor datasets, accelerated processing, or high-bandwidth networking are required. The architecture extends the computer-on-module approach to demanding processing configurations and can support advanced mission computers, autonomy systems, and edge computing platforms. Higher bandwidth and power make cooling, power delivery, and signal integrity especially important.
Embedded AI Carrier Boards
Embedded AI carrier boards are optimized for processors, GPUs, NPUs, FPGAs, or other accelerators used for onboard inference. They may combine high-speed camera inputs, PCIe expansion, NVMe storage, Ethernet, synchronization signals, and thermal-management provisions to support perception and AI workloads locally.
Pixhawk Carrier Boards
A Pixhawk carrier board provides the electrical interfaces required to integrate a compatible autopilot with the rest of an unmanned aircraft. Depending on the design, interfaces can include power, GNSS, telemetry, CAN, RC, servo outputs, payload control, and other avionics connections. Designs using the Pixhawk Autopilot Bus (PAB) can provide electrical and mechanical interoperability between compliant flight-controller modules and baseboards.
Cube Carrier Boards
CubePilot Cube carrier boards perform a similar integration role for Cube-format autopilot modules. Standard, Cube Mini carrier board, and custom configurations may expose different combinations of power and peripheral connectivity. Cube Orange carrier board and Cube Orange Mini carrier board designs can also address the mechanical and I/O requirements of specific Cube-based flight-control systems.
Carrier Board Designs & Configurations
Carrier boards are available in configurations optimized for different stages of development and different unmanned-platform constraints.
- Mini and compact carrier boards: A mini carrier board minimizes PCB area, connector count, and integration mass for small UAVs and SWaP-constrained payloads.
- Rugged carrier boards: Rugged designs address vibration, shock, temperature, contamination, connector retention, and other environmental stresses encountered by airborne, ground, and maritime systems.
- Development and evaluation carrier boards: These boards expose a broad range of interfaces to simplify software development, module evaluation, peripheral testing, and early prototyping.
- Deploy-ready carrier boards: A deploy-ready carrier board prioritizes production integration, robust connectors, thermal control, power protection, transient and ESD protection, and the interfaces required by the operational platform.
- Custom carrier boards: Custom carrier board development enables precise control over dimensions, connectors, power architecture, I/O, environmental protection, and payload integration. Custom carrier board manufacturing can then transition the design from prototype hardware to repeatable production.
The appropriate configuration depends on the compute module, system maturity, and operating requirements.
Applications of Carrier Boards for UAV Avionics & Mission Systems
Flight Control and Autopilot Integration
Carrier boards can consolidate flight-controller power and connectivity while providing interfaces to motors, actuators, GNSS receivers, telemetry radios, air-data systems, and payload controllers. Pixhawk carrier board and Cube carrier board architectures are examples of the modular approach used to simplify UAV avionics integration.
ADS-B and Airspace Awareness
An ADS-B carrier board or avionics carrier configuration can provide the power, data interfaces, and mounting needed to incorporate compatible ADS-B equipment into a UAV. Integration requirements depend on whether the connected hardware provides traffic reception, surveillance functions, or other airspace-awareness capabilities.
Remote Identification
Carrier boards may provide serial, CAN, Ethernet, or dedicated power interfaces for Remote ID hardware. Integrating these connections into the aircraft electronics can reduce separate wiring while allowing the Remote ID subsystem to exchange required data with compatible flight-control or navigation equipment.
GNSS and Inertial Navigation
GNSS receivers, IMUs, magnetometers, and integrated navigation systems can connect through serial, CAN, USB, Ethernet, or other interfaces. Effective carrier board design also considers power integrity, electromagnetic interference, grounding, timing inputs such as pulse-per-second signals, and physical separation from noise-generating electronics.
Telemetry and Data Links
Telemetry radios, cellular modems, satellite terminals, and other communications systems require suitable data interfaces and stable power. A carrier board can centralize these connections and provide level shifting, filtering, expansion sockets, or network interfaces where required.
Payload and Sensor Integration
EO/IR cameras, LiDAR, radar, multispectral instruments, mapping payloads, and specialized sensors may require very different electrical interfaces. Carrier boards can bridge these payloads to the mission computer while supporting synchronization, trigger signals, high-rate data transfer, and dedicated power rails.
Mission Computing and Edge AI
Mission computers use carrier boards to combine onboard processing with sensors, storage, networking, and flight-control data. Embedded AI carrier boards are particularly relevant where UAVs must perform computer vision, object detection, sensor fusion, navigation, or other autonomous functions locally.
Interfaces & Connectivity Options
Carrier board interface selection should reflect required data rates, peripheral compatibility, cable lengths, voltage levels, lane allocation, electrical environment, and expansion needs of the aircraft.
| Interface | Typical Carrier Board Role |
| Ethernet & high-speed networking | Cameras, LiDAR, mission networks, payloads, and compute-to-compute links |
| PCI Express | High-bandwidth accelerators, networking devices, and expansion hardware |
| USB | Cameras, modems, storage, configuration devices, and general peripherals |
| MIPI CSI-2 & serialized camera links | Direct or remote high-bandwidth camera and vision-sensor connectivity |
| CAN, CAN FD & DroneCAN | Distributed avionics, ESCs, sensors, GNSS devices, and other CAN nodes |
| UART & serial interfaces | GNSS, telemetry, autopilot, payload, and peripheral communications |
| RS-232, RS-422 & RS-485 | Legacy, industrial, long-distance, and differential serial devices |
| I2C & SPI | Board-level sensors, peripheral ICs, and lower-level device communications |
| GPIO & PWM | Discrete control, triggers, status lines, servos, and application-specific signals |
| M.2 & Mini PCIe expansion | Communications modules, storage, networking, and specialized expansion |
| SATA & NVMe storage | High-capacity or high-throughput onboard data storage |
The interface mix should match the sensors, flight-control hardware, payloads, and compute architecture rather than maximizing connector count.
Standards & Qualification Considerations
Carrier boards intended for aerospace, defense, and other high-reliability applications may need to meet environmental, electromagnetic, manufacturing, and materials requirements at board or system level.
- MIL-STD-810: Environmental engineering and laboratory test methods covering conditions such as vibration, shock, temperature, and other environmental stresses.
- MIL-STD-461: Electromagnetic emissions and susceptibility requirements for military equipment and subsystems.
- DO-160: Environmental test procedures commonly used for airborne electronic equipment.
- IPC standards: Specifications covering PCB design, fabrication, assembly, workmanship, and electronics acceptability.
- RoHS: Restricts specified hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment within applicable markets.
- REACH: Establishes chemical registration and substance-control requirements affecting materials and electronic components.
Applicable requirements depend on the operating environment, customer specifications, production requirements, and markets in which the finished system will be deployed.
Emerging Carrier Board Technologies
Carrier board development is increasingly shaped by more powerful edge computing and the movement of autonomy functions onto the vehicle itself.
- Edge AI and hardware acceleration: New designs increasingly combine GPUs and dedicated accelerators with camera, storage, and sensor interfaces for onboard perception and inference.
- High-speed PCIe and data architectures: Faster interconnects allow high-rate sensors, NVMe storage, networking devices, and accelerators to exchange larger data streams with mission processors.
- Multi-gigabit and time-sensitive networking: Higher-speed Ethernet and Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) can support distributed sensors and more deterministic computing architectures.
- Integrated flight control and mission computing: Greater board-level integration can bring autopilot, navigation, communications, payload control, and AI processing into more compact avionics architectures.
These developments support increasingly compact, modular, and deployable computing architectures for drones and other unmanned systems.
