We’re excited to announce that Ewing Aerospace has officially shipped the first production‐intent units of our new CAN‐bus electronic speed controllers (ESCs) to our key integrators and system-partners. This milestone marks a major step in our commitment to delivering high-reliability, U.S.-designed, and U.S.-manufactured propulsion control systems for unmanned aircraft.
Why a CAN-bus ESC?
Traditionally many UAV, UAS and aerospace platforms rely on PWM or traditional control protocols for motor/propulsion control. The move to CAN‐bus offers significant advantages:
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Robust bi-directional communication: ESCs can report back telemetry (RPM, temperature, voltage, current) through the CAN network, improving system visibility and diagnostics.
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Deterministic, networked architecture: With CAN we support multi-ESC topologies, redundancy, and high integrity signal chains.
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Simplified wiring and cabling: Rather than separate signal lines for each ESC, CAN integration allows streamlined harnesses and centralized control.
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Alignment with aerospace/automotive practices: By leveraging CAN we’re positioning our ESCs for higher maturity, compliance and integration into larger UAS/autonomous systems architectures.
At Ewing Aerospace, we’ve long emphasized design and manufacture in the United States. By releasing this CAN-bus ESC series for field trials, we’re raising the bar on control, reliability and integration for aerial platforms.
What This Initial Deployment Covers
Here is what the partner test phase encompasses:
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Units shipped to trusted integrators and strategic OEMs, who will mount them in real‐world aircraft systems (fixed wing, VTOL, multi-rotor) for functional validation.
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Telemetry and diagnostics enabled: The ESCs deliver RPM, motor current, temperature, voltage, fault codes back over CAN for data‐logging and health monitoring.
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Redundancy and fail-safe exercises: Partners will conduct fault injection and failure-mode evaluation to verify how the ESC behaves under fault conditions, thermal runaway, or bus errors.
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Certifiable architecture preparation: Though still a test article phase, the data and feedback will feed into our qualification path (NDAA/BlueUAS, etc.) and production readiness.
What Sets Our ESCs Apart
In line with our aerospace and commercial‐automotive‐grade mindset, here are the key differentiators of our CAN-bus ESC series:
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Full U.S. design & manufacture – Like all of our products, these CAN ESCs are designed and built in our Ashland, Ohio facility.
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Fully NDAA Compliant and compatible with BlueUAS - These ESCs are built using carefully selected components to limit reliance on foreign suppliers.
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Aerospace-grade firmware and fault management – Our firmware supports controlled ramp rates, multi-motor synchronization, thermal monitoring, and advanced fault isolation protocol over CAN.
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Networkable architecture – ESCs can be grouped via a high-speed CAN lane; master/slave configurations enable scalable systems up to large UAS/loitering vehicles.
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Designed for integrators – We’ve optimized package footprint, thermal mounting interface, and provided integration kits with mechanical adapter plates, harnesses, and configuration tools.
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Test data traceability – Each unit during partner trials logs performance metrics; that data flows back into our production systems for continuous improvement and flight-certification support.
What’s Next & What You Need to Know
For our partners & integrators
If you’re among the first cohort testing the units:
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Expect firmware update windows; we’ll push incremental builds based on early feedback.
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Please log and share data from flight hours, including ambient conditions, heating profile, current draw, bus errors, fault events, etc.
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Review mechanical mounting and harness lengths early—ESC thermal dissipation in operational mounts is a real concern, especially in tightly-packed UAV stacks.
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Configure the CAN architecture and network traffic carefully; we provide recommended baud rates and termination strategies to avoid bus saturation.
For the broader UAS community
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We’ll publish a white paper and technical brief summarizing performance metrics and field-trial results once validation is complete.
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Expect production ordering windows to open in Q1 next year (subject to final qualification).
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For non-partners interested in preview spec sheets and performance curves—contact us for early access.
What This Means for Ewing Aerospace and U.S. Manufacturing
This launch represents more than just a new product—it reinforces our strategic positioning. With this new ESC series, we’re doubling down on:
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NDAA/BlueUAS compliance – As global supply-chain risk intensifies, our U.S.-based design and manufacturing aligns with critical defense and commercial requirements.
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Vertical integration of aerospace systems – In-house development of ESCs, flight controllers, remote-ID modules and full stack electronics enables tighter control over quality, cost, and lifecycle.
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Meeting next-gen UAS requirements – Whether long-range fixed wing, heavy-lift VTOL, or urban air mobility, propulsion control systems must be smarter, networked and rugged. This ESC line is our answer.
Final Thoughts
We’re genuinely excited by this milestone. Shipping our new CAN-bus ESCs to key partners and integrators marks the culmination of months of architectural definition, PCB layout, firmware development, thermal and vibration testing, and manufacturing readiness efforts. The feedback we receive during this trial phase will directly influence final production versions—and ultimately the supply readiness for large-scale UAS OEMs.
If you’re working on a UAV, eVTOL, or advanced aerial system and you’re looking for a propulsion control solution that integrates seamlessly into modern avionics architectures, network-enabled CAN control is now viable—right here from Ewing Aerospace.
Stay tuned for updates: performance data, integration guides, partner feedback, and production release schedules. We appreciate our partners’ trust and look forward to delivering world-class propulsion control systems that raise the bar for reliability, integration and manufacturing.