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Permalink Reply by Felix Ruess on August 13, 2010 at 5:05am

Hi Dalton,

in general the best place to ask about paparazzi is the mailing list: http://paparazzi.enac.fr/wiki/Contact#Mailing_List

1. Yes, of course. Physical servos are linked to commands via the command_laws section. This kind of stuff is extremely flexible in paparazzi. (But also probably a bit harder to set up, especially when you don't need that for your simple airframe). Have a look at the wiki: http://paparazzi.enac.fr/wiki/Airframe_Configuration#Servos

2. I don't know a good PTZ system, but I would definitely connect it to the paparazzi hardware. Then you can have your cam automatically point towards a certain point of interest, etc. That capability is already there in paparazzi for pan-tilt (and other variations) cams. About the zoom: I guess that depends on your camera, might be controlled via servo or more likely via some extra connection to the cam. You would probably have to implement this.

3. Quite a few people have used the Tiny with different mostly custom made IMUs (also Sparkfun Razor, etc. ) so far... but that is mostly not integrated in SVN yet. Or used the paparazzi booz hardware and code for fixed wings. So far you can easily use the commercial Xsens IMU for wich the code is in the repository already. We are currently reorganizing the airborne code to merge multi-copter and fixed wing code and IMUs will be "officially" supported on fixed wings as well as soon as that is done. Also a new cheap flat IMU (Aspirin) for fixed wings is on the way.
But you can always write code to support other IMUs, e.g. ArduIMU+, etc. :-)

Cheers,
Felix Ruess

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Permalink Reply by Jadaman Jay on August 17, 2010 at 12:22am

Thanks Felix. I really appreciate the help

Cheers
Dalton

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Permalink Reply by David Conger on August 17, 2010 at 10:28am

Hello,

Only just now saw this. I'll touch on things Felix didn't and say that very recently the Wiki has had large amounts of new data added to make it more newcomer friendly. Give it a try: http://paparazzi.enac.fr/wiki

You asked about a video camera with zoom. 300.00. Here's a link: http://www.fpvflying.com/products/10-x-zoom-UAV-%7B47%7D-FPV-camera...

You will find the developers extremely capable and experts in what they do so no question is too technical to ask. A good way to do the learning you mention is follow the installation instructions on the Wiki and build a few airframes and fly them in the simulator. You don't need any special commands. The simulator is just an option when you click a build button. It is possible to in just a couple of clicks build and fly in the simulator.

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Permalink Reply by Jadaman Jay on August 20, 2010 at 2:34am

Thanks David

I have decided to transmit the video over a WLAN but am not sure if its the best idea.

am thinking of buying the xsens imu. do i need another processor like gumstix to connect or do i connect it directly and which cables do i use?

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