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Permalink Reply by James masterman on October 9, 2012 at 6:52pm

There is nothing on board for wireless data or video. You will need either an XBee, or better still, the 3DR radios that are sold via the store on this site for telemetry information (wireless data connection to Mission Planner). For either Xbee or 3DR radios, there are two boards, a USB one that connects to your computer and an airborne one that connects to the APM.

 

For video, you need another separate transmitter. Make sure it is not on the same frequence as the XBee or 3DR. Anything other than 900MHz or 433MHz is usually ok. The only connection between APM and video is the optional MinimOSD board (you buy this separately) to overlay APM data on the video feed. APM can also control servos for camera pan and tilt if you wish.

 

I use an immersion 5.8GHz Video Transmitter and base station. Video transmitters are made by several people. Have a look at any of the various FPV suppliers around. I have had good experiences with ready made RC (http://www.readymaderc.com/store/).

 

Video transmission is a whole other world to learn about and separate from the APM - there are myriad antenna types (go clover leaf)/trackers/video goggles etc that you can play with.

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Permalink Reply by JUEKUN LI on January 17, 2013 at 12:07am

Learn much from you! 

I am new to Xbee with apm2.5, could you provide some program tips on two way communication between apm and Xctu terminal. Thanks a lot!

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Permalink Reply by James masterman on January 17, 2013 at 4:57am

Hi,

The XCTU tool is useful for setting up XBee as per these instructions: http://code.google.com/p/ardupilot-mega/wiki/APM2Wireless

You can use xctu terminal to test two XBee devices, but I'm not sure how to set it up with APM and the Xctu terminal. 

Have you been able to get the XBee connection working with APM and the mission planner?

Regards

James

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Permalink Reply by JUEKUN LI on January 17, 2013 at 6:44am

Thanks a lot for your answers! 

I will try to get the XBee connection working with APM and the mission planner first.

may i know where you learn programming with apm2.5? 

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Permalink Reply by James masterman on January 17, 2013 at 4:51pm

There are much smarter people here than me! I have done some software development and just read the manual and looked at the code and forums to understand how it all works. I am still learning! It took about a year to get a good understanding of APM

I hope you get xbee working.

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Permalink Reply by JUEKUN LI on January 17, 2013 at 5:41pm

wa~~~~~Thanks for your tips! I need to hurry up now!

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