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ArduPilot 2.0 update

I'm in LA hanging out with Jordi and geeking out over the ArduPilot 2.0 code. You're going to love this--it's got all the capabilities of the FMA Co-pilot built-in, including a "fly by wire" option that just helps you stabilize the airplane when you're flying manually. In autopilot mode, it's now closer to AttoPilot in capability (save datalogging, which we'll save for ArduPilot Pro) and has a similar set-up procedure



it's optimized for the EasyStar but can also fly aircraft as… Continue

Added by Chris Anderson on March 4, 2009 at 9:00am — 12 Comments

An example of EXCELLENT autopilot documentation

If you haven't had a chance to read the documentation for Bill Premerlani 6 DOF UAV development board, you should. It is 35 pages of the best education you'll get on IMU-based autopilots, including theory, code and usage instructions. All written in clear, easy to understand plain English. Bill's done a terrific job on this one, and I hope more people will start to use his… Continue

Added by Chris Anderson on March 1, 2009 at 8:15pm — 1 Comment

A simple program to test your FMA sensor for ArduPilot 2.0

I've updated this post to include a simple test program (at bottom) that you can run to test your FMA sensor and ArduPilot connections.

Added by Chris Anderson on March 1, 2009 at 1:40pm — 3 Comments

Using Microsoft Virtual Earth as a ground station



Cool use of Microsoft Virtual Earth as the visualization engine in a very sophisticated browser-based ground station. Check out the videos in this… Continue

Added by Chris Anderson on February 27, 2009 at 8:55pm — 3 Comments

UAVs at the Smithsonian

From BoingBoing: "The Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum has mounted a display of unmanned aerial vehicles, essentially model airplanes outfitted with GPS,… Continue

Added by Chris Anderson on February 27, 2009 at 4:15pm — No Comments

Update on ArduPilot availability

SparkFun has sold out of ArduPilots again, but 200 more ArduPilots left Sparkfun production 30 minutes ago. The storefront will reflect that inventory tomorrow or Mon, and backorders should be filled in the next day or two.

We've now sold nearly 300 ArduPilots!

Added by Chris Anderson on February 26, 2009 at 4:30pm — 8 Comments

Getting ready for ArduPilot 2.0

ArduPilot 2.0 uses the same hardware as ArduPilot 1.0 but new software to do both the navigation and stabilization functions itself, with no need for a FMA Co-Pilot (although we still use the FMA XY… Continue

Added by Chris Anderson on February 26, 2009 at 12:00am — 67 Comments

More housekeeping: new Forum and Blogs tabs

I've finally gone through all the discussion on this site and categorized them so they can be more easily usable. You can see all the categories and the discussions in them by clicking on the "Forum" tab at the top. Please remember to select an appropriate category when you post a new forum topic.



As for blog posts, they operate a different way, using multiple tags rather than categories. So please add tags to your blog posts, so people can find them! I've also added a Blogs tab at… Continue

Added by Chris Anderson on February 24, 2009 at 10:35am — 4 Comments

Housekeeping note: adding categories to discussion topic

When you're starting a discussion in the forum at the left, please select a category if it pertains to ArduPilot, BlimpDuino or the UAV Dev Board. That way when people click on the main forum list, they're categorized… Continue

Added by Chris Anderson on February 22, 2009 at 11:40pm — 4 Comments

Switching your ArduPilot power to a separate battery

ArduPilot has a built-in power regulator, so you can power it from a separate battery at anything from 5-15v. To do this, you have switch the solder jumper from the default RC power to battery power. This means unsoldering the solder jumper that the board ships with and resoldering it on the other side. These pictures show the difference (apologies from my crappy soldering on the second one):…



Continue

Added by Chris Anderson on February 22, 2009 at 9:00pm — 8 Comments

Reloading the Arduino bootloader

If at any point you've managed to crash the ArduPilot code so badly that you've nuked the bootloader, don't worry: you can reload it. You'll need an AVR programmer.



The best way to reload the bootloader is with the Arduino IDE, which is pretty straightforward. Just plug in your AVR programmer and select Burn Bootloader/ w/ AVRISP mk II. If you've already loaded AVR Studio, you may get an error… Continue

Added by Chris Anderson on February 21, 2009 at 10:00pm — 17 Comments

ArduPilot GPS lock bug fixed

Thanks to Rusty's detective work, I think we've fixed the GPS lock bug (the blue LED was turning off even when the module was showing valid data). New code is here.



(Basically every instance of "if (fix_position == 0x01) ..." should have been "if (fix_position >= 0x01)..." It turns out that there are three valid fix values: 1,2… Continue

Added by Chris Anderson on February 21, 2009 at 6:00pm — 17 Comments

Arduino 13 bootloading hint

If you're having trouble flashing the ArduPilot code with Arduino 13, try upgrading the bootloader on ArduPilot to the latest version. You can do it with your AVR programmer in the Arduino IDE or use AVR Studio to program the board with the ATmegaBOOT_168_diecimila.hex file found in the Arduino folder hardware/bootloaders.

I was having that problem and this fixed it for me.

Added by Chris Anderson on February 21, 2009 at 10:18am — No Comments

Update on ArduPilot code--final NMEA release

Jordi has been flight testing ArduPilot all week and we've got a raft of new code to share over the next week and an exciting new dimension of ArduPilot to reveal. First, today's installment: an updated version of the standard ArduPilot code, with PID loops improved and some bugs caught. You can find the code here.



This is the last version of ArduPilot that we will be releasing with a NMEA parser. Although NMEA… Continue

Added by Chris Anderson on February 18, 2009 at 10:25pm — 25 Comments

UAV "company" part of ARG marketing for new Terminator movie



"Skynet Research", of course. Our buddies at Trossen Robotics are in on the joke (at least I think they… Continue

Added by Chris Anderson on February 16, 2009 at 12:05pm — 1 Comment

Status update on ArduPilot production

Here's a Sparkfun engineering report on those last few boards that got out with incorrect fuse settings. Short form: the glitches from a few weeks ago should now all be gone:



"A small number of boards that did not have the correct fuse setting got mixed into the batch that are correctly programmed.



Currently, production is programming the correct fuses on all new builds. I am getting someone to go through our storefront stock right now to make sure the correct fuse… Continue

Added by Chris Anderson on February 16, 2009 at 11:34am — 7 Comments

Daily Show on "Roombas of Doom"--hilarious

Added by Chris Anderson on February 14, 2009 at 10:00pm — No Comments

ArduPilot back in stock--100 on hand



Thanks to Sparkfun's new pick and place machine, they're able to make new ArduPilots quickly to keep up with demand. Another 100 are back in stock.



They ran out of the EM406… Continue

Added by Chris Anderson on February 12, 2009 at 5:00pm — No Comments

Fred Smith: FedEx wants UAVs

FedEx founder Fred Smith came by the Wired offices yesterday for a chat on a range of things, but I'll focus here on the bit relevant to this site. He says that they'd like to switch their fleet to UAVs as soon as possible but that this will have to wait for the FAA, which… Continue

Added by Chris Anderson on February 12, 2009 at 1:09pm — 10 Comments

Tiny 5MP camera coming out

Autofocus, image stabalization, etc. Seems perfect for UAV use. From robots.net

"Advasense has announced what they claim is the world's smallest 5MP autofocus camera module. The module, which was developed with the help… Continue

Added by Chris Anderson on February 12, 2009 at 12:45pm — No Comments

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Top Content 

1 ArduPlane 2.73 released

ArduPlane 2.73 released
2 ArduVTOL

ArduVTOL
3 How to analyze a crash?

How to analyze a crash?
4 HD video for UAV's

HD video for UAV's
5 Mapping Mission Ride Along

Mapping Mission Ride Along
6 APM Copter 2.9.1.b has been released

APM Copter 2.9.1.b has been released
7 Arducopter 3Dr or Phantom

Arducopter 3Dr or Phantom
8 ArduVTOL - Wingcopter - Flight Report Nr.1

ArduVTOL - Wingcopter - Flight Report Nr.1
9 Mechanical Hands From A MakerBot: The Magic Of Robohand (From Makerbot blog news)

Mechanical Hands From A MakerBot: The Magic Of Robohand (From Makerbot blog news)
10 NEVER connect a Capacitor backup or voltage protector on APM board

NEVER connect a Capacitor backup or voltage protector on APM board

Contests

Season Two of the Trust Time Trial (T3) Contest has now begun. The fourth round is an accuracy round for multicopters, which requires contestants to fly a cube. The deadline is April 14th.

A list of all T3 contests is here. 

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