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Using Andruav as 3G/4G Telemetry for APM ArduPilot

Posted by MHefny on January 3, 2015 at 4:14am

 

This is my third article about Andruav, last one was a couple of weeks ago that was about the Telemetry feature in Andruav.

Since then some updates has been done to telemetry that I want to mention it here.

Andruav Telemetry has taken one more step forward. Now it can use USB besides Bluetooth when connecting to Flight Control Board (FCB). Also communication between drone and GCS has been extended so that  Andruav GCS can detect multiple telemetries on different drones and switch between them as shown in above video. Also protocol overhead has been reduced, which allows it now to work with less bandwidth up to 25%.

The video shows the below setup configuration:

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We have two Andruav mobiles, one of them on Quad which is the  Drone-Mode Andruav and the other on land in pilot's hand which is GCS-Mode Andruav , The Quad has  Ardupilot board, the board is connected to Drone-Mode Andruav using USB cable - it can also use a Bluetooth connection-. 

On ground we have GCS-Mode Andruav mobile, and another mobile that runs Droid Planner, BTW you may use a laptop with Mission Planner on it.

The video starts actually showing when everything is connected and then make a playback showing from the beginning how to make such connection.

I want here to mention three things:

1- My english language is bad :( sorry .... I need to work on it.

2- When trying to make this type of connection you need Andruav GCS to have access to both a wi-fi and Internet, so you have two options:

     a. Andruav GCS is connected to a wi-fi that can access Internet as well.

     b. Andruav GCS has 3G/4G connection, and here you need to enable Wi-Fi Tethering so that the third mobile can connect to Andruav GCS. 

     In my demo all mobiles where connected to Wi-Fi router, however both Andruav  mobiles are connected and communicated through a server in Andruav.com server.

 3- If you see the last part of the video you will find that Andruav Camera Shooting and HUD info are working and independent of the telemetry feature that works in parallel.

Have a safe flight :)

Tags: 3g, 4g, andruav, ardupilot, long, range, telemetry, wifi
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Comments

  • MHefny January 22, 2015 at 5:45am

    @Oscar Avellaneda-Cruz 

    Andruav 1.0.30 works well on Pixhawk this was released 19 Jan.

  • Stuart Brookes January 6, 2015 at 1:54am
    You can't do a compassmot or cal if you don't have telemetr . The compassmot instructions state to power with lipo via power module and to plug USB in. I don't have pixhawk but have never had an issue with APM or microbrai .
  • Oscar Avellaneda-Cruz January 5, 2015 at 4:29pm

    @MHefny cool. Thanks for clarifying that.

    @Stuart Brookes, your saying I can test it by plugging in the usb cable in with just the 5v power to test?
    Is there any danger here to frying the Pixhawk? My sister fried her APM 2.6 on accident by pluggin in the 
    compass while it was powered on via USB. I'm hoping to avoid a similar mistake.

  • Stuart Brookes January 5, 2015 at 5:25am
    Hi Oscar, I am not sure if its APM specific, but it's easy to test if you have pixhawk (I don't). With props off arm and spin up you copter and plug in (can be prw plugged in if easier) and then connect hitting the button in mission planner. If it stops the issue is there.
  • MHefny January 5, 2015 at 2:52am

    hub_enc1_120.png@Johnatan  Data encryption has been implementedas an option. now from server side you cannot tell what navigation data is being communicated between Drones & GCS.

    Also Telemetry data is encrypted.

  • MHefny January 5, 2015 at 2:15am

    @Oscar Thanks :)

    Well it depends on what part of Andruav do you want to use. For a telemetry you need an Android 4+  to allow a USB Host. 

    if you want to have IMU data without the board using the FPV button then you need a mobile with gyro "best" or at least compass & accelerometer.

    typically a cheap mobile will do the job :)

  • Oscar Avellaneda-Cruz January 5, 2015 at 12:52am

    @MHefny beautiful work man! Keep it up. I need to get a pair of Android phones to get this going.
    Have you had any feedback on which devices work best?

    @Stuart Brooks, does this apply to Pixhawk as well? Or is this just universal to the way the code and hardware interact.

  • MHefny January 4, 2015 at 5:22pm

    @Stuart Brookes Thanks for the feedback ... this is very important issue ... 

    I am working on supporting FTDI so that I can connect a serial port in Telemetry port.

    another ready solution is to use BT connected in Telemetry port, however not as reliable as wiring.

  • Stuart Brookes January 4, 2015 at 7:41am

    Very cool. Just be aware that when making connection to apm using usb restarts it effectively killing it if its flying. This doesn't happen on the telemetry port. 

  • MHefny January 4, 2015 at 5:29am

    Here in Egypt I use Vodafone, and they dont give real IPs on mobiles. I think this is common for mobile providers. 

    A direct link can be established if I have static IP at home and made the mobile connects to it, even using USB stick with SIM card, we dont get real IP here. still it may vary from a provider to another, which make it unreliable to depend on.

    Thanks :)

This reply was deleted.