Just get an MyFlyDream Auto Antenna Tracker. THey sell for about $350 or so and if you do the math its cheaper to buy one of those than buy and build an ardustation along with all the servos and other assembly peices. WHile its fun to build the MFD AAT has one big bonus. Its can spin an unlimited number of times without the cables getting stuck etc.
Yeah it looks nice snd has some nice features. But it's pricy. And I already have an OSD and the 3dr radios, so no need to buy things twice. Depending on the servos, a self made tracker can stay well below 100USD. Apart from the fun it is building your own.
Still I would like to know if the 'Maestro'-tracker will spin around and retarget if it reaches the servo limits.
Is there anyone having an answer?
I hear ya! it would be nice if 3dr would make a tracker in the same for factor as skylark AAT, or skylark themselves teach their brainchild to understand mavlink on the ground w/o occupying a sound channel. Sound from the copter's motors helps a great deal in a case you have a loosening bolt or sync issues..... you can ground you copter as soon as possible this way.
I propose a following solution:
connect a bluetooth to serial adapter (~9 bucks) to the 3dr radio ground module serial port, hook up a minimOSD to the same port without connecting Tx pin, main video receiver video out to minmOSD, minimosd vOut to a fatshark 25mw video re-translator and receive your final video in the doms, preferably HD :)
in the meantime connect and arduino board loaded with ardutracker f/w to the same serial port of the 3dr radio w/o connecting the Tx pin and enjoy perfectly working tracking. you can put a directional antenna on your 3dr radio too, since both video and telemetry modem will be in the same place. put a 3s 2000mah batt on that rig and enjoy a completely wireless ground station!
now you can connect to this rig with MP using bluetooth on your laptop or with Droid Planner on your android device. add another bluetooth to serial adapter w/o Tx pin to connect a slave (read only) MP/Droid Planner device if desired (master laptop running MP and an android phone clamped on your RC for quick flight data monitoring)
the best thing, this solution is completely modular! do not like 3dr radios - no problem use any other serial modem, like dtf900 or xbee, a future iteration of minimOSD comes, no problem, unplug and plug back a new one, minmosd glitches? the reset button is right there on the ground!
I think whoever make this product will sell hundreds of them... 3dr could even add a compass to the the ardutracker software for self calibration, together with compasmot adjustments, all the software already exists for the APM....
p.s. none of the proposed features are new, everything has already been done as DIY, no plz someone, mass produce a professionally looking product!
Thank you for all the replies!
This is the plan:
Vehicle: hexacopter with APM 2.6, GPS, 3dr radio, fpv with minimosd.
FPV: fatshark transmitter 25 mW (german regulations :-( ), receiver to be determined, antenna immersionrc 13dB patch.
Desired range: as far as it can go with 25 mW.
Tracker: should be GPS driven using the mavlink data.
Unfortunately, 3dr does not supply a plug and play solution that uses the data supplied by the osd module, like for example eagletree. So I have to add the 3dr radio that adds extra weight. But I fear that can't be helped.
I ordered a maestro controller and some servos (210 deg for pan, 90 deg for tilt). But I am not sure if this will work as intended.
What happens if the tracker reaches the servo limits? Will the tracker rotate around to focus on the copter again?
And what is the best baud rate to communicate with the maestro?
Has anybody made a working AT yet?
All I could find was heaps of problems and somehow, all the threads I found ended somewhere in 'midair'.
Even in this link http://code.google.com/p/ardupilot-mega/wiki/AntennaTracking
there are quite a lot of open questions.
I would really like to use an antenna tracker with my 3dr radios, APM and Mission Planner, but a bit more info would be really appreciated.
Unforunately I am not the guy to do this all by myself. I can build a working copter from scratch an make it fly quite ok, but I can not do the programming for such a task.
Can anybody help me?
Got my antenna tracker up and working just fine. Used gear boxes from servo city and self modified continuous rotation servos. If you go the continuous rotation route you need to make sure you get the servo city gear boxes with encoders for pot feed-back. Used the Mastro Servo Controller by Pololu as recomended in the wiki. I have my gearboxes screwed to a $12.00 aluminum project box which houses my Ubiquti Bullet 5.8ghz radio (I'm using this for HD FPV), the Maestro, and my battery.
I will have to say the process was pretty straight forward..! The tracker takes a little bit of setup each time in the field, and only works as well as your telemetry connection, which can get a little laggy once you get a little distance between you and your craft. All in all it works as well as exptected!
If someboy looks for alternative tracker software, I've made an open source tracker compatible with Mavlink/UAVTalk/Multiwii MSP/Ublox/NMEA/LTM protocols here:
It works on Arduino Mega or Teensy++2 boards.
It also adds ground OSD feature on minimosd hardware.
Hey guys....I'm building an antenna tracker now but unclear of whether I can use a continuous rotation servo for the pan axis or do I have to have one that just does 360 degrees? I'm aware that with a continuous rotation servo, there's no position feedback but didn't know of the APM code could handle that.
Replies
Cheaper and better to buy a MFD AAT.
Just get an MyFlyDream Auto Antenna Tracker. THey sell for about $350 or so and if you do the math its cheaper to buy one of those than buy and build an ardustation along with all the servos and other assembly peices. WHile its fun to build the MFD AAT has one big bonus. Its can spin an unlimited number of times without the cables getting stuck etc.
Still I would like to know if the 'Maestro'-tracker will spin around and retarget if it reaches the servo limits.
Is there anyone having an answer?
I hear ya! it would be nice if 3dr would make a tracker in the same for factor as skylark AAT, or skylark themselves teach their brainchild to understand mavlink on the ground w/o occupying a sound channel. Sound from the copter's motors helps a great deal in a case you have a loosening bolt or sync issues..... you can ground you copter as soon as possible this way.
I propose a following solution:
connect a bluetooth to serial adapter (~9 bucks) to the 3dr radio ground module serial port, hook up a minimOSD to the same port without connecting Tx pin, main video receiver video out to minmOSD, minimosd vOut to a fatshark 25mw video re-translator and receive your final video in the doms, preferably HD :)
in the meantime connect and arduino board loaded with ardutracker f/w to the same serial port of the 3dr radio w/o connecting the Tx pin and enjoy perfectly working tracking. you can put a directional antenna on your 3dr radio too, since both video and telemetry modem will be in the same place. put a 3s 2000mah batt on that rig and enjoy a completely wireless ground station!
now you can connect to this rig with MP using bluetooth on your laptop or with Droid Planner on your android device. add another bluetooth to serial adapter w/o Tx pin to connect a slave (read only) MP/Droid Planner device if desired (master laptop running MP and an android phone clamped on your RC for quick flight data monitoring)
the best thing, this solution is completely modular! do not like 3dr radios - no problem use any other serial modem, like dtf900 or xbee, a future iteration of minimOSD comes, no problem, unplug and plug back a new one, minmosd glitches? the reset button is right there on the ground!
I think whoever make this product will sell hundreds of them... 3dr could even add a compass to the the ardutracker software for self calibration, together with compasmot adjustments, all the software already exists for the APM....
p.s. none of the proposed features are new, everything has already been done as DIY, no plz someone, mass produce a professionally looking product!
This is the plan:
Vehicle: hexacopter with APM 2.6, GPS, 3dr radio, fpv with minimosd.
FPV: fatshark transmitter 25 mW (german regulations :-( ), receiver to be determined, antenna immersionrc 13dB patch.
Desired range: as far as it can go with 25 mW.
Tracker: should be GPS driven using the mavlink data.
Unfortunately, 3dr does not supply a plug and play solution that uses the data supplied by the osd module, like for example eagletree. So I have to add the 3dr radio that adds extra weight. But I fear that can't be helped.
I ordered a maestro controller and some servos (210 deg for pan, 90 deg for tilt). But I am not sure if this will work as intended.
What happens if the tracker reaches the servo limits? Will the tracker rotate around to focus on the copter again?
And what is the best baud rate to communicate with the maestro?
Thanks for your help!
Mike
Sounds like you also need a servo to also point the video tx back to home.
All I could find was heaps of problems and somehow, all the threads I found ended somewhere in 'midair'.
Even in this link http://code.google.com/p/ardupilot-mega/wiki/AntennaTracking
there are quite a lot of open questions.
I would really like to use an antenna tracker with my 3dr radios, APM and Mission Planner, but a bit more info would be really appreciated.
Unforunately I am not the guy to do this all by myself. I can build a working copter from scratch an make it fly quite ok, but I can not do the programming for such a task.
Can anybody help me?
Got my antenna tracker up and working just fine. Used gear boxes from servo city and self modified continuous rotation servos. If you go the continuous rotation route you need to make sure you get the servo city gear boxes with encoders for pot feed-back. Used the Mastro Servo Controller by Pololu as recomended in the wiki. I have my gearboxes screwed to a $12.00 aluminum project box which houses my Ubiquti Bullet 5.8ghz radio (I'm using this for HD FPV), the Maestro, and my battery.
I will have to say the process was pretty straight forward..! The tracker takes a little bit of setup each time in the field, and only works as well as your telemetry connection, which can get a little laggy once you get a little distance between you and your craft. All in all it works as well as exptected!
If someboy looks for alternative tracker software, I've made an open source tracker compatible with Mavlink/UAVTalk/Multiwii MSP/Ublox/NMEA/LTM protocols here:
It works on Arduino Mega or Teensy++2 boards.
It also adds ground OSD feature on minimosd hardware.
https://github.com/KipK/Ghettostation
wiki: https://github.com/KipK/Ghettostation/wiki
Hey guys....I'm building an antenna tracker now but unclear of whether I can use a continuous rotation servo for the pan axis or do I have to have one that just does 360 degrees? I'm aware that with a continuous rotation servo, there's no position feedback but didn't know of the APM code could handle that.
Thanks
Wayne
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