I Have a question abouth the 3 micros the system has, can somebody explain which micro does what
in the whole system ? I know the mega has 2 micros and the IMU has 1, correct ?
I would like to know what they do an how they comunicate between them. For example, if I want to
change the xbee and use another hardware, what micro must I modify ? Is the software of the 3 micros
public ?
Sorry if this is explained somewhere, but I didn't found it and I like to know how things work.
BTW Ardupilot-Mega is out of stock, sb knows until when ?
bye.
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There are two microprocessors. Typically users will only program one of them: the bigger Atmega1280. The smaller one, an Atmega328, come preprogrammed and is typically a "black box" that you don't touch. (Experts can modify it if they want, however)
The 1280 on the ArduPilot Mega board is the main processor and handles all of the autopilot duties from return to launch to stabilise, from automatic waypoint navigation to fly by wire.
The 328 on the ArduPilot Mega board is the failsafe system which allows you to reboot the 1280 and (hopefully) stop your plane hitting the floor at a high speed.
As I know there is no processor on the IMU board but there are ADCs, accelerometers and FTDI ICs which may look that way. I'm sure someone can confirm or deny this.
As for finding out how they communicate and what to modify you need to download the Arduino IDE and get the program code. If you are unable to work out roughly where to start once you have looked through the code then modification of the code will be dangerous to your model (as it will fly like a stone).
Using other communication hardware is done by connections and all you have to do is ask whether someone else has used the same as you want to do.
All software for the ArduPilot Mega is open source so you can download and do what you wish to it.
Suppliers are having problems and so manufacturing is a little behind.