figuring out the Antenna Tracker

Not many people know but we have an piece of open source software for controlling an Antenna Tracker. It's been built by Tridge (Arduplane lead developer) for use in the outback challenge.

Sadly we have no documentation and, as far as I know, nobody except Tridge has used it. Still given Tridge's track record on building great software I suspect it works well and if it doesn't, I'm sure we can fix it. So to not let this piece of code go to waste, I'd like some help from people who are interested to give it a try and help me figure out how it works.

Here's the little that I know:

It runs on any of our supported board (APM1, APM2, PX4, Pixhawk, Flymaple and perhaps VRBrain)
For APM1/APM2 users building the code is as easy as opening our hacked ArduinoIDE and selecting File > SketchBook > Tools > AntennaTracker and then building in the normal way. For PX4/Pixhawk, our autobuilder doesn't automatically build a binary but I can provide one if people are interested.
It can control a Pan and Tilt gimbal like this or this found on servocity.com.
It may or may not require a GPS
It must somehow receive vehicle position updates from the ground station which has the telemetry radio that is connected to the vehicle. Maybe through a USB cable. Tridge probably uses the python ground station, MAVProxy, to passthrough the vehicle position data to the AT but perhaps we can get MichaelO to build out a similar feature in Mission Planner.
I imagine this antenna tracker could also be used to keep a camera focused on the vehicle which might be good for easing the burden on creating videos of our vehicles.

So if you want to give it a try please do and stick any findings, questions or issues below. Alternatively Issues can go into the issues list.

I'll start sticking things into the wiki as they become clear.

Replies

Silvio February 2, 2015 at 11:26am

Hi,
I'm using Antenna Tracker V0.4 on APM2.5 and i have a problem:
when I try to set PROXY_MODE to "1" whit MissonPlanner, the menu is unselectable as the image below

Any suggestions?

Untitled.png
- Developer
  
  Randy > Silvio February 2, 2015 at 11:39am
  
  @Silvio,
  
  Thanks for testing.
  
  Proxy mode has been removed in AT0.4 because it's got smarter routing now that makes it unnecessary.
  - Doug Walmsley > Randy February 2, 2015 at 11:54am
    
    Does the AdruCopter Manual page need updating? I noted that the "Antenna Tracker - Connecting with GCS" lists "Set the PROXY_MODE parameter to "1"... is still listed. Is this correct?
    
    What additional steps will I need to make the two units talk to one another? I have unique SIDs for them which will eliminate interference on the other two transceivers. What else will I need to do?
    - Developer
      
      Randy > Doug Walmsley February 2, 2015 at 1:20pm
      
      Doug,
      
      Yes, it needs updating sadly.
      
      No need to set the proxy-mode to "1" (in fact, you won't be able to find the parameter anymore).
      
      The unique ids on the radios should be enough. There's smarter routing now in the antenna tracker code that routes the messages across the serial ports used by the radios so the messages should travel successfully between the vehicle and ground station.
      - Doug Walmsley > Randy February 3, 2015 at 4:46pm
        
        Randy,
        
        I downloaded v0.4 and was successful in connecting to Telm2 transceiver. I'm still performing tests, but I ran into one immediate issue. When the Y6B is connected via AT on Telm1 and relayed via Telm2 radio, I noted nearly a 10 second latency with the aircraft pitch and roll on the HUD. I'm sure I have something set wrong in the radio parameters.
        
        Any recommendations on what I need to adjust next?
        
        Developer
        
        Randy > Doug Walmsley February 3, 2015 at 5:47pm
        
        Doug,
        
        The rate that the copter sends it's data down the telemetry link is controlled with the SR0_, SR1_ or SR2_ parameters (can be temporarily set from MP's Planner page) but I doubt that would cause such a big delay.
        
        It's such a large delay it seems like radio interference. If you're using two separate radios connected to the AT (i.e. one for the GCS, one for the vehicle) the NetIDs are set to be different?
        
        Doug Walmsley > Randy February 4, 2015 at 5:31am
        
        Yes.
        
        AT to aircraft NetID 25 and all other settings as default.
        
        Telm2 to Laptop NetID 33 and all other settings as default.
        
        The two 3DR units are mounted to the back of my AT with minimum 6 inches of separation. I have pictures of them on my profile page.
        
        Also verified all units are flashed with SiK 1.9.
        
        Have video to show but I don't think it will be much more help other than validation of my test.
        
        Also noted that I don't have this problem when USB cable is connected to Pixhawk and to the laptop. Only when connected wirelessly.
        
        So what would you recommend?
Mike Mac February 1, 2015 at 1:49pm

I see that V0.4 is out. Has anyone tried it? Does it solve all the problems?

　

I am in the process of ordering all the parts and want to make sure it won’t be a waist of money.

.
- Andre > Mike Mac February 1, 2015 at 1:53pm
  
  Oh gread, I´ll try the 0.4 in two days.
  
  But I´m sure that it is still noT possible to tune the AT. But step by step I hope we will have the best AT for the mavlink system!
Mike Mac January 28, 2015 at 4:31pm

According to the 3DR instructions bluetooth is supported. Before I purchase the module I would like to know if anyone has had success making it work. Are their any disadvantages (other than range). Or should I just get another set of 3DR radios?

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