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
Hi Keith
My parameter files are attached to my first post above. Take a look at them and let me know if I can help further :)
Hi just quick question does the quad its tracking have to be armed
today i went out got new pixhawk 4 x 3DR 915 mhz i though may be the amp 2.6 and the radios i was using was a dud guest what nop now i am stumped
Hi so i am having a really stange issue. the pitch function on my antenna tracker works fine, but i do not get an pan moevment. i am using a pixhawk with two 180degree position servos. I have been able to prototype a 2:1 gear system to give the 360 degree movement.
the issue is that i can see the compass value change if i manually turn my tracker on the HUD but the heading points north. even if i turn the whole system it will compensate to point north. any idea how to fix this? you can see in the image of MP its pointing north on the map but its actually pointing east
I first built it with position servos and changed now to continouus servos.
yes I am using a pixhawk. it turns out that was an issue with the telemrty rates. i changed the SR_1 param to 3 from 10 and it woke itself up. My parameters are on my PC in the lab and will post them when i go in next. If you wish at a later date i can upload the CAD files i used to rapid prototype everything for a small portable tracker along with how everything is wired up
that be good as i said i had it working till i turn it off
i am trying to write a report on this as its a uni project. is it possible for someone to help me comprehend exactly how the code does this for the AntennaTracker. i.e. what part calculates the required azimuth and elevation. how data comes in and is processed this would be a good start. cheers
So.... finaly had some time to switch my bluetooth module to TELEM1 port and my 3DR radio to TELEM2. Guess what: the bluetooth is not working on TELEM1. I've also tried connecting a FTDI adapter to TELEM1 but no connection with Mission Planner. Both work perfekt on TELEM2. The strange thing is that my 3DR radio works just fine on TELEM1... ??? Also played around with the "Serial" Parameters without success...
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