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
Thanks, that is great!
If that's true than both wiki and MP description need some love :) paedo for asking, but hiw do you know? Have you tested this?
I have added a "Tip" to the configuration section of the AntennaTracker wiki specifying how to do this (note I haven't tested as my tracker won't do this). Please review here. It will take a few minutes for the site to be updated.
http://antennatracker.ardupilot.com/wiki/configuration/
Any feedback greatly welcomed.
Thanks, Grant.
Grant, could you advise if AT will be able to work while being able to "listen only"?
a simple way to test is to disconnect TX pin from the telemetry radio.
Keith,
I didn't abandon this project, I just put it on hold for some time. I have a lot of work recently and I can't find time for any side project, plus I don't have my tracker frame anymore (I am building a new one). 0.7.2 worked for me with CR servos.
I did not understand why the antenna tracker is not a 'product' like other in 3DR constellation : APM, Pixhawk, APM planner, MP, etc because it's very important, according to regulation on video signal, to stay on a legal side.
For sure, dev' here making a great job but there is a lot to do to have a reliable Antenna Tracker that works for everyone without tweaking for month to have something we could use each day.
That's strange for me too. I'm playing with my own tracker (mechanical parts have done) but even with last version (0.73 guess it is) the tracker is not reliable. It sometimes work, sometimes work with offset (surprisingly not constant but with some ratio regarding to yaw position), sometimes doesn't work at all. Unfortunately I have not much time to play with it now, but during last months I did some research around my AT and still not satisfied.
With these problems I would really appreciate reliable product (either with mechanical parts or without) from 3DR, because it is fundamental for some activities indeed, not only hobby.
The hardware should not be a problem, because computational requirements of AT are not high (even APM1 can handle this job easily). I guess 3DR should invest some resources into this area and develop serious antenna tracker either with HW or without.
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