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
I managed to compile it for Pixhawk, but I am unable to test it since I don't have any Pixhawk at this time. If you like you can try uploading it, but of course I cannot guarantee it will work. It may even be harmful for your board any you do it at your own risk etc... :)
If you try it let me know the results
AntennaTracker-v2.px4
Hi Randy
I am having some problems with Antenna Tracker, hoping you can help, I think it is something obvious I am missing.
The problem seems to be that the antenna tracker and the plane are not talking. I don't get the plane showing up on the map, only the tracker. When I press CTRL-X, I only have the option of ID 2 which is the AT. I've checked on the plane and it's ID is set to 1, and the AT is set to iD 2.
The telemetry radios have a solid green light and flashing red light on both ends, telling me that data is flowing. If I connect the AT's telemetry radio directly to my PC via USB, I can connect to the plane, and all the data downloads normally.
I've checked the baud rates for the radios, the plane and the AT, and all are set at 57,000 for SR1. I've also set the SR1_POSITION values and other SR1 values too.
After all this, when I power up the AT it simply 'twitches' a little bit, but doesn't move otherwise. If I set the mode to 'manual' it will spin to 0 but then nothing more. When I connect to the AT via USB, I can only see the AT and not my plane. The AT has a solid GPS lock, as does the plane.
My setup is as follows:
I've attached my plane and AT parameter files, along with screenshots of the 3DR radio configuration.
Thanks in advance for your help!
James
apm_plane_params.param
antennatracker_params.param
telemetry_radio_settings.jpg
When flying counter-clockwise around the tracker, it reaches its endpoint and spins around 360, and continues tracking. However, when flying clockwise, the tracker hits the endpoint and stops, and only returns to tracking when the plane flies in front of the tracker again in a counter-clockwise direction.
Any ideas?
If the plane is within a certain 90 degree wide band, the tracker operates well. Once the plane moves outside this band, the tracker simply stops. Upon re-entering this band, the tracker resumes operation.
I am using a 360 degree servo. I have tried playing with the RC1 min, max and midpoints, but couldn't seem to resolve this behavior.
Here is a video that shows the problem: https://youtu.be/hvrKCyGycx4
Any thoughts on this?
Thanks for reply
I can neither find help or more information to help figure out what the parameter settings should be. Good luck and if you find a solution please let me know.
Thank you Keith!
I have now got the telemetry working, the plane and tracker are talking, and the tracker moves when I move the plane around.
I think I need to adjust the PIDs to get it pointing accurately. Once I have everything operating properly I will be making a youtube how-to video. Perhaps I can help you get yours working as well!
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