Hello all!
I have experience with fixed-wing RC planes, but zero experience with making them autonomous in any way.
I have accumulated an APM 2.5, air speed sensor, and the transceivers.
I hope to make the aircraft be able to stabilize itself, follow a path of GPS coordinates, show real-time data on my laptop, and a life feed from a camera on the plane.
What more do I need to purchase(sensors etc) in order to accomplish this?
Also, I am comfortable with coding C++ and have done some robotics via Arduino. Does anyone have some good links to threads regarding coding the APM...maybe some documentation about the built in functions etc?
Thanks all!
Eager to become a part of this community.
Alex
Replies
I also have experience as an rc modeler and recently built my first quad using APM controller. My blog describes the build and parts and my travails testing and flying (www.blogodrone.com).
You do not need to code anything for the APM, just load free Mission Planner software onto your pc and hook it up to the APM by USB. The software will give you initial model setup via wizard, stabilization, tuning, autonomous flight programming, log analysis, etc. etc. Check out http://copter.ardupilot.com/wiki/introduction/ as well as http://copter.ardupilot.com/wiki/table-of-contents/.
Good luck with your build.