Discussions

Lightware SF10/C and Pixhawk AC 3.3.2 Serial connection

Posted by Mathew Ferreira on January 18, 2016 at 5:13pm

Hello all. 

I've connected a Lightware SF10/c to my pixhawk serial 4/5 port as the instructions here show:http://copter.ardupilot.com/wiki/com...re-sf10-lidar/

My SonarRange is flat on 0. I can see that the unit is powered up because I can see the dot on the floor with a digital camera. I've triple checked continuity of the cable I made and I also (using the cable I made for the Pixhawk) with small jumpers stuck in the little connector, attached it to a USB to Serial adapter and with Putty I can see the distance just fine.

I dropped it down to 9600 baud, still nothing.

I'm new to pixhawk/apm world so I'm not really sure how to troubleshoot. I've double checked the wiring.

I currently am running firmware 3.3.2.

Lastly, this is still not done being built. This is my first experience with a Pixhawk. I'm upgrading from an Eagle Tree Vector. I'm not done rewiring. I am still waiting for a power module because I refuse to use the little 90A one that was supplied by 3DR. 

Thank you all.

Note (may be TMI): My parts list is as follows

  • Tarot FY680 Iron Man
  • Sigma Summit Motor Mounts (~740mm now)
  • PixHawk Controller
  • Mauch 4-14S 200A Power Module (pending delivery)
  • Quanum MT 3510 630KV
  • Turnigy K-Force 30A (Opto)
  • Zippy Flightmax 8Ah 6S 30C or Venom 6s 12Ah 30C
  • 13x5.5 Carbon Props
  • 3DR uBlox GPS/Compass
  • PX4FLOW Optical Flow Sensor
  • Lightware SF10-C LIDAR Altimeter 0-100m
  • Turnigy 9XR Pro
  • Floureon 915MHz Telemetry
  • 2W 1.3GHz NTSC Video Transmitter
  • HawkEye DTF-UHF 1w 16ch

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Replies

          • Duffy > Robert Gowans February 4, 2016 at 6:31am

            Yes, did all the mods as described in the text:

            ""

            You then need to configure the rangefinder parameters as shown below (this is done in the Mission PlannerConfig/Tuning | Full Parameter List page):

            • RNGFND_TYPE=7 (LightWareI2C)
            • RNGFND_SCALING=1
            • RNGFND_MIN_CM=5
            • RNGFND_MAX_CM=5000
            • RNGFND_GNDCLEAR = Your offset to ground""

            The range findre works fine with the USB cable and the lightware terminal program.

             The firmware was 3.3.3rc2 and connection was using the I2C extender

             Thanks

            PS yes, both sonarrange and sonarvoltage return 0

            • Justin Ward > Duffy March 18, 2016 at 3:16am

              @Duffy, did you get I2C working? The post above shows the method but then mentions that sonarrange and sonarvoltage return 0. In a previous post you mention the SF10 is working via I2C.

              Did you get it working?

            • Duffy > Duffy February 11, 2016 at 7:34am

              All good with the SF10/C and latest firmware,

               Does anyone have a log file with cam trigger mission that we could send to Michael Oborne to make addition in georeferencing so that we can tag images and csv file with accurate height above ground as well as GPS altitude.

               I have create an entry in github issues here: https://github.com/diydrones/MissionPlanner/issues/1126

              I am still tuning the copter so I don't have any auto mission yet

               Thanks

              • LightWare - Laser Developer > Duffy February 11, 2016 at 9:37pm

                @Duffy - we're very interested in offering laser units specifically for geo-referencing. Do you have any ideas on what you would ideally like to have? For example, we have multi-beam lasers that can reference three points simultaneously.

                • Duffy > LightWare - Laser Developer February 14, 2016 at 11:36pm

                  What would you suggest is the best way to get the functionality of adding the laser reading data in the geotagging script in mission planner. It is the reason we bought the SF10/C but currently can't get the functionality out of this.

                   Thanks

                  • LightWare - Laser Developer > Duffy February 14, 2016 at 11:43pm

                    We are looking into this using our own dev resources. I can see that it's great functionality to have so we'll make sure it becomes available one way or another. Please give us a little time...

                • Duffy > LightWare - Laser Developer February 12, 2016 at 10:29am

                  Thanks,

                   Would you use the autopilots IMU and GPS ? or would you integrate separate units for this(?)

                   I think your current systems SF10 etc can be used to improve accuracy of 3D model reconstructions. The only thing that needs to be done is add some functionality to the georeferencing script running from mission planner, so that for every geotagged image a csv file with GPS and sonar altitude is created. This can then be used to provide additional reference in software like agisoft. So for example we would have height above elipsoid from GPS and height above ground from sonar. So if it is possible to get this functionality going it would be great. See the mission planner github issue referenced above.

                   The multi-beam laser would be good, if it is possible to have split beam at 40 degrees then it could also be used for enhanced ground separation, as opposed to just a single vertical beam.

                   How else could we use the split beam for georeferencing. I suppose we couldn't use it in conjunction with photogrammetry as the beam is invisible (unless you are using SWIR cameras). It could be useful for low resolution terrain mapping, things like this have been used for mapping glaciers. I know one team academic lab that has used a single beam to do mapping. 

                   

                  • LightWare - Laser Developer > Duffy February 14, 2016 at 10:05pm

                    Thanks for the info Duffy. We'll keep this in mind as we move forward with support for mapping.

        • LightWare - Laser Developer > Duffy February 3, 2016 at 11:44am

          There's a brief description of the various connection methods for the SF10 and SF11 here.

          I2C doesn't use a baud rate so there's no problem with that. I think the default address should work but I'm going to check with my dev guy and I'll get back to you tomorrow.

          • Jeff Seaman > LightWare - Laser Developer March 9, 2016 at 2:07pm

            Any luck getting the SF10 to work over I2C?

            I have an SF11 that I'm trying to get working on my hexacopter. The default address on the SF11 is 0x55, that should translate to 85 in Mission Planner correct? It looks good on USB, I'm gonna hook it to my O-scope to confirm output over I2C tonight just to make sure it is functioning and I do not have a bad wire or something.

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