Hi there! After scrolling around for a couple of days on this site, it’s time for a first post. I am looking into building my own UAV, and this site along with RCgroups is a great source of information for a newbie like me. I have a background in remote sensing and image processing, but thought it would be nice to have my own little remote sensor in the air, instead of endlessly waiting for a good (cloudless) satellite or high-airborne imagery.
But before even thinking of taking pictures, I want to get an airframe airborne and test some GPS/IMU functionalities. At this moment I like the features of the x5-flying-wing (bevRC) but for a first plane this is probably too ambitious... . Instead I will probably go for the HK Bixler ARF and see how it handles my uncontrolled acrobatics.
I am also interested to integrate the ArduPilot Mega as the autopilot system. One question I don’t find an answer on is on the difference between the 2 GPS plugs (MediaTek vs U-BLOX5). Did anybody test both products in terms of vert/hor accuracy, DGPS possibility and reliability?
That’s all for now.. I hope to update you soon on my maiden flight. Now it is back to the simulator :)
Replies
Basically the ublux has advantage as it has helical antenna go can get signal better signal when flying ad off angles, but only updates at 4Hz (which is plenty fast enough). THe mediatek GPS module is cheaper, and updates at 10Hz, most people use mediatek GPS and dont have poor signal problems as aircraft usualy fly pretty much horizontal, but most people still get signals at higher angles. Mediatek seems so sometimes be abit scattered
Both generally peform as well as each other in terms of accuracy. I would suggest using MediaTek as its cheaper and many sources on internet says it gives very good accuracy, and personally the the MediaTek is less likely to break (some users reported ublox antenna breaking in crash)