Hi,
I am currently working on a hexacopter powered with the Pixhawk Mini FCS. It is currently using the 915MHz telemetry radio to communicate with my ground station. I am mounting a thermal camera (FLIR Vue Pro R) which has a port to accept Mavlink for tagging geospatial data in the thermal images. Unfortunately the Mini only has a single telemetry port. Is there any way I can run telemetry to/from the radio AND to the FLIR at the same time?
I understand that telemetry is a serial connection so this may not be easy to do. I have a limited understanding of comm protocols, but is there any way to "split" the telemetry to send GPS data to the FLIR and the radio? If not, could I get data to the FLIR using I2C (converted to serial through some other device)?
I was even wondering if I could just stick the telemetry radio on the Mini's micro-USB port to act as a "wireless USB" connection to the ground station. Is this even a realistic option or am I just getting desperate?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated, and I'd be glad to provide additional info if needed.
Thanks.
Jamie
Replies
I actually haven't seen that board but I may look into it. I probably will be sticking with the Mini for this project though. Have you flown with an X2.1?
Luc Maximilien said:
I may try this, I just wasn't sure if it had to have the RX signal too. The FLIR documentation says it uses RX for Heartbeat but I don't know if that is mandatory.
Andre K. said:
Buy a Mrobotics X2.1 autopilot , it has 3 telemetry ports and IMO is more reliable than the Pixhawk Mini.
If the Flir only needs to read the stream, you can just split the TX signal from the pixhawk to the radio..