Discussions

Pixhawk & Sonar

Posted by theclam on January 31, 2014 at 4:53pm

My pixhawk came in the mail today for my APMRover!

I have 2 MB1240 Sonars and was wondering where I can find a cable to hook them up to the PixHawk. I am assuming I will need to power it one way and then connect the other pins 2-5 to the I2C bus. 

Has anyone done dual sonar with Pixhawk yet?

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Replies

  • Admin
    Thomas J Coyle III February 3, 2015 at 7:05am

    @theclam,

    Try here Link

    As far as I know, the MB1240 is an analog output sonar and not an I2C output sonar.

    Regards,

    TCIII AVD

  • Newtoon February 3, 2015 at 6:22am
    Hi LouDogg,

    My "buddy" Dave is not answering to my emails anymore, so I did not go forward (yet), but I'm still eager to do it this year. Would you make a "developing team" with me ? I know roughly the method, but do not even have a pixhawk yet. I will not start such a project alone.

    Kind Regards,

    Guillaume Fabre
  • Greg September 23, 2014 at 12:15pm

    Have you tried it without the sonar?  I was using sonar on my custom hex with APM2.6 and auto landings were very shaky.  I think it was because of the sonar signals going a little crazy as it approached the ground.  I upgraded to the pixhawk and the sonar was not supported.  I flew without sonar and auto landings are a smooth as melting butter now.  I won't be putting the sonar back on unless I can find a good reason.

    • Oxxy Fx > Greg September 23, 2014 at 12:35pm

      On the APM 2.6 I used the sonar properly filtered and it worked great. On the pixhawk apparently the sonar is not implemented yet on the current 3.1.5 code, it will be on the 3.2 when it will be released.

      The landings with the barometer only are spot on, amazing how precise, so we might not need sonars for this at all.

  • Admin
    Thomas J Coyle III September 20, 2014 at 3:00pm

    @Oxxy Fx,

    You can start here for a single sonar Link and here for dual sonars Link 

    I used CDROM shielded audio cables to connect the sonars to the Pixhawk.

    Here is a blog post concerning filtering the sonar power Link

    My dual sonar is used on a rover. 

    Regards,

    TCIII AVD   

    • Oxxy Fx > Thomas J Coyle III September 20, 2014 at 3:27pm

      Thanks Thomas. I used sonar before on the APM 2.6 with success. I filtered the cable and added the cap and resistor. However all your links seems to refer to a rover setup - while I am trying to fly a copter.

      Is it possible that as according to the post from David above the sonar code is not working on the arducopter?

      • Newtoon > Oxxy Fx October 24, 2014 at 7:50pm

        Hi !

        Stupid question (not at all in fact), but can I use a sonar and APM / Pixhawk not in front of the ground but relatively to a wall instead ? (so as to respect a certain distance).

        Thanks in advance ;-) 

        • Louis Brooks > Newtoon January 29, 2015 at 5:28pm

          Newtoon, 

          Did you figure out a good way to use the sonar as a proximity sensor?  I might try messing with the config etc. because I would like the copter to slowly approach the wall.

          Any help apreciated,

          LouDogg

          • Newtoon > Louis Brooks February 3, 2015 at 6:22am

            Hi LouDogg,

            My "buddy" Dave is not answering to my emails anymore, so I did not go forward (yet), but I'm still eager to do it this year. Would you make a "developing team" with me ? I know roughly the method, but do not even have a pixhawk yet. I will not start such a project alone.

            Kind Regards,

            Guillaume Fabre

  • Oxxy Fx September 20, 2014 at 2:20pm

    I am trying to use te sonar for the arducopter (quad) configuration.

    I tried connecting the Maxbotix 1240 to all available ports on the Pixhawk but I get no response from the sonar. I have the latest firmware, updated September 20th.

    While all the documentation talks about setting the sonar pin to x or y - there is no Sonar_Pin parameter in the advanced parameter list.

    What am I missing?

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