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Pixhawk vs APM 2.6 for Photogrammetry

Posted by Andrew Bailey on March 4, 2014 at 5:18pm

Some advice please. I need to take an informed decision on whether to purchase a Pixhawk or an APM 2.6.

I intend to fly fixed wing photogrammetry missions. As such I need full functionality on the Mission Planner and to be able to log GPS position and other information to merge with exif info on photos. 

I assume that at this stage I would be running APM on the Pixhawk? Would there be any functionality I need for this sort of mission missing if I go with a Pixhawk?

I would greatly appreciate any help on this. Thanks, Andrew

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Replies

  • iskess March 5, 2014 at 10:07am
    I do photogrammetry missions with the APM. The most frustrating part is the small data flash log space and the time it takes to download the logs. Of you have a big mission you can run out of space and have your logs overwritten. If you land early to retrieve the logs, you will wait a very long time for them to download, meanwhile the light is changing and the weather could be too.
    If you don't use logs for post processing, then there aren't many Pixhawk advantages at the moment. The most compelling feature it the built in redundancy, all though it isn't all coded yet.
    • Andrew Bailey > iskess March 5, 2014 at 11:26am

      Thanks for your reply Iskess. I will need logging to pick up GPS altitude and attitude data for each triggered cam shot. So it may be that Pixhawk is the way to go on this account. 

      So, if I go with Pixhawk will I be able to everything that is possible with APM 2.5/6? I know that this is the future platform and that firmware will be developed to take advantage of the more powerful architecture, but are there any disadvantages today with running current Ardupilot Plane firmware on a Pixhawk instead of an APM? 

      • iskess > Andrew Bailey March 6, 2014 at 12:47am
        The pixhawk can do everything the APM can do except drive CHDK relay signals at 5v. It only runs it's relays at 3v. If you are using CHDK there are several work arounds.
        • Andrew Bailey > iskess March 24, 2014 at 4:55am
          A follow on question. Should I plan to install APM firmware on the Pixhawk or run the Pix4 firmware? Again, this is specifically to fly photogrammetry missions, so need to be able to plan & fly a grid pattern, trigger photos at the right times etc. I am not so bothered about GPS logging as I plan to use a GPS camera to start with.

          Thanks

          Andrew
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