Convinced by the flights of Pete Hollands ( Auto take off and landing ) and Phil Giacalone ( Auto takeoff and landing ) i want in the next month to buy a UavDevBoard 4 and the necessary stuff. As usual before investing some money i want to ask what is not clear for me now.
So:
1. on the main page (http://code.google.com/p/gentlenav/wiki/Home) Sparkfun.com appears as main seller but now on theis site UDB 4 is "out of stock Not available for backorder". From where can i buy the board ? (i prefer somewhere with the price similar as sparkfun or cheaper :) ).
2.I understood, reading the manual,that the "must have" is UDB 4 board, a gps module and a PICkit 3 programmer. Now the question is : can i use this gps module (link) and this programmer (link) ?
3. Also on the home age i saw that the xbee's are recommended for telemetry but, there is possible to use for telemetry a bluetooth module (link) ? . The ideea is to make a link between the bluetooth from my laptop and UDB board.
Thank you for your help,
Replies
Alex,
You might wish to ask your question on the main UDB forum here:
http://groups.google.com/group/uavdevboard?pli=1
But quick answers:
The programmer is a clone. Go with the real thing, They are not so expensive and won't disappoint.
The project does support one of the mediatek gps but I am not sure about the non mediatek branded ones. The EM406 has been a reliable choice.
Interesting idea to directly link laptop to Xbee. The laptop bluetooth drivers would need to present the connection as a serial port. I don't know if they will do this.
Seth is correct about the range. If you really want good telemetry then go for the 50mW V2.5 modules. Do not but the lower power modules.
Regards Matt
I believe the maximum range for most bluetooth modules is 10 meters. A class 1 unit, with the highest power at 100mw, will do 100 meters, and that's still not much range.