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T3

Waiting for some external input on a waypoint (APM:Copter/Rover)

Posted by Thorsten on May 12, 2014 at 11:44am

Hi all,

it must be simple (at least I hope) but I cannot find the required information. Hence, I need your help!

My aim is: when a rover/copter reaches a waypoint it should

1: stop

2: send a trigger signal (e.g. like CAM_TRIGG_DIST in APM:Copter)

3: wait for a return trigger signal before proceeding to the next waypoint

It would be even better if CAM_TRIGG_DIST or something similar could be used instead of a waypoint because it would make mission planning much easier. In this case the rover/copter should stop when CAM_TRIGG_DIST is executed and wait for some input before proceeding further to the next waypoint (or the next CAM_TRIGG_DIST location). 

The general idea is to stop the rover/copter until some external processing is finished. So, a simple delay is not an option.

Is something like this possible?

Thanks a lot in advance,

Thorsten

PS: I moved this from Arducopter to Ground Vehicles

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Tags: copter, external signal, rover, trigger, waypoint
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Replies

  • T3
    Thorsten June 17, 2014 at 12:18pm

    Hi all,

    first test today: and it seems the combination of CAM_TRIGG_DIST  and the Start/Stop Switch works.

    I will report updates on this here.

    Thanks again for all your help!

    Kind regards,

    Thorsten

  • T3
    Thorsten June 14, 2014 at 3:41am

    Hi all,

    I want to experiment with the start/stop switch. However, I cannot really figure out how/where to connect the switch to the pixhawk.I had a look at:

    http://copter.ardupilot.com/wiki/common-analog-and-digital-pins-for...

    http://copter.ardupilot.com/wiki/common-pixhawk-overview/

    http://rover.ardupilot.com/wiki/startstop-switch/

    but I am wondering what to set for AUTO_TRIGGER_PIN in Mission Planner (0-8) and then where to connect the switch to the pixhawk?

    Any help is greatly appreciated!

    Regards,

    Thorsten

    @Thomas: your reply seems to be deleted!?

  • Developer
    Linus June 4, 2014 at 5:52am

    Hi Thorsten,

    sorry for the late reply.

    It sounds like its not going to work right now.

    The part where it should waiti for an input isnt supported and would need to be added.

    The copter guys are working on something like this behind the scenes as they are preparing for AVC 2014.

    There are red balloons as targets to find at AVC 2014 and the input would come from an second computer doing computer vision to find the balloons.

    I have no idea how hard / easy it would be to add this to the rover.

    Regards,

    Linus

    • T3
      Thorsten > Linus June 4, 2014 at 7:31am

      Hi Linus and Thomas,

      thanks!

      My idea was to try to avoid mavlink because mission planning with CAM_TRIGG_DIST is very straight forward. Some start-stop trigger would be perfect/easy because the coding required on a second computer would be minimal and all mission planning would separated. I will give the Start-Stop function with MIS_RESTART set to 0 a try. But since I am new to rovers and received my truck last week I first have to set up the basics.

      I already had a short look at Randy's ballon code but I am still waiting for some components (and time) before I'll have a closer look.

      If it is not working (as expected) where is the best place to post a feature request?

      Best regards,

      Thorsten

      • Developer
        Linus > Thorsten June 4, 2014 at 8:08am

        Hi Thorsten,

        one thing came to my mind was to add a do_speed_change command and set speed to zero, maybe worth a try but i have not tested this.

        The best place for a feature request would be on the diydrones/ardupilot github page in the issue tracker:

        https://github.com/diydrones/ardupilot/issues

        Please mark your request as rover specific and enhancement.

        Regards

        Linus

This reply was deleted.

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