Hello all,
It's not a new achievement using wifi as Telemetry but this UART to WiFi module has really long range (up to 400 meters), and unbeatable price. Very small form factor (about 2cm x 1.5cm) and light (3 gr). Great for the small sized UAVs. And your Smart Phone or Tablet will become a GCS with no additional hardware. And with module's available GPIOs it's functionality can be increased (PWM, I2C sensors) you can drive LEDs or get sensor data over wifi.
Check out eriksl's great firmware for ESP8266 https://github.com/eriksl/esp8266-universal-io-bridge
I've been experimenting with new ESP8266 UART to WiFi module and happy to announce you that it can be used as Telemetry module. It should work on all MAVlink devices that uses Serial communication. I tested with ESP-03 and APM 2.6 (3.2) and range is acceptable for Follow Me, or Guided missions. it works reliable enough (there is a still rare disconnect issue, it can be power or firmware issue -more testing needed-) , and its really cheap, start as low as 2,5 $ at several stores (its a 3.3v device you will need a good (about 300ma) power source). You should consider it as proof of concept, there is a known bug (as 3.2.1) effects that GCS failsafe not functioning, when GCS communication is lost. I think APM 2.6 users should receive at least a one last bug fix release (several reports indicates 3.2.1 has some issues with altitude calculations), of course you can compile your own verison.
releated fix
https://github.com/diydrones/ardupilot/issues/706
https://github.com/R-Lefebvre/ardupilot/commit/8360b3d
For those who are interested, I can provide APM:Copter 3.2 (not 3.2.1) firmware with the fix. I am happy with it, doing some great auto flights, checking parameters, follow me flights, you can fly your UAV even without RC controller, directly from your wifi enabled GCS.
Replies
We use esp8266 modules to control swarm of drones
Here are instructions how to configure and connect them - https://github.com/ugcs/ddc/tree/master/WiFi
Hello,
I tring to use ESP based NodeMCU with installed ESP-link for APM 2.8 Telemetry, with No success,
I am doing all steps, I instal the latest stable version of ESP-Link and only change the Baud Rate to 57600 from the admin menu of the espm after that I am tring to connect with mission planner with 57600 Baud Rate, TCP and Ip of the NodeCU, port 23.
What I miss ?
I am tring with 2 different boards, and no success, is there a way to debug ? Can I use the uC Console ? it is always empty
Alexey Kozin said:
Dear all,
It work on my laptop and pixhawk.
Could you please give me solution with my laptop can connect with pixhawk and internet.
Thanks all.
you used base-firmware . but this is impossible
if you want to use UDP, you should find diffrence firmware.
this post used for TCP connection.
Hello!
I'm having a Node MCU and Ardupilot 2.6 APM, now what I'm trying to do is to connect Node MCU and APM via UART. The connections made are as follows(Connections.png):
APM - Node MCU
Tx -> Rx
Rx -> Tx
Vcc ->Vin
GND ->GND
Next I've flashed NodeMCU with this firmware
Now what I do is try to connect to APM via Mission Planner using UDP but it fails, or connect it with Tower mobile app but is does not connect.
I've also tried to swap the Tx and Rx connections but no result. Tried on UART1 i.e. GPS port too yet no results.
Noob to APM and ESP, can anyone help me out please? All I wanna do is control my quadcopter from Tower App.
Alexey Kozin said:
comparation with 3dr radio modem
end-user production
additional info (russian) here here
discussion and tests results (russian) here
Can I use this as a relay on my ground station? I would like to keep the sik 2 sik radio connection from the plane to the ground, but on the ground I'd like to have this device relay over wifi to my laptop running mission planner - this way I dont have to be in line of sight of the plane?
we are working on it..... the idea is to have radio link in the country and use it as relay.
Also, can I use UDP instead of TCP on that?
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