ArduBoat Dedicated Firmware: Community Interest & Wish List

Posted by AntimatterCrusader on September 25, 2015 at 4:41pm

So, the post I made about some features in ArduRover has sparked a discussion about perhaps creating a dedicated ArduBoat firmware. That post is located here: http://diydrones.com/group/arduboat-user-group/forum/topics/arduboat-any-way-to-have-it-hold-position-against-current-wind


So, I am wondering what type of community interest there is here? I don't personally have the skills required to create and maintain this - but if the interest is great enough perhaps we could crowdfund it on kickstarter or similar to have a developer create the firmware. 

Certainly nothing concrete, I'm just looking for thoughts, and a wish list of features we could implement if we decided to do this...

Regarding a Wishlist - so far, we have: 

- Dynamic Positioning Capability
- Loiter Mode (Where the boat will automatically return to the center of a location after it drifts away - similar to ArduPlane in configuration)
- Implement GeoFencing Capability

You need to be a member of diydrones to add comments!

Join diydrones

Email me when people reply –
Follow

Replies

  • Fred R December 13, 2015 at 1:09pm

    Hi there everyone,

    At first let me express my deep gratitude to everyone who's involved in APM software / hardware development. In a way it's even hard to believe how capable and versatile this thing is. Anyway keep up the good work!

    Thank you AntimatterCrusader for bringing up this Arduboat firmware matter. Loiter mode sounds to me like virtual anchor. If it keeps the boat in certain spot despite the winds and currents it can be very practical actually.

    I have one feature suggestion also. I have noticed in many occasions that very basic navigation mode by compass is needed. It could work like this:

    - automatic navigation is done according to compass reading (not by GPS)

    - automatic navigation can be overrun by manual steering at any time, but the moment the steering stick is returned to the center position the heading by compass at that moment is fixed and automatic navigation will hold that heading

    - speed control is manual

    Hopefully it makes sense.

    Regards

    Fred

  • Admin
    Thomas J Coyle III September 26, 2015 at 7:00am

    @AntimatterCrusader,

    I have spoken to Grant Morphett, our resident ArduRover/Boat Developer, and so far, due to Grant being spread pretty thin (I believe he also has a day job:-)), we have considered, but not moved ahead with the creation of a separate ArduBoat firmware.

    I do not believe that you would get much commitment to fund such an effort, using crowdfunding, due to its limited appeal to the sUAS community.

    The ArduRover firmware evolved from the ArduPlane firmware and was modified by JLN, one of our exceptionally creative members, until it was taken over and continued to be evolved by Developers Tridgell and Morphett.

    Regards,

    TCIII AVD

  • David Boulanger September 25, 2015 at 5:18pm

    Anti,  I think Loiter and the Geofence could be done fairly easy by the developers that have worked on the rover code.  Just give it a bit of time.  Are you listening Grant & Co. ;).  Dynamic Positioning would be much more involved. 

    Regards,

    David R. Boulanger

This reply was deleted.