Using Ardurover for a ~4m solar powered boat for long distance?

Posted by Johannes on March 25, 2015 at 1:10pm

Hi,

i am planning to use a APM/Pixhawk with ArduRover firmware for a solar powered boat that will go for long distances. I have some first questions and hope you guys can help me ;)

- is it possible at all to use the Ardurover code for a boat with around 4m (~13ft) length? Since the code is more for small rovers, i can imagine, that we could run into problems here... Suggestions?
- what about big waves? Did anyone tried the code with a boat in a situation with big waves? is it possible? how is the navigation?
- since we are planning to power the boat with solar panels, the APM/pixhawk will power down from time to time. Is there a simple way, to tell the APM to continue Waypoints/everything it was doing before?
- we plan to integrate a satelite communication using the iridium satelite network. We want this connection only for status informations. Is there any comfortable way to achieve this (sending GPS/Voltage/temp etc)


I have more or less little knowledge on c# and python. If i need to add/change code where should i start? ;) Any good reference?

I hope you can help me starting this project!!

Any suggestions are welcome!!

Thanks a lot,

J.

PS.: i have posted this thread to the drone-discuss list on google but they kindly asked me to post it here ;) 

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Replies

  • jean-luc March 26, 2015 at 9:42am

    Yes, and because you are in total autonomous mode on the sea, you also need to keep the SKIP_GYRO_CAL at 1 (to prevent the bad gyro autocalibration when you restart the the system in the wave)

    and the BRD_SAFETYENABLE at 0 for arming the pixhawk without the arming switch.

    @ Thomas, i thinks there is a bug regarding this BRD_SAFETYENABLE.

    Iif is it at 0, when i'm restart the system, it's impossible to connect mission planner at the pixhawk (i using a computer directly connected via USB port).

    • Developer
      Grant Morphett > jean-luc March 26, 2015 at 5:40pm

      Hi jean-luc.  I did a test and set BRD_SAFETYENABLE to 0 and I can connect to it via MAVProxy no problem - its starts up and the safety button is solid red.  However, when I connected vi MP your right - it wouldn't work.  I have raised a MP issue for this - https://github.com/diydrones/MissionPlanner/issues/821

      Thanks, Grant.

    • jean-luc > Grant Morphett March 26, 2015 at 11:14pm

      Thank you Grant.

      Regarding the SKIP_GYRO_CAL to 1, when i power up the system (the boat is on the sea and moving a little), sometime i have also the "bad gyro healt" msg, i'm not sure if that this parameter working or not on ardurover, what do you think?

      Regards,

    • jean-luc > jean-luc March 27, 2015 at 2:43am

      @ johannes, be carrefull with the solar panels in totaly autonomous navigation, after a few days of navigation, the salt depot, bird alluvial and other... can decrease a lot the solar performance.

    • Johannes > jean-luc March 27, 2015 at 2:46am

      Yeah!

      We have not yet started to actually design the boat itself, right now we are gathering all the informations we need.

      since the electronics is more or less my part, i am here asking you all these dumb questions ;)

      Thank you very much!

    • Johannes > jean-luc March 26, 2015 at 9:45am

      Hi,

      sorry for my bad english, but what does the "yes" refer to? 

      - does it mean, that MIS_RESTART has nothing to do with reboots? 

      Sorry...

    • jean-luc > Johannes March 26, 2015 at 11:52am

      Sorry, the YES refer to the Thomas's answer before your latest reply.

  • jean-luc March 26, 2015 at 8:09am

    Hi Johannes,

    I use the Pixhawks and Ardurover 1.49 on my 3,5m RIB, it's working very nice on flat water condition and perfectly on small waves (up to 1meter) condition!

    Just need to adjust the PID and other small software parameters, depending of your boat size and motor propulsion.

    I'm very impressive by the precision of the tracking ligne with just the natural GPS.

    Regards,

    • Johannes > jean-luc March 26, 2015 at 8:11am

      Thanks for your answers!

      The things i am focussing right now the most is: 

      - what happens in large (laarge) waves - do i need to implement something @Ben mentioned (btw: nice idea!!)

      - what is the easiest way to get the pixhawk continue with a mission after reboot?

      Ideas?

      Thanks a lot!

    • Admin
      Thomas J Coyle III > Johannes March 26, 2015 at 8:38am

      @Johannes,,

      If you keep the MIS_RESTART parameter at 0 the Pixhawk should continue with the mission from the point where it rebooted.

      Regards,

      TCIII AVD

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