This group is dedicated to the discussion and development of software and information in configuring companion computers, also known as Single Board Computers or SBCs

This will allow configuration to use WiFi, LTE, 3G, ITSM band radios for connectivity to Ground Control Stations and in field computers. 

The aim of the group is to provide reference images for popular SBC by ODROID, Raspberry Pi, BeagleBone, NVIDIA and others. 

Topics to discuss will also include how to set up popular web cameras to stream live video to GCS reliably and with low latency.

Information learned will be updated and stored in the ardupilot.com wiki 

http://dev.ardupilot.com/wiki/companion-computers/

Hope this helps DIYDroners get past the first hurdles to discover new drones applications using these powerful compute engines that are cheaply available.

This discussion group is not promoting the use of any single vendor or product.

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  • Im after some opinions on whats the best companion platform for streaming HD video, visual follow me, GPS follow me, and visual object avoidance.

    I'm not a developer in any sense of the word, so looking for a platform that's far enough along to have the functionality or apps already available.

  • Nice work, Trond!  Kind of scary / cool, in a Terminator "skynet" way ;^)

  • In case anyone's interested: I'm using an onboard RPi (Zero and 2B) to execute python dronekit code and run a webserver. Here's a test I did today (the first time I loaded the drone with a gimbal to shoot video). Connected to my phone I have a ublox m7 GPS that feeds positional data into the system. The whole loop (including GPS update frequency runs at 5Hz).

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwjVJRzjWus

    Erle robotics was also kind enough to send me a PXFmini shield for the RPi so I'll try and replace the pixhawk with that unit for testing as well. Fun stuff!

  • Hi everybody :)

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FlytOS now supports all major companion computers!

As some of you might have noticed, we announced the production release of FlytOS about a week ago. FlytOS provides a framework to quickly start building your drone applications, such as, video streaming, cloud connectivity, machine learning, computer-vision, mobile-apps to control drones, etc. Several, ready-to-use sample applications are available (with source) on github.FlytOS now supports all major companion computers: Odroid XU4, Raspberry Pi 3, Edison, Nvidia TX1. Prebuilt, preconfigured,…

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Why are we starting to use companion computers?

So I've been looking into companion computers now for a while, and haven't really been able to find what all the hype is.I just watched a video where you need an intel edison to read code to start, take off, fly somewhere, land then stop the aircraft. Excuse me if im wrong, but can't a pixhawk do all that on it's own anyway?I know there are other bits of code that can let you find a red baloon, but what's that for?Im not trying to discount the work anybody is putting into these applications,…

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How do I decide what platform to use?

Hi all, I'm about to embark on a new build to try something with a companion computer.I'll use a Pixhawk with PX4-Pro, telemetry link and RC.I'd like to do some object avoidance or tracking maybe.I haven't made the final decision on the companion computer yet, but was thinking about either an ODROID XU4, or Intel Edison.Is there a recognised leader in companion computer platforms? I know of 2, FLYTOS and Drone Kit. Are there others?Are there communities or stores where people share their apps…

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8 Replies