How to obtain Telemetry on Taranis from PixHawk mini

This is my first build and I have the new Pixhawk Mini, the Taranis Pro and an X8R receiver on a QAV400.

With this setup the only telemetry I have available on Taranis at this point (with no sensors) are the signal strength (RSSI) and the controller's voltage. Now from what I read I gathered that in order to have more variables, like, quad voltage, current etc. I need to add sensors on the quad. I have two questions in this regards:

1) What are the typical sensors mounted on a quad that is intended for general flying and maybe some video capture? For example is current and GPS data really important on the RC itself? I can always monitor this data on a ground station via a USB telemetry module, no?

2) Given that some of this data, for example GPS data is already available in PixHawk, isn't there a clean and easy way of how to pass this data from PixHawk to my X8R and to my Taranis? Why do people buy sesnors and replicate what's already available in the micro-controller itself?

I'm new to all this but I'm trying to learn. Thanks.

First of all, I would recommend getting the Frsky FLVSS sensor since it can output cell voltages as well as total voltage of the LiPo.

I started by using the telemetry radios and the Tower GCS app. You will need an Android phone or tablet with OTG cable.

Now I am investigating relaying telemetry data from the Pixhawk in my case to a Turnigy 9XR Pro radio using X8R receiver and XJT module on the radio. You will need a telemetry converter cable from Craft & Theory or another vendor which connects a serial port on the FC to the Smartport on the X8R. Using the Taranis radio to display the telemetry is well documented in the Arducopter docs.
http://ardupilot.org/copter/docs/common-frsky-telemetry.html

I am not certain that this applies to the pixhawk mini, but it does apply to standard pixhawks.

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Arbutus March 29, 2017 at 10:42pm

Craft and Theory have a neat telemetry display for the Taranis: http://www.craftandtheoryllc.com/exciting-news-about-flightdeck-req...

Exciting News About FlightDeck! Required Library Now Officially Part of Ardupilot.
Robin Silk March 25, 2017 at 7:11am

First of all, I would recommend getting the Frsky FLVSS sensor since it can output cell voltages as well as total voltage of the LiPo.

I started by using the telemetry radios and the Tower GCS app. You will need an Android phone or tablet with OTG cable.

Now I am investigating relaying telemetry data from the Pixhawk in my case to a Turnigy 9XR Pro radio using X8R receiver and XJT module on the radio. You will need a telemetry converter cable from Craft & Theory or another vendor which connects a serial port on the FC to the Smartport on the X8R. Using the Taranis radio to display the telemetry is well documented in the Arducopter docs.
http://ardupilot.org/copter/docs/common-frsky-telemetry.html

I am not certain that this applies to the pixhawk mini, but it does apply to standard pixhawks.

FrSky Telemetry — Copter documentation

This reply was deleted.

Telemetry for Quadcopters (pixhawk mini and X8R and Taranis Pro)

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