I'm considering a unique approach that will lower the barrier of entry (programming skills, etc) to this segment. That is to take my GMS shield and put it on a 2nd arduino (uno) and attach it to the serial connections of the APM2.5. This approach will allow one to use the latest version of Mission Planner while only adding a small bit of extra hardware to their setup. Once the sketch to enable the serial over UDP connection is working, the code on the UNO can be left alone.

I'm interested to hear feedback on this idea as well as anyone willing to help. I'm currently struggling through the creation of a sketch that will open my serial connection to UDP but since I'm an arduino n00b I'm not there yet.

-JN