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  • My only question is whether those sheep are clones...
  • Developer

    @Tom,

    Bear in mind that the device in the picture doesnt really exist. I just sat an APM2 on a Raspberry Pi. However I would think it would be easy to get something like this working with MP. Most of the chnages relative to similar Linux ports are internal only.

    Unfortunately I have several projects so I dont see me doing this for a while, so please don't let me stop anyone else from trying to get this working. 

  • @Curt, 

    No worries... I was asking the poster if there was a Mission Planner type app that we can use for this since everything is running through the Pi or Beagle. 

  • @Curt Thanks for sharing this link.
    The Aura build is really great, I have build it on my ubuntu pc over
    the past few evening , there was a few little dependency. easily got around. Seriously I think this design with python is great for robotic pro typing. I have a few more evening work too
  • Developer

    @Curt,

    I understand your concerns about power distribution. On a similar project I am using a CCTV cable. ( Probably not high enough current for your setup, but... ) This has 3 cores and a copper braided shield. Since I am not worried about earthing ( on a airplane) I am using the braid for ground. Then I use one of the inners for power and 2 for the uart. I am supplying power in the cable at  from 12 to 20 V. I am using a switching regulator to drop the input to( say) 5V at the nodes (TheAPM in this case) so within reason the supply voltage is irrelevant and "elastic". The power supply voltage can drop to around 7V without issues , and at lower current due to the higher voltage so less inductive issues.

    I reason that you have to provide a supply so it makes little difference if it is running in the same cable or separately and in one cable is less likely to suffer ground loops. There is also one less connector. so you can make that bigger and more secure. And it is neat. ( Like you I tend to use the 0.1 pitch header!) There is a USB standard that deals with this type of higher voltage and current, maybe part of USB3.1 or some subsection, but the maybe is just to use a FTDI connector close to the PC and hack the UART side, ffed the custom power in there.

  • @Tom, I'm not sure if your comment was directed towards me, and if so, I'm not sure what you mean by MP style computer apps?  If you were asking someone else, sorry for jumping in.

  • Now your getting the right ideas! Go guys go!

  • @Andy : we already did it.... that is very boring.... more interesting, it is to follow horses racing using APM to mesure speed, acceleration, step size and heart beat. We are also monitoring race boat (speed, inclination, waypoints, etc... with telemetry) but it is super secret because of Olympics games.... But APM is such a good product !

  • I see that you have this setup for fixed wings, am I to understand that this will not work for multirotors? I would really like to try this setup out if we can do this. Also, what kind of MP style computer apps can we use with this?

  • @Andy, for my own projects I've usually tried to separate servo and avionics power.  Right now I lean towards powering the servo bus from the ESC/BEC and the avionics from a separate regulator.  The importance of some of these choices might vary depending on the size of your aircraft and servos ... I tend to be medium+ size with my 8' telemaster and 7.66' flying wing.  With a smaller aircraft it may not make as much of a difference to run avionics and servos on a common power bus, except I'd never try to power servos through a usb bus from a pi/beaglebone!  There are a lot of choices and a lot of ways a person could connect things up at the integration level.  I've noticed that people who have been doing this stuff for a long time tend to have experiences and preferences.  I had a mishap with my telemaster a few years ago due to a subtle nuance of my power bus layout with a weak link that took out all onboard power to the all the airplane systems.  I could only watch helplessly as it lazily spiraled into the corn field.

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