I just got a Quanum Nova, which is a fantastic APM-powered copter that in many way outperforms the DJI Phantom for less than $300. Although it's capable of full autonomy, just like any other ArduCopter, the one thing it's missing for easy field mission planning and DroidPlanner compatibility is telemetry.
In this great tutorial, Jean-Louis Naudin shows how to add that:
Here an explanation for connecting the real time telemetry to the CX-20 or to the Quanum Nova
The telemetry port is located on the I/O board of the APM (the second board at the bottom and pluged to the main CPU board) where all the I/O plug are connected. The telemetry port is fully compatible with all the telemetry transmitter (3DR and all the compatible boards) and also with the Bluetooth boards commonly used with the APM boards.
Below the pinout which shows the telemetry port I/O (back to the I/O board).
Note from the comments: depending on which radio you're using, you may have to reverse the TX and RX lines. Dmitry in the comments reports: "You must connect RX from the radio to TX on the APM! And vice versa for Radio TX. So I've changed green and yellow wires and it works!"
sold 4 cables on the telemetry ports then protect the connections with hot glue
Check the functioning
The 4 pins telemetry plug is installed on the back of the fuselage
Check the connection (at 57600 baud) with the mission planner or the Droid Planner 2
Then, you may enjoy to use the telemetry...
NEXT CHAPTER: Full autonomous mission with the Cheerson CX 20
Comments
to anyone having an issue where the tx and rx have nothing coming out as they should check post 2435 on this page http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2112759&highlig...
I did this and its working. Now i just need to figure out how to get my rtf quads bluetooth working so i can have this thing chase me in my boat.
i got mine and im suprised im having trouble. Ive triple checked everything and cant get telemetry out of it. Checked the telem param so thats its 57 and checked both radios. Powering it off a battery too. Anyone got any ideas?
I just did this with a Bluetooth module (using this tutorial), which has the advantage of being entirely internal so it's invisible. Works great! I'm getting 100m range! This is now the perfect low-cost FollowMe copter.
wow those went out of stock quick :)
hzl
Awesome ! Got mine last Friday and have flown it over the weekend a few times. Very stable easy to fly. Looking forward to adding telemetry :-)
@Rolf: Yes, the Radio Tx is connected to Rx pin of the APM and the Radio Rx is connected to the Tx pin of the APM.
You will find some additional infos about the 3DR telemetry at:
http://plane.ardupilot.com/wiki/common-using-the-3dr-radio-for-tele...
Regards
Jean-Louis
One question about mounting the telemetry radio. Do you connect the wire that comes from the radio tx pin to the rx pin and the radio rx to the tx on the FC board? Like a normal serial Crossover type connection. Thanks for you great info.....
I've updated the tutorial link with the link provided by Jean-Louis Naudin.