I'm happy to share with you today that this afternoon we had the first flight of a copter using ardupilot running in Linux (the evolution of the work performed this summer through the BeaglePilot project on the ardupilot code). It's particularly a pleasure for me to share these news because it's the result of two years trying to fly a copter running Linux (without a companion computer).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyHQpS8XwT0&feature=youtu.be
And a second one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJud5CaxtqE&list=UUZroM1rZYmQQWCt3DOPcHmA
Setup has been done using 3DR Iris and a lot of tape (the Linux board is actually slightly bigger than the PX4 thereby there was no room inside of the hood for it).
Some remarks:
- The autopilot was running at 100 Hz but we are working on a version that runs at 400 Hz.
- It was using only one of the three IMUs included in the autopilot. Using the three of them might lead to a more stable result.
- We have now the three vehicles working on Linux!
- Take in account that i'm a horrible pilot (working on that while i write code ;) )
Future steps:
- BeaglePilot white paper (WIP)
- More work on the AP_HAL_Linux and the Linux kernel
- Flight tests
Regarding the flight tests, i'd like to point out the fantastic attitude that 3DR has had with us, developers, providing all the hardware needed. Hope this serves as an inspiration for other manufacturers.
This work is the result of the effort of many. Particularly the ardupilot dev team, Siddharth Bharat Purohit, Andrew Tridgell and Philip Rowse. It's been fun to walk this path with all of them and down the road it seems there's more ;).
Special thanks to Hugo Boyer for the recordings.
NOTE: The blog post has been renamed from "APM4.0:First copter flight" to "First copter flight using Linux". Thanks for the users that suggested it.
Comments
Very good, Victor! :-)
Great Job Victor,
I believe your dedication and hard work have greatly sped up the whole process.
We will all now soon be able to benefit from Linux / Beagle Bone autopilots.
Thank You Very Much,
Gary
Good illustration of Iris durability too, a lot like my flying technique.
We do not deserve the thank you, You do !
Bill, fair enough :), changed it. Thanks everyone for the suggestion.
Now I get what you are saying it's APM4.0 HW running ArduCopter 3.2 code.
I have 3 decades worth of experience in how software version numbers don't work! I look foreword to 4.0.1.7b release :-p
Call it something else entirely and rename the post, or prepare yourself for...
"...where's the APM 4.0 firmware upgrade!? I can't see it in MP!?"
Hi everyone thanks for the encouraging words:
@Gary, @Hugues and @Bill, i appreciate your comments. As far as i know, APM4.0 will be officially announced soon. I'm not behind this change in naming but it seems quite reasonable to me if we take into account software engineering release policies (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_versioning).
It's a port of the APM:Copter 3.x code, so being called APM4 is disengenuous. Not to belittle the work, but the version number will cause confusion. AC3.2 is the next valid release AFAIU.
This is AC3.2 running on BBB with the PDC cape?
Congratulations for a beautiful challenge and results !
Let's be cautious with version naming as a higher version number usually means improved autpilot functionality while here it is a port to a linux board with the same functionality as what we get now on a pixhawk OS/board. I personally do not like that this would be named version 4. It should better be named with the same version number as the current APM firmware but showing it is meant for a Linux board; something like APM:Linux V3.2 or something like that. Maybe you should launch a contest to let diydrones member make names proposals....
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