I was wondering what kinda of extra instrumentation would be required to use the ArduIMU as the autopilot for an autonomous aerial vehicle. I was also interesed in the benefits of the IMU vs. the thermopile concerning takeoff and landing from water, and if the water would in some way confuse the standard Ardupilot because of the temperature of water vs. that of the ground.
Sun Jing, In general questions should be asked in the discussion forum, not as a blog post (which are meant for information of general interest). But the short answer to your question is that you'd need an RC interface and a beefier processor. We will be releasing ArduPilot Mega, which uses the IMU and has three processors, in the new year. See this post for more.
Thermopiles work fine over water (you just need a temperature gradient between the surface and the sky). But they will not work will for takeoffs from water, because if water dropplets get on the lenses they confuse the thermopiles.
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Thermopiles work fine over water (you just need a temperature gradient between the surface and the sky). But they will not work will for takeoffs from water, because if water dropplets get on the lenses they confuse the thermopiles.