ArduPlane home page

Convert any RC airplane into a fully-autonomous UAV!

Just add the APM 2 autopilot to any RC aircraft and it becomes a fully-programmable flying robot with a powerful ground station and Mission Planner.

Features include:

Return to Launch with a flick of your RC toggle switch or a mouse click in the graphical Ground Station
Unlimited 3D GPS waypoints
Built-in camera control
Fully-scriptable missions
One-click software load, and easy point-and-click configuration in the powerful Mission Planner. NO programming required!
Replay recorded missions and analyze all the data with a graphing interface
Supports two-way telemetry with Xbee wireless modules.
Point-and-click waypoint entry or real-time mission commands while the UAV is in the air
Fly with a joystick or gamepad via your PC--no need for RC control!
Built-in failsafe will bring your aircraft home in the case of radio loss

All instructions and software are here.

APM 2 is an open source, Arduino-compatible, pro-quality autopilot. It is the most advanced IMU-based open source autopilot available today, and provides an entire UAV control system with scriptable missions with 3D waypoints, in-flight uploading of commands and powerful ground station software.

APM 2 supports any kind of of vehicle with a one-click change of code. Available code include ArduPlane (fixed wing), ArduCopter (rotary wing), ArduRover (ground vehicles) and more.

Everything you need to create an ArduPlane UAV:

* APM 2.5 autopilot with GPS ($179)

* [Optional] Telemetry kit ($75).

You'll also need a at least a five-channel RC radio setup, a soldering iron, a mini USB cable and of course something that flies! (We're partial to the SkyFun delta wing (right) and
Bixlee 2 powered glider (left) or its equivalents ourselves).

Resources:

Manual
Source code/firmware

Note: ArduPilot Mega requires no programming, but it's open source and you're welcome to modify it if you'd like. If you are going to play with the code, you can use the free Arduino IDE to edit and upload the code to the ArduPilot board.

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Comments

3D Robotics

Chris Anderson July 16, 2010 at 10:58pm

Carlos, there is a GCS for ArduPilot (see here). ArduPilot Mega is still in alpha, but when it is released in 1.0 in Sept the GCS will work for it, too.
Carlos Arteaga July 16, 2010 at 10:57pm

Would be great if they could make something to overlay the video with like the Blackfin Camera.
Carlos Arteaga July 16, 2010 at 10:30pm

ArduPilot is cool and all but where do I access all the data logged on it? There's not Realtime Display like an OSD for it?
Tim Carmichael July 16, 2010 at 8:06pm

Is there any info available on how to properly configure the elevon mixing, including how to properly set the trim variables? I have tried with it being enabled and have then experimented with the various reversing settings, and the output it not what I expected.

Also, is there a way to still include the rudder channel while using elevon mixing?
Tim Carmichael July 16, 2010 at 12:55am

Nevermind, I just found the info regarding the behavior of the C LED here: http://diydrones.ning.com/profiles/blogs/ardupilot-mega-home-page?x...
Tim Carmichael July 15, 2010 at 4:08pm

Are there different flash patterns on the C LED on the Mega IMU Shield and what do they represent?

I have my UBLOX GPS module connected and the C LED is flashing a steady red.
3D Robotics

Chris Anderson July 14, 2010 at 4:51am

@Jonathan. Not sure I understand the question. The manual says "You'll need at least a 5-channel RC unit. 7 channels or more is highly recommended." Hopefully most of your questions are answered in the manual, and reading that before asking questions is highly recommend.
Jonathan Choo July 13, 2010 at 11:21pm

@chris so if i'm getting a 10channel transmitter possible?
3D Robotics

Chris Anderson July 13, 2010 at 10:45pm

@Tim. APM uses a different sensor fusions algorithm called the Direction Cosine Matrix (DCM). Fucntionally equivalent to the Kalman but more more computationally efficient. See this for more. The alpha code that will be released later this week will do stabilization.
Uwe Gartmann July 13, 2010 at 4:40pm

If somebody is interested to run the ArduPilot Mega with Jeti-receiver (maybe not available in US), i can contribute some code to use Serial3 as Sensor to send data to the Jeti-Box. (its a replacement of HardwareSerial)

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