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Posted by Chris Anderson on May 1, 2010 at 3:30pm

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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.

 

 

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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).

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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!3689354440?profile=original (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 October 29, 2010 at 2:44pm
    James,

    Before you send it back, please check your soldering carefully. All the oilpans are tested before they go out using with this same test, and if it hadn't passed it wouldn't have been sent to you. So something has changed in your assembly, and the usual culprit is a solder bridge or cold joint in one of the connectors you've soldered on.

    If you still can't find the problem, contact the store to get a RMA.
  • James Adams October 29, 2010 at 2:22pm
    I still think I have a bad OilPan.
    Attached is a picture of CLI test mode -> gyro. My values are just all over the place.


    Moving the board shows no change in acceleration/gyro values.

    Everything else seems to be working now after I got a new APM since the one I got from SparkFun was defective (ground planes weren’t connected somehow).

    Anyone have any other ideas before I try to send it back, and if not, how do I go about returning this one?
  • Dean October 27, 2010 at 8:06am
    I am wondering if the logging capability has limited bandwith. I notice that if I try to log everything, I don't get everything. However, if I just try to log one or two types of data at a time the data gets logged successfully.
  • Dean October 26, 2010 at 11:53am
    I successfully downloaded the log file from this morning's flight, but I was surprised to find that it only contained GPS and PM data. As far as I can tell, several other data types were turned on (e.g. Attitude and Mode), but I don't see data for these. Any ideas?
  • Dean October 26, 2010 at 10:58am
    By the way, I flew my Skyfun Jet in stabilize mode this morning and was amazed. Without the autopilot I find it somewhat tricky to fly (mostly due to its essentially neutral roll stability), but with the autopilot it is the easiest to fly plane in my fleet. Outstanding!
  • Developer
    Michael Smith October 26, 2010 at 10:54am
    @Dean - thanks, I've reformatted the wiki doc slightly to try to make it more explicit.
  • Dean October 26, 2010 at 10:50am
    Thanks Michael. I could have sworn that I tried it without the parens, but perhaps not. In the manual it says to type "dump (n)" to download log n, so I assumed that parens were required. I notice that the waypoint configuration software has a feature to download log files as well. Do you know if this feature works? Thanks!
  • Developer
    Michael Smith October 26, 2010 at 10:40am
    The list of logs is always printed before the prompt.

    The syntax of the command you're trying to issue is simply

    logs] dump 255

    What led you to think that the parens were needed? Is there documentation that should be updated?
  • Dean October 26, 2010 at 10:28am
    I am attempting to use the CLI to download flight log data. When the CLI is in "logs" mode, it responds to every command that I issue with a list of available logs. For example, if I type "dump(255)" it just responds with a list of available logs. I would think that it should respond by dumping the data in log 255. Any suggestions?
  • iangl October 26, 2010 at 1:35am
    hey high altitude ballooners! check this out!

    http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/tutorial_info.php?tutorials_id=185
This reply was deleted.