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

Patrick March 19, 2011 at 6:29pm

Thanks Chris. Do you think I should put a switch in there somehow so that I can choose to have the serial going via the FTDI, or via the other device?

Or can I just wire straight onto it, and ignore the FTDI chip is there (I won't plug a USB cable into the board whilst the other thing is connected)?
3D Robotics

Chris Anderson March 19, 2011 at 6:07pm

Patrick: the 4th serial port is not user accessible. I suppose you could get to Port 0 (USB) port between the FTDI and the Atmega, but I'm not quite sure where to tap into that. Check out the .brd file in Eagle, and that should show the traces.
Patrick March 19, 2011 at 4:54pm

Hi,

I have a ArduPilot Mega board and the IMU, all soldered together and working.
How do I use the 4th serial port?
I have looked in all the documentation, it is confusing: port numbers are mixed up, schematics are very difficult to follow. As I understand it, it is used for I2C (if so, perhaps it would be helpful if the documentation was updated to reflect only 3 serial ports could be used)?

If I cannot access the 4th Serial port, how can I hook something (that isn't the computer) up to Serial Port 0 (the port which you use to program the board), with the IMU which contains the FTDI chip on top?

I want to connect:
- Xbee module
- GPS
- Another serial device (I will write the software to get this working)

Patrick
Alex March 19, 2011 at 1:14am

Installing the APM software. Hope that this video helps:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZ9KjFHI9FQ
3D Robotics

Chris Anderson March 19, 2011 at 12:28am

Alex,

What part of the quick start guide in the manual didn't work for you?
Alex March 18, 2011 at 10:54pm

Hy guys,

I've bought an Ardupilot/Oilpan and I want to use them for an airplane or a hexacopter in the future. I've soldered all the pins , connected the receiver/servo and , corresponding to the ArduPilot Mega Manual now i must upload the APM software. Here the problems begin: there are a lot of informations (here, on the APM manual but there aren't write as "step by step" instructions). My goal for now is to play with the xplane simulator. Is somewhere a build log for beginners ? Here is what i've done until now : http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1407536 . Thank you for your help.
Larry Baraniuk March 13, 2011 at 8:42pm

Thanks for the quick response Chris,

It turns out that I had issues with reading and writing my eeprom.

I am using version 1.02 although when I'm setup for CLI programming it shows as version 1.0 was as your

example of CLI programming shows version 1.0.3 public alpha. I don't know if that makes a difference.

I am able to get the plane in the simulator to follow way points but sometimes it starts off buy first trying to follow Way Point "0" and when it does that , then it loiters around.

I 've ordered the X -plane DVDs and I should get them next week , so it will be easier to go through my teething

stages with this simulator setup.
3D Robotics

Chris Anderson March 12, 2011 at 5:56pm

Larry: Use the Mission Planner to read from the board and see if it has recorded the waypoints. Which version of the code are you using? There are absolutely no issues with 1.02 but 2.0 is still in beta and may be causing issues on some setups.
Larry Baraniuk March 12, 2011 at 5:51pm

My Ardupilot works well using the X Plane demo. The plane Loiters well and will fly well in the stabilize mode, but

it ignores my waypoints in auto mode. I am programming my waypoints around Lat 47.26... and 11.35... ( the same airport as above) and the plane wants to fly to Lat 47.25... Long 11.29... regardless.

I am thinking that its because the ardupilot is not giving the X plane waypoints info to the X Plane software or the mission planner is not programming the ardupilot mega
3D Robotics

Chris Anderson March 12, 2011 at 5:45pm

Whooper. That's correct. After the mission is completed, it switches to Loiter/RTL. Switching to manual and then to auto again will not restart the mission. If you want to change the mission in air like this, use APM 2.0 and control the mission commands from the GCS.

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