I've seen that ArduPPM 0.9.87 has been downloaded about 2 hundred times.
It seems that we have no negative reports with this version.
This is a very good result and does confirm the good results we had at initial testing in the lab and through the development team.
I feel that we could now push this firmware to the realease 1.0 status.
If you have any decoding problems, please report it, so that i can include it as a note in the manual.
If you are happy with it, let us know as well. It will help to push it to 1.0 release.
There will be no modifications for the 1.0 release. We need rock solid massively tested code here because it is a very important link in the APM system.
ArduPPM binary is available in the Ardupilot-Mega Downloads section.
http://code.google.com/p/ardupilot-mega/downloads/list
More informations about ArduPPM here :
http://code.google.com/p/ardupilot-mega/wiki/Encoder?wl=en
If you don't know what is the ppm encoder, if you have no idea about how to program an AVR chip or if you have simply no need for it, then it's ok to keep your actual version.
Thanks, and happy flying.
Comments
Yes you will get passthrough on Ch1-4 doing that and yes input 8 is connected to the PPM encoder.
You don't need the new ArduPPM firmware to get that, the older version are doing the same thing.
Yes it is possible. It is supported by the PPM encoder, but it needs to be supported as well in the ppm decoder.
This code is in the Radio library from the main AVR code.
Try it, perhaps it is working.
Eventually you can use a Jeti Duplex system. There is a fully settable PPM sum output on their receivers. You can set the number of channels, the frame rate (runing synchronous or asynchronous with a user rate).
You could use a Jeti RMK2 with only PPM sum output as well if you don't need normal PWM outputs.
You can set it to 8 channels mode even if you are transmitting 12 or 16 channels, and keep other channels on normal PWM outputs.
I don't know if other systems support this. Jeti is the most advanced one here in Europe for high end setups.
Frank, Michael Oborne is working on the planner side. Perhaps you could push a feature request in the issue tracker.
If you are interested in developping something interesting for the project, please open a separate Blog entry or forum thread.
Check as well this Blog entry :
http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/how-to-contribute-to-the
The project is becoming now quite complex with many hardware components and softwares, so the development Team needs to be managed tightly to avoid slowing down the project. Another problem is that we are working with planes or copters, in this regards we need to hardly focus on reliability and choose the right balance between new functions and code reliability / speed.
If you have ArduPPM, then the blue LED near the PWM input headers should blink changing his speed according to throttle PWM value. See the ArduPPM manual (available in the ardupilot-mega "Downloads" section) for LED status reports.
APM 2.0 has provision for bidirectionnal communication between ppm encoder AVR and main AVR.
You will get two ppm sum inputs available as well through a 3 way solder pad so that you can route the ppm encoder output to the main avr, or use two ppm sum receivers direct to the main AVR, or use one ppm sum receiver and one normal receiver.
Helldesk, i'm not a plane guy as i said, but i think you could use something like a gws elevon mixer.
The APM 2.0 does not have a hardware mux to save room and lower the cost.
If you want a hardware mux with APM 2.0, then you could use a dual receiver external mux. It's about 15$ for a 7 Ch one.
Andy, this is not a ppm encoder task. The ppm encoder is only used as a bypass for the PPM signal. In this mode, the only smart thing it does, is generating failsafe ppm values if the input signal is lost.
So there is no real difficulties to use more than 8 channels with a PPM sum receiver signal, but it will ask modifications in the ppm decoder in the main avr firmware to take care of added channels.
Another solution already usable, is to use a receiver with a high number of PWM servo outputs plus a settable PPM sum output. Jeti for example do have such very flexible receivers where you can map channels on outputs, and set the number of channels you want in the ppm sum output.
This is a question about the limit of 8 channels in the input stream. I use a 9-channel JR9303 transmitter together with DragonLink radios that are capable of 12 channels. Both of these seem to eliminate me as a candidate for PPM passthrough.
My question is this- Couldn't ArduPPM handle an input data stream with an arbitrary number of channels and then create the required 8-channel stream for APM? Fewer than 8 channels could be "filled" with 1500ms data. More than 8 channels could be ignored. Only the first 8 channels would be passed to the APM processor. Receivers like DragonLink with "extra" channels would be able to control other devices and this would allow popular transmitters with more than eight channels to be used. Can you comment on this concept?
Thanks.
No, it can't. There is no link between the ppm encoder ATMega328p chip and CH5-8 outputs. Ch5-8 do come straight from the main AVR only.
CH1-4 outputs do come from the main AVR and from the CH1-4 inputs through a mux chip. A mux is like a digital switch. Look at the APM v1.4 schematics available in the store here :
http://stuff.storediydrones.com/ArduPilotMega_v141.zip
I have no knowledge about the RC aux library. I never worked on it.
If you want a hardware passthrough on all channels, the simpler would be to use an external RC controlled switch with 2 groups of 8 inputs.
We can't do Ch1-8 passthrough. Only ch1-4 are physically linked to a passthrough mux chip.
If you want to keep passthrough mode for dual aileron then i think you'll need an external servo mixer.
There is no possibility to read ch1-4 from APM in the PPM encoder because there is a mux chip, effectively isolating signals.
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