Ardustation Mega with Graphic LCD

I’d like to share my latest hardware ground control station. I call it the ArduStation Mega.

It retains all the features found on the DIYDrones Ardustation, as well as my Ardustation Uno but with some very important upgrades.

Notably the main processor has been upgraded to an ATmega2560 giving 8 times the size of both flash and ram, amongst other things :)

Also there is a graphical LCD that should provide a larger, more user friendly display.

The extra serial ports (4 in total) will enable future expansions as and when required. One is dedicated to the USB for loading software as well as potentially being used to allow a computer to share the installed Xbee.

If you don’t want to use an Xbee, or want to use more than one, that’s fine- three of the serial ports are broken out to the left of the board. These could also be used for adding a GPS unit, or perhaps a bluetooth to pc link for example.

Also broken out is the i2c port, so you can link it up to a magnetometer if need be (could make for simpler antenna tracking alignment)

A micro SD card will allow data logging, parameter saving, mission uploading and hopefully more!

The rotary encoder (like a radio’s jog dial) should help with faster navigation / value editing. The buttons are also on a separate PCB such that they can be mounted flush with the display or separately subject to enclosure constraints. (Also this means I can change the layout of the buttons)

The battery supply and Xbee RSSI are connected to give health information on voltage and telemetry link signal strength. Additional analog pins are also broken out for monitoring external sensors.

The PCB has been sized to match the dimensions of the LCD, giving a neat install that can be attached with screws and spacers. All of the components are mounted on the inside as well, such that the total unit size is minimised.

As with my Uno version, I use a single cell LiPo for the battery source, with an efficient step up regulator for the 5v supply. There’s also inbuilt USB charging.

The antenna tracking will be achieved by the two servo headers on the right hand side of the board. These also have a solder jumper for selecting off-board power in case heavy duty servos are to be used.

Please let me know what you think!

If you want to see more, here's a video of me showing it off:

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Comments

Sebastian Gralla April 8, 2013 at 10:20am

Hey Colin,

I gathered all the files I found, they are uploaded right here.

It uses the GLCDSS library from savitch (arduino forums) for easy 3D rotating. It is contained in my uploaded file because one can't find it anymore.

Hopefully my files can be used to make ardustation even better :)

drop me a message if there are some problems.

Sebastian
KM6VV April 7, 2013 at 12:55pm

@Colin,

Thanks for the URL.

I'm surprised the mega can drive them. More overhead then a 2x10 LCD, plus all the graphics, and taking five writes to put up a character with your own font table. But a lot cheaper then the ones I was buying five years ago.

Alan KM6VV
Colin April 7, 2013 at 1:40am

Alan,

I used this LCD

http://www.rapidonline.com/Electronic-Components/128x64-Graphic-Dis...

I'm not sure which one Jani is including with the one for sale, it might have a slightly different pin out but will be using the same driver. You're right they're fairly common chips. Unless you need a lot of computational power, the mega does quite well at driving this display.

Colin
KM6VV April 4, 2013 at 2:30pm

@Colin, all,

I have a few Hantronix HDM64GS12L-Y10S 128x64 graphics displays that I interfaced to an ARM7 several years back. What LCD are you using? I don't remember the chip set used on the Hantronix, but we were able to find an on-glass LCD with the same chip, so I think it's a standard chip.

Which LCD are you using? Is there a schematic available?

I'll probably just buy the mega ground station for now, but I'd like to be able to build similar "graphics" terminals for other projects (like on the 'bot).

Thanks!

Alan KM6VV
Colin March 27, 2013 at 7:55am

Hey Sebastian. Sorry for the delayed response, I've been away. That sounds really cool, looking at graphics is much easier than reading off numbers when glancing at a display during flight.

If it's easy enough to find then please do share it and I'll add it in :)
Sebastian Gralla March 18, 2013 at 11:32am

I once wrote a code for a graphical groundstation (back when Arducopter was still in alpha stage, without Mavlink)

I never got to add Mavlink support. What it has, is a rough 3D model of a copter, showing the orientation of it in mid-flight, got about 20 fps on an atmega 328.

If you want I can search for the code and share it with you (it's somewhere on my old PC).
Colin March 18, 2013 at 2:49am

Sweet. Thanks :)

I didn't use too many libraries, I avoided the APM libraries as much as possible as they were giving me a headache. Mostly due to the fastserial library. You'll need the glcd library and mavlink. I included the version of mavlink that I used on github, you just need to update lines 13 and 14 of ArdustationMega.ino to point at your sketch directory.

If that fails, then try using a fresh copy of arduino, the APM's GPS library might be getting in the way (I modified and included that directly in the sketch).
Developer

Jani Hirvinen March 17, 2013 at 11:53pm

ah and forget to say.. you are on posting list too :)
Developer

Jani Hirvinen March 17, 2013 at 11:52pm

Great. Trying to get latest code compiled. What other libraries you had running.
Colin March 17, 2013 at 3:47pm

Working on graphics for the front page, bit more graphical now :) Icons may need a bit of tweaking...

How are the units coming along Jani?

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