Autopilot needs survey

Paul Meier January 24, 2016 at 8:30am

Thanks Jethro, alu definitively looks more military/avionics/pro......

Jethro Hazelhurst January 24, 2016 at 8:22am

@Paul perhaps it is more psychological than anything, aluminium should not add too much weight and it feels more professional. A robust plastic case will work too I am sure.

Paul Meier January 24, 2016 at 7:33am

Jethro, I am one with your list but for the alu casing. What's the deal of it ?

Jethro Hazelhurst January 24, 2016 at 3:34am

Hi there Craig, I am very interested in keeping up to date with the development of these autopilots... is there a community forum over at Dronecode?

I am signed up to some of the Dronecode mailing lists a I have to say that I am blown away by the momentum of the project.

So just to reiterate... very important hardware features include...

1 - Gimbal control (We want solo style smart-shots too!!)

2 - Aluminium Case with Internal Dampening

3 - Compatibility with Snapdragon Flight or equivalent companion computer hardware

4 - A decent set of connectors

5 - I want to forget about Telemetry modules, inbuilt WIFI is how I want to talk with my drone

6 - Continued support for standard PPM RC Tx/Rx setups

These core features are important, but the peripheral hardware is just as important. Something that is missing from the ecosystem is a decent 4-in-1 esc module (20A, 30A and perhaps 40A models) with a built in power module for the autopilot.

Maybe power options for gimbals and other additional hardware. This will go a long way to simplifying the overall design of a multi-rotor because power management options are very limited at the moment

If you take a look at the wiring chart I drew for the original Pixhawk you can see how these features would improve a setup: http://copter.ardupilot.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/02/Pixh...

Other core features would include transmitting a live video feed to Tower or equivalent apps...

Developer

Craig Elder January 22, 2016 at 1:34pm

We've already done all that. Time to make it better

Victor McAuley January 22, 2016 at 11:45am

What I want is a core that is easy to tune - make it as simple and reliable as that of DJI - then give us the ability to take things further.

Developer

Craig Elder January 22, 2016 at 8:18am

This is primarily in connection with the next generation of Pixhawk but there are a number of hardware manufacturers in Dronecode and the information will be used by all the hardware and software developers to create their next generation of autopilots. Some will be Nuttx based and some will be Linux based.

Jethro Hazelhurst January 22, 2016 at 6:33am

Hi Craig, I have a couple of questions, is this in connection with development for the Pixhawk 2? Or some other autopilot?

If it is another autopilot will it still be manufactured by 3DR or 3rd-party?

Thanks! :-)