Ardupilot developer Andrew Tridgell has presented 'Flying with Linux' at LinuxConf 2015 in Auckland, New Zealand. During his presentation Tridge connected to the running autopilot software of a plane being flown in Canberra Australia by CanberraUAV chief pilot Jack Pittar and Grant Morphett. A Skype connection to Grant's phone was used to display the flight to the audience in New Zealand.
Running Ardupilot on Linux enables other cpu intensive processes such as image recognition software to be run on the same platform as the auto pilot. To demonstrate how capable the system was of multitasking, a new linux kernel was being compiled while ardupilot was also being run to fly the plane. Compiling software typically places a very high load on a system but ardupilot ran normally flying the plane three times around a circuit. The plane even did a successful auto landing despite high winds.
Flight telemetry streamed live to the presentation while Tridge explained how the system was configured and the work that the CanberraUAV team had done since his last presentation a year ago. This work included winning the prestigious Outback Search and Rescue Challenge held in Queensland Australia last year.
Comments
Video added to the original post now.
Brilliant! congrats Tridge and Team!
Thanks for posting this BTW - it was really interesting. My C1 is about to be ordered so I can't wait to try it out.
Tridge - what were you using to get the telemetry to the conference? We have done this sort of thing with 4G - is that what you did?
The video is now available on YouTube
@Bim, if the kernel panics the aircraft will crash
@Johnatan, no, it was using a 3DR PXF cape on a BBB. The Erle-Brain is exactly the same and would have worked fine too (as would the NavIO)
Very cool, looking forward to the video!
Is there anything that keeps the Ardupilot running in case of a kernel panic?
Wow! congratulation and big salute!
Was the plane using Erle-Brain?
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