Posted by Gary Mortimer on December 29, 2009 at 3:01am
This gets ever more grown up, well worth a look......Here is our unofficial and unauthorized Attopilot-compatible GCS. It is free and open source, and features:Standard "T" flight instrument layout.Standard aviation industry units.Over twice as fast as the official GCS replaying log files, and a similar level of performance improvement with live telemetry.Integrates with Google Earth to provide realtime UAV tracking.Generates time-stamped KML files from live telemetry or log files (or parts thereof).Smooth, precision graphics with simulated instrument inertia to enhance readability and reduce operator fatigue.A useable attitude indicator - fast and smooth.High-contrast colours for outdoor use.Adjustable font sizes, zoomable display.Tightly integrated with the Failsafe PTZ, providing joystick control of pan, tilt, zoom and trigger.Able to continuously monitor telemetry link integrity.NEW: Speech synthesis for enhanced situational awareness - watch your UAV instead of a computer screen.NEW: Choice of metric units. Can even have a combination of aviation and metric units.http://www.millswoodeng.com.au/fd_gcs.html
I was planning on doing a compiled language GCS, and mocked it up in RoboRealm first. The mock up was so fast and so smooth that I canned the whole idea of going to compiled code. Just no point.
@David, you are quite correct, the GCS does require RoboRealm to run, but RR is free for a 30 day evaluation period, so if you don't like what it offers it costs you nothing. You can buy it from anyone you like - we don't mind at all.
And re the Outback Challenge, you are not required to buy a failsafe from us to compete. You are free to meet the competition rules in any way you choose. The rules existed (and were being met) long before we made the failsafe.
And just for the record, we don't love the OBC rules either, but the competition organisers have various regulatory requirements to meet.
Yes, the Roborealm thing is a pain, but you can download and try it free for 30 days, there are going to be some more features added soon and yep Andrew makes the Crashinator, but its not his fault ;-) I think parachutes will be allowed next time!
I agree, those features would be great to add the ArduPilot GCS proper as although this is stated to be "free and open source" that is misleading, it *requires* roborealm which must be bought. Just a heads up, for people who rush to download it and then wonder why it won't run. It looks cool for people who already have roborealm or wish to buy it (the people that made this GCS sell it on their site) and I really like the way the servo positions are displayed.
Just out of interest, it is made by the Millswood Engineering crowd who are the infamous people behind the "Crashinator" that the people who do the outback challenge are required to buy. Small World.
Here's a pic. Looks like it's got some great features. In particular, datalogging with KML files and voice synthesis are two things we should add to the ArduPilot GCS.
Comments
I was planning on doing a compiled language GCS, and mocked it up in RoboRealm first. The mock up was so fast and so smooth that I canned the whole idea of going to compiled code. Just no point.
Andrew.
And re the Outback Challenge, you are not required to buy a failsafe from us to compete. You are free to meet the competition rules in any way you choose. The rules existed (and were being met) long before we made the failsafe.
And just for the record, we don't love the OBC rules either, but the competition organisers have various regulatory requirements to meet.
Andrew.
Just out of interest, it is made by the Millswood Engineering crowd who are the infamous people behind the "Crashinator" that the people who do the outback challenge are required to buy. Small World.
Here's a pic. Looks like it's got some great features. In particular, datalogging with KML files and voice synthesis are two things we should add to the ArduPilot GCS.