UAV Devboard users,
The UAV Devboard, version 3, is now available from SparkFun. It is the same as version 2, except it replaces the LISY gyros with Invensense 500 degree gyros, which are practically vibration proof. Also, now you can use higher rotation rates in your flights without saturating the gyros. The previous gyros had a maximum range of 300 degrees per second.
The board has been flight tested by the team. All firmware for the UDB2 will work on the UDB3 without changing any parameters except the board type.
In MatrixPilot, you should select RED_GREEN_BOARD (even though the board is entirely red!) as the board type. If you are using any of the heli firmware, the board type depends on what version you are running. In the latest heli firmware, set the board type to INVENSENSE_BOARD. In either case, the configuration file that should be pulled is "IXZ500.h"
The "bigger and better" version of the UDB is still in the design pipeline, and is expected to be available in the spring of 2011.
Best regards,
Bill
Comments
All great points, I should have said that my concerns are minor and you both have great solutions.
I've been watching your recent push to standardize areas of ArduCopter, Mega and Ap with great interest and think it will be a benfit to all. Especially the telemetry side of things which will also benefit UDB.
I read your blog about your trip to Arduino with great interest. I think the Arduino debugger option will require a programmer? In any event it will be hampered by processing. One person described programing arduino via the IDE as being like "poking pins in their eyes" and I tend to agree but still love it :)
Good points. Arduino is designed to be easy to use for non-programmers, but is definitely lacking for experienced programmers. I know the Arduino team is planning on adding stuff like a debugger, but I fear Processing is here to stay ;-)
We definitely hear you on the desire for one-stop shopping. Right now it's a regulatory thing with ArduPilot (Sparkfun is willing to take legal risks with UDB that we're not prepared to take personally), but there will soon be third-party retailers outside the US that will sell all-in-one ArduPilot sets, already soldered up and ready to go.
The only other thing to remember about the choice between the two is that UDB also requires a PIC programmer (about $40, with the right cables). If you've already got one of those and are comfortable with the Microchip development environment, UDB is indeed an inexpensive and excellent choice.
ArduPilot seems to take us through more product renditions to get to a stable platform. I am pleased that AP is finally using the google system to manage bugs.
However the fact that the arduino ide is such a poor development system is a big mark against AP. I hope that arduino, will one day, break free of its processing prison! Processing is a terrible software product!
My point about UDB being one board is important to me. I don't really want the added expense of the connectors, or to solder or to pay double import handle fees/fines importing 1st from sparkfun for the AP and then from the drones store for the oil pans. The fines/costs are $14 + tax per delivery. Obviously the tax is okay but not the costs.
I would like to see a single combined board that has air speed, compass + existing sensors and I hope this is what the next release of UDB will be.
A single combined program for quad copter/heli/plane with less compiler switches would be great but maybe asking too much :)
Your conversation came at a particularly good time as Pete Hollands and I were just discussing the fact that this needed to be released earlier this week. I've just posted a copy of the UDB waypoint tool on the featured downloads of the gentlenav project page (http://gentlenav.googlecode.com/files/udb_waypoints.html). I also posted a brief write up on the uavdevboard Google group (http://groups.google.com/group/uavdevboard/t/22cfcc84192df736) and tried to make a blog post here as well, although it appears to be awaiting moderation.
This tool probably should have been released months ago, and my apologies for dragging my feet on doing so. I'd thrown the tool together back in April and just haven't had time to add all the new features I wanted to add. It does let users create a waypoint 'mission' graphically, using Google Maps, and then copy and paste the waypoints definitions once you are done. Remaining features include things like support for adding camera targeting points graphically, improving the user interface (it is currently rather rudimentary), and color coding the waypoints to indicate which options have been selected.
Regards,
Adam Barrow
You are correct, there is no mention of the UDB waypoint tool in the manual, I am not sure why.
I have asked the author of the tool, Adam Barrow, to reply to this thread.
Best regards,
Bill
Many thanks for the correction on the I2C port and great to hear about the waypoint editor. But the manual doesn't seem to mention it, as far as I can tell, and there's no sign of it in the code repository or project home page. Maybe time to update the manual? (Forgive me if I've missed it and it's in there!)
(And could you give us a link to the entry tool? I can't wait to use it!
Thanks for reminding me....the 500 degree/second Invensense gyros have dual ranges. They also have outputs with about 4 times the sensitivity.
Presently, we are using only the high range in the UDB, but that seems plenty good enough.
The version of the UDB which we plan to release next year will provide access to both ranges of the gyros.
Best regards,
Bill
Thanks for replying.
I said I would let you have the last word, but there are two UDB features that I think that you are not up to date on:
1. The UDB does have an I2C port interface to the magnetometer that you can buy on the diydrones store. I use it for autonomous takeoff of my planes, and am presently developing heli code that uses it as well. Several heli pilots have demonstrated pitch and roll stabilization with it, and we are currently working on a heading hold function. When the UDB first came out, we did not realize that it was possible for both the I2C port and the programming port to share 2 pins. We were very pleased when one of our users pointed it out to us a few months ago, and we are very happy with Jordi's magnetometer board.
2. Adam Barrow developed a point-and-click waypoint entry tool on Google Maps that generates the UDB waypoint definitions.
I agree with all the rest of what you said.
Best regards,
Bill
APM has an absolute pressure sensor, so the altitude is more accurate, and can handle 8 channels vs 5. There's also the hardware failsafe processor, the relay for things like egg drops, the port for the airspeed sensor for more accurate speed control, and the I2C port for the magnetometer, which is essential for helis/quads. ArduPilot also uses point-and-click waypoint entry on Google Maps, vs, UDB's text entry.
But if none of that matters to your application, the UDP is a cheaper solution and performs equally well on most fixed wing aircraft in our testing. It also has some nifty acrobatic modes that we have not implemented yet in APM. I think the real question is not whether UDB is a good choice, but whether one should wait for UDB 3.0 next year.
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