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iPad Ground Control Station

Posted by Claudio Natoli on August 2, 2012 at 6:09am

Just wanted to share some progress on an iPad Ground Control Station app I've been putting together for a little while. Here's a quick introduction:



As the video shows, the (non-jailbroken) iPad is hooked up to a Digi XTend radio modem via a RedPark iPad-Serial cable and a RS232 Shifter, with the radio modem powered off a UBEC. It communicates with the APM via MAVLink just like the regular APM Mission Planner.

Have also used the iPad-Serial cable with a XBee and XBee Explorer Serial board with my other UAVs, which makes for a simpler hook-up.

Just a personal project at this stage, particularly as use of the RedPark cable limits the redistribution options available (i.e. not permitted on the App Store at present), but have a laundry list of features I'm hoping to add over time, and we'll see what happens on the device interface front - would like to make the app accessible to all if there's sufficient interest.

Thanks for reading - looking forward to any comments you might have!

Tags: control, ground, ipad, station
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Comments

  • Moderator
    Michael Pursifull August 2, 2012 at 12:25pm

    What mavlink sysid are you using for the iPad app? 

  • Avalerion August 2, 2012 at 12:20pm

    What are you using for TCP?

  • Toby Mills August 2, 2012 at 12:17pm
    A lot of us are using tcp telemetry links now. No hardware necessary. Does it simplify tcp
  • Avalerion August 2, 2012 at 11:56am

    I've been dying for an app like that! Any way to get in on a beta test?

  • John Wiseman August 2, 2012 at 10:44am

    Nice work, Claudio!  I envy your ability to get that simulation environment configured, too...

  • Jonek August 2, 2012 at 9:45am

    Hi Claudio. That is a really impressive simulation setup! Especially I like primary glass cockpit display. Did you make that yourself or is it available as an open source widget? I'd like to use it (at least the graphics of it) for something similar on Android.

  • Zak August 2, 2012 at 8:11am

    Very cool, impressive work!

  • Earl August 2, 2012 at 7:34am
    I made a ttl serial cable with a 470k res and an ipad connector. Works with minicom on a jailbroken ipad just fine.
    Earl
  • Vishal August 2, 2012 at 6:56am

    Yes but if you read the article you will notice that he is using the Redpark ipad to serial cable AND a rs232 shifter.  He can eliminate that need by possibly using the Redpark ipad to ttl cable which I linked.

  • Vishal August 2, 2012 at 6:38am

    Also, would this be another option to simplify the connection?-

    http://redpark.myshopify.com/products/ttl-serial-cable

This reply was deleted.