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Navio+, Awsome flight controller from Emlid. Tested with 4G Cellular communications

Posted by Bernt Christian Egeland on April 19, 2015 at 10:30am

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Hi Everyone.

I would like to share my experience using navio+ as flight controller.

At first when discovered navio i was a little skeptic if this board could really be as good as it looks. I read all the documentation over at Emlid.com and i finally decides to order one for testing.

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When i got my hands on this board, i immediately fell in love. Nice layout and solid connectors and at last, this board fits beautifully on top of the RPI. 

Then i installed Real Time Kernel for RPI and Ardupilot. Installation went painless, just following theirs instruction line by line.

An important note! You dont need to be a linux geek to get this going. Everyone is able to put this togheter.

After the installation is complete, you can launch anyone of the supported vehicles:

  • APMrover2
  • ArduPlane
  • ArduCopter-quad
  • ArduCopter-tri
  • ArduCopter-hexa
  • ArduCopter-y6
  • ArduCopter-octa
  • ArduCopter-octa-quad
  • ArduCopter-heli
  • ArduCopter-single

 

Typical ArduPilot start command:

sudo ArduPlane -A udp:<GCS_DYNDNS>:14550

Then just use Mission Planner and connect using UDP option. 

So after several days with bad and ruff wheatear, the sun was finally shining and i immediately packed up for maden flight.

Today i was flying for 60min using Navio+ as flight controller and 4G for video and telemetry.

I have one word;  Awesome.

My aircraft Skua FPV was rock solid after running Autotune function. 

My setup:

  • Navio +
  • RPI 2
  • 4G USB Cellular adapter
  • Logitech C920 webcam with gstreamer
  • Logitech Gamepad F710
  • GCS ( My Laptop with Mission Planner )
  • Airframe Skua FPV

This brilliant board keeps everything in one piece, specially when using 4G / 3G cellular. There is no need for extra converters as i used before with APM or pixhawk in conjunction with RPI.

I simply connect the 4G usb to RPI2 and start the Ardupilot with UDP telemetry option. Simple as that.

 

Guys at Emlid currently works to get the Odroid-C1 support for  Navio+ .

APM autopilot port for Navio+ currently works with:

  • Raspberry Pi Model A
  • Raspberry Pi Model B
  • Raspberry Pi Model A+
  • Raspberry Pi Model B+
  • Raspberry Pi 2 Model B

 

 

I will post an "HowTo configure RPI, Navio+ and Cellular network"  at my website: UAVmatrix.com

So for those of you that are skeptic, try it. you won’t be disappointed.

Emlid gives you great and fast support at theirs community section.

Regards

Bernt Christian Egeland

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Comments

  • Marc Dornan April 20, 2015 at 2:14pm

    The point is maybe just how easy it is. This was one of the more effective demonstrations of 3G/4G control and FPV that I have seen. Strikes me as easier than creating a serial link to an APM or Pixhawk (not that I have tried).

  • c j g April 20, 2015 at 2:13pm

    Great work, we did something simlar with an android setup.

    - You also should add an option (Tutorial) for an openVPN solution, because in some countries, you can't connect over 3G/4G directly (provider NAT/firewall that means dyndns doesn't help)
    - If you run for e.g. Droidplaner or MissionPlanner also over 3G/4G, you could setup a OpenVPN server add home. In this case you connect (tunnel) your drone and droidplanner to your home network over a 3G/4G connection. That also means you could use your private IP adress room ... ( ... that also gave you the possibility to store your streams on your NAS at home ;) in realtime )

    best c.


  • johnkowalsky April 20, 2015 at 8:43am

    uhmm ok not to be negative but you actually use RPI2 to stream video and send telemetry, right ? So how is this different than using any autopilot + RPI + 4g ??

  • Marc Dornan April 20, 2015 at 8:12am

    Bernt

    Great stuff. Could you indicate how much data was consumed in your one hour flight. I am sure frame rate makes a big difference here.

    Thanks

    Marc

  • Moderator
    Vladimir "Lazy" Khudyakov April 20, 2015 at 7:31am

    Paparazzi? No?

  • Justice Bentz April 20, 2015 at 7:01am

    Curious if Pixhawk2 will have LTE telemetry options... hmmm ;) 

  • benbojangles April 20, 2015 at 6:34am

    Ah, thanks. I have now been acquainted with the Mission Planner Joystick feature :)

  • Bernt Christian Egeland April 20, 2015 at 12:14am

    @benbojangles
    Y    es its possible to increase the video performance. For some reason the gstreamer did`t work as intended with Real Time Kernel for RPI.  I will look into that.
    Im only using the embeded Joystick function in Mission Planner. No need for extra software or programs. 

  • benbojangles April 19, 2015 at 11:42pm

    Such potential! So do you feel that it is possible to increase the fps video? Also, do you feel that eventually it is possible to use as ground station: Android Droidplanner + Tablet + 4g Sim card + Bluetooth gamepad? I have also no idea how you made the Logitech gamepad control the UAV, but amazing nonetheless. In my mind you used something like xpadder or glovepie to control sections of the screen area? I don't know, just thinking.

    Thanks for inspiration.

  • Bernt Christian Egeland April 19, 2015 at 11:10pm

    @Justice Bentz 
    Yes correct. As long as you have power and cellular network you can fly unlimited.

    It will switch between 3g and 4g seamlessly. 

This reply was deleted.