NAVIO: Raspberry Pi autopilot

Hi guys!

Want to share what we have been working on lately, it is an autopilot shield for Raspberry PI. It is called Navio and has everything what you will usually find on an autopilot platform. A powerful platform like Raspberry gives many opportunities like streaming video, 3g,wi-fi, ethernet connectivity and possibility to run computation intensive algorithms like Kalman filtering or RTK GPS. RTK or real time kinematics is one of the main features of the board, it is equipped with a GPS capable of providing raw data output: carrier phase, pseudo-ranges and ephemeris. Processing this data against a stationary receiver increases GPS positioning accuracy to centimeters. A radio link between the two is required, but you anyway have it to GCS. If network RTK is available in your area, you can use corrections from the internet over 3G thus eliminating the need in second receiver.

Our plans include porting APM to Raspberry Pi + Navio.

Features:
MS5611 barometric pressure sensor
MPU9150 (MPU9250 on future models) 3-axis gyro, accelerometer and magnetometer.
ADS1115 16-bit ADC
PCA9685 PWM extender to control servos
u-blox NEO6T GPS module with raw data on SPI, we saved the only UART on raspberry for Xbee or different telemetry.
13 servo connectors
Pixhawk compatible UART, I2C and SPI connectors
RGB LED – just because we love them

What we wanted to know if there is any interest in platform like this, because we have everything ready for manufacturing and to keep the cost down we need to manufacture as many as possible. We have written tutorials how to use the board and are now preparing them for publishing, all code for the board will be released under open source license. Some more pictures and details are available on our website.

@Shaun Mcmaster

Thanks for sharing your ideas!

We’re sticking to Pixhawk-compatible headers, but Navio telemetry header is compatible with virtually any UART-based modems - all that is required is the right cable.

We already have 3.3V low dropout regulator onboard and 3.3V is available on some headers. It’s a good idea to add a 3.3V through hole on production version of the board - we’ll do that.

CPLDs\FPGAs are great but in our case they would complicate the system and that is what we are trying to avoid. It is possible though to connect separate CPLD board to available SPI\I2C\UART ports and you can even connect programmer to RPi and program CPLD right from Raspberry.

@Q.V. Huynh

Thanks! We enjoy networking on RPi with Navio.

@Jay Bryon

Now you can subscribe to our twitter and blog posts

Yes, a lot of work for APM’s Linux support has already been done and we think that’s a right direction.

@John Rambo

Navio power consumption is less than 100mA, RPi consumption depends on model and processor frequency and is in range of 500-1000mA.

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Comments

Antonie Kruger April 16, 2014 at 1:18am

Hi Fellas, yeah, I'm in - want one for my rover - slow enough to maintain RTK fix with L1 chip. Now I can take out my pie again.

Just to be clear - the means of receiving the correction from the base is not on the board. An external UART radio need to be connected to get the correction from the base.....This is not bidirectional comms, is it? If youre porting APM, would it not be feasible to try and transport the correction via Mavlink. Having multiple radios - Telemetry, GPS RTK Correction, Video link and Radio receiver link seems crowded.

Would a 3G dongle on the PI's USB port work for GPS RTK correction?

Do you have an idea what the vertical accuracy of the patch antenna's are.

What correction message are you using RTCM, CMR?

Thanks, good work - very exciting project.

Antonie
Emin Bu April 13, 2014 at 3:42am

Nice interview but get better mic next time...
Christiaan van Vollenstee April 9, 2014 at 6:25am

Hello all, I am having an interview with these guys today at 16:00 GMT on google hangouts feel free to come and watch and ask questions.

https://plus.google.com/events/c3ct3cfnd3a2fe67rs1dnnvfs7c
WhiteRabbit April 4, 2014 at 9:52pm

Subscribed too
Jay Bryon April 3, 2014 at 3:37pm

Subscribed, looking forward to it!
Howard Addison April 3, 2014 at 1:49am

An Autopilot with RTK compatibility out of the box… Count me in.
Emlid April 2, 2014 at 5:15am

@Shaun Mcmaster

Thanks for sharing your ideas!

We’re sticking to Pixhawk-compatible headers, but Navio telemetry header is compatible with virtually any UART-based modems - all that is required is the right cable.

We already have 3.3V low dropout regulator onboard and 3.3V is available on some headers. It’s a good idea to add a 3.3V through hole on production version of the board - we’ll do that.

CPLDs\FPGAs are great but in our case they would complicate the system and that is what we are trying to avoid. It is possible though to connect separate CPLD board to available SPI\I2C\UART ports and you can even connect programmer to RPi and program CPLD right from Raspberry.

@Q.V. Huynh

Thanks! We enjoy networking on RPi with Navio.

@Jay Bryon

Now you can subscribe to our twitter and blog posts

Yes, a lot of work for APM’s Linux support has already been done and we think that’s a right direction.

@John Rambo

Navio power consumption is less than 100mA, RPi consumption depends on model and processor frequency and is in range of 500-1000mA.
John Rambo April 2, 2014 at 2:11am

Just one question - what's the average power consumption of this shield, combined with RbPi?
Jay Bryon April 1, 2014 at 10:44am

I'm interested, an email list subscription link on your website would be advisable, so folks can sign up for updates.

I know that there is a Ardupilot to Linux push already, I assume you're talking to the community about that?
Emlid March 31, 2014 at 2:04pm

Juraj Kolesar, thank you for your support. I sent you a PM.

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