New ArduIMU+ Firmware & Ground Station revision

Hello dear community! I'm pleased to announce a new polished version of the ArduIMU+ Ground Station based on LabView and firmware.

Whats new on the GS:
-Better Look.
-Simple, lightweight, functional and funny virtual horizon (VHLOL).
-Number of satellites used indicator for the GPS.
-Three needle altimeter (in meters).
-Vertical Speed (m/s).
-Compass indicator.

-And more but i don't remember.

What's new on the Firmware:
-Few bugs solved. (Thanks to Doug Weibel and Jose Julio)
-Now supports uBlox NAV-SOL data stream (needed for SVNumber and Vertical Speed).
-Compatible with the new GS.

-Coming soon: magnetometer support.

Note: You need to reconfigure your Ublox GPS in order to enable the NAV-SOL data stream, you can also disable NAV-STATUS because is not needed anymore. If you can't reconfigure your GPS don't worry you can still use the Ground station and the firmware but the vertical speed and the satellites indicator will not work.

Exanple of how ArduPilot uBlox configuration used to be or V1:

-NAV-POSLLH

-NAV-VELNED

-NAV-STATUS

Exanple of how ArduPilot uBlox configuration V2 is:

-NAV-POSLLH

-NAV-VELNED

-NAV-SOL

Note that ArduPilot Code V2.5 and up will also support configuration V2, but you can still use ArduPIlot uBlox Configuration V1, no problem.

ArduPilot Mega will support uBlox configuration V2 only. So you better switch soon. All brand new ArduPilot Ready uBlox modules from the DIYdrones store will have configuration V2 from now.

Because i would like to help everybody switch to V2, If you can't reconfigure your uBlox GPS by yourself i can do it for you (free), you only need to pay for shipping (less than $15 for a round trip with insurance). I also need the email address you used to buy the uBlox GPS from DIYdrones store (Just to verify you buy it from me) and the unit has to be shipped to the same address used when you bought unit. If you got you unit from somebody else i will charge a $5 dlls fee for the service. Please PM me for more information.

If somebody outside the US, would like to help a community member from you area, please leave a comment plus your requirements. If somebody near you contact me i will forward him to you.

All the files including LabView source and ArduIMU+ firmware can be downloaded from here and from the repertory as well.

Best Regards.

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Comments

Developer

Sandro Benigno February 19, 2010 at 2:26pm

@Ony: I did not experienced adverse responses. I noticed that it's much more responsive than firmware 1.4. Very very good... The Yaw isn't so crazy now like was before changing the ENABLE_AIR_START to 0. I'm not an ArduPilot user and I don't have seen this configuration until you told me.

@Jordi: Congratulations for you and the guys that cooperated! It's working very well, even without GPS. The code is much more organized too. I missed some explanations about using the binary output. Does it increase the speed of sending data for catching by another board?
Developer

Jordi Muñoz February 19, 2010 at 10:26am

Morli, thanks you so much, i know how a real altimeter is. What i don't is how to change the needle shape and the background colors of the indicator.
Developer

Doug Weibel February 19, 2010 at 7:51am

@High Society - Not sure if your issue is resolved?? A log file (or graph) with the time axis labeled would help know if you have a problem. Also rotating the IMU through 90 degrees, waiting a few seconds and rotating it back is very useful for seeing problems. If you rotate the IMU quickly (but not quickly enough to saturate the gyros and turn on the red LED) you should see the euler angles change in "real time". If the euler angles take a few seconds to catch up you have a problem.
Developer

Doug Weibel February 19, 2010 at 7:44am

Just a clarification for everyone - if you do not have a gps attached the yellow led should be on, the blue led should be off, and the yaw will drift.

Also, if you have ENABLE_AIR_START 1 and have not gone through a ground start procedure to load the eeprom, then you will get bad results. To use ENABLE_AIR_START 1 you need to wire pin 8 or 10 on ArduIMU to the remove before fly pin on ArduIMU (or connect it by a separate remove before fly flag/jumper to ground) and set the appropriate pin in the header to perform a ground start. The output at initialization will tell you if a ground start or air start is occuring.
Developer

Sandro Benigno February 19, 2010 at 7:37am

@Ony: Thank you so much!

I will try it later and will check that "w/o GPS with adverse responses".
Ony Arifianto February 19, 2010 at 7:04am

@Sandro : I use V2, and I had similar symptom at first. Changed line 20 of the code to

#define ENABLE_AIR_START 0
then it works.

I used the IMU w/o GPS and got a noticeable adverse response (especially in roll mode). Does anyone get the same response?
High Society February 19, 2010 at 2:55am

@Doug - I double checked the version selection in the code and confirmed that i am using V2. I agree about the yaw plot that the picture showed. You are right, that was caused by the GPS (...simulator by HappyKilmore) not getting recognized as a lock at first. I guess there is a fix for that now.?. I will try the newest code asap. Thanks for all your work on the ArduIMU!

I can post my log files if needed
Admin

Morli February 19, 2010 at 1:00am

Bug in Altimeter in real planes, helps in few things.

Some good instrument picture for panel here
Developer

Sandro Benigno February 19, 2010 at 12:43am

Is there someone that tested the new firmware with ArduIMU+ v1 ***without*** GPS?
My ArduIMU+ v1 brings up Red and Yellow LEDs and don't actualizes the sensors.
(YES, I changed the hardware's comment lines 77 ~ 81)

At the ArduIMU Demo, the "Header" pointer is turning around forever... :P
Developer

Doug Weibel February 18, 2010 at 8:41pm

@Jordi - code revisions correcting the parser have already been uploaded to the repository.

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