[NOTE/UPDATE: All the below, from long ago, has been superseded by events. Basic ArduPilot proved capable of every this described here, so we cancelled this version of the product. Thinking about what the next version of ArduPilot could be can be found here. ]
Our main entry-level ArduPilot is designed to be simple, easy to use, and cheap so it just does navigation and leaves stabilization to an stand-alone FMA Co-Pilot with infrared ("thermopile") sensors. But you can tell by our release of our own IR sensor boards the other week, the ultimate aim of this project has been to release a more advanced version that does it all: navigation + stabilization in one. But a standard Arduino isn't powerful enough for all that. So what's the solution?
A dual-core Arduino! So here it is: ArduPilot Pro, with two Arduinos, a MUX/failsafe and built-in GPS onboard. Jordi's design incorporates everything you need for a fully-functioning autopilot, with a target price of under $100, including GPS and thermopile sensors. One ATMega168 processor handles stabilization and the other handles navigation, but because they talk to each other, you get a fully-integrated autopilot, with control over all aircraft channels.
We could have just switched to a much more powerful processor, but that would have cost more, be harder to program and wouldn't benefit from the easy-to-use IDE and the software libraries available for the fantastic open-source Arduino project. The downside of doing it as a dual-core board is that we have to program each Atmega168 processor, as well as the MUX's ATTiny processor, separately, which is why there are three ICSP ports on the board. But in the commercial version, which will come with all processors pre-programmed, there will be little need to fiddle with the stabilization and MUX code, so they can be treated as black-box hardware. (The ICSP ports are just there for anybody who wants to fiddle with them anyway.)
We haven't tested this one yet, so we're not quite ready to provide a link to buy the board. But the Eagle 5 files for the schematic and board are here and here.
Comments
If you want to switch to a full IMU (gyros and accelerometers) you'll probably want to move to a more powerful computing platform. There are plenty of other projects out there that use that, but not ArduPilot.
You can take our Eagle files and submit them to any fab you want and get the boards right now. But we want to test them properly before selling them here.
I think if we market it as an "autopilot development board", like Sparkfun does with theirs (which is very nice but isn't based on open-source hardware and software and costs three times our target price), we should be fine shipping it anywhere. Or at least that strategy seems to work for them...
I don't think we'll be shipping a commercial version of ArduPilot Pro until near the end of the year. But ArduPilot should be fully done, tested and read to sell by October.
Perhaps it goes without saying, but you don't need to wait for us to sell these. As always, we'll provide everything you need, from links to components to code, to make them yourself. This is DIY Drones, after all ;-)
The antenna can be any patch antenna with a SMA connector, like this one. I use this one when I'm testing indoors
What's the plan for an antenna ?
Phil
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