Yesterday I received one of the first updated Gluonpilot 2's from Tom Pycke in Belgium,
The Gluonpilot is an open source project created by Tom and the new GP2 is a completely new hardware design but firmware will run on both new and old Gluonpilots.
I have been flying the Gluonpilot extensively this season and I especially like the Ground Control Station which allows route updates during flight and displays everything live in Google Earth.
Gluonpilot2 specifications from the www.gluonpilot.com web-page;
MPU-6000 based
All needed sensors (including the switched power supply) are on the main board
On-board USB connector
2 voltage inputs for batteries
1 current sensor input
Extendable: all pins are available on the extension board (I2C, SPI, GPS, ...)
Rewritten OSD firmware with unique features: wind indicator, current navigation block name
High-Efficiency switched voltage regulator at 2.5Mhz
Top quality components for optimum performance: X7R capacitors & 1% resistors
Enough solder jumpers & in- & output ports to customize it to your needs
Comments
Here's some interesting reading about SPI and I2C...
http://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/29037/tradeoffs-when...
ramboky - thanks - you're right - now I know why both the AMP and Gluonpilot use the MPU6000!
Still need to check out the APM sometime in the future though! :)
OK, thanks Chris for the insight of the MPU6000/6050 - I guess we'll have to ask Tom about his preference in using the 6000 with I2C interface...
I guess I need to get check out the APM2 now also... :)
Thanks!
Mohammed: Yes, the chips are identical in all other respects. PX4 and APM use the MPU 6000 because it has the superior data interface, but both chips have the DMP.
Afff ... most people dont know anythink about sensors !
Thanks for clearing my confusion Chris, but does the MPU 6000 have sensor fusion too?
The only difference between the MPU 6000 and the MPU6050 is that the first uses a SPI interface and the second uses I2C. In general SPI is preferred for UAV use, since it's more robust.
@icebear the MPU 6050 has in-built sensor fusion, thus the main processor can be freed up and used for other tasks.
The APM 2 uses MPU6050 to take advantage of this.
FYI we will also be selling these gluonpilot 2 boards from our shop in the UK.