Antonio Liska, who has won the Sparkfun AVC for two years with a homebuilt autopilot, is now selling a commercial version of that hardware. It's called the "Goose" and it's just airplane-only at the moment and closed source, but it has impressive features:
The price is $1,899 for the Pro version and $899 for the Lite version with some of the features above removed. A full PDF of differences between the two is here.Hardware:
- Optional Built-in electronic speed control (ESC)
- Supports Spektrum, Hitec Optima receiver or a GCS joystick for RC backup
- Current Sensor
- 6 PWMs
- 6 Serial Ports
- 3 Spare 10bit ADCs
- Removable SD card for data logging
- Non-removable 4kbit flash memory
- Standard .1inch servo headers
- Standard Deans power connector
- Complete voltage regulation for servos and accessories 5v/3.3v/3v
Capabilities:
- Multiple flight modes selectable via GCS:
- Standard RC
- Fly-By-Wire
- R/C sticks control roll pitch and airspeed
- Takeoff (Runway or hand)
- Flight plan
- Orbits and way-points
- Land
- Land in the selected location
- Return-to-launch
- Taxi
- Follow a ground path and optionally enter takeoff mode
- Configurable triggers for servo and digital IO
- Error monitoring – messages displayed on GCS
- Motor malfunction
- File system checking
- GPS serial connection
- Voltage checking
- Multiple Failsafes
- Low voltage
- Loss of communications
- Mission boundary crossing
- Loss of GPS
- Watchdog output pulse
- Parachute deployment
- Hardware in the loop simulator with FlightGear
- Manual tuning of PID loops in flight
- Flare sensor
- MaxSonar
- Sharp IR SHARP2Y0D02
- Pressure Altitude
- Lifetime flight statistics are logged for various min/max conditions
- Fast Fourier Transform for vibration analysis during integration or preflight
- Fat file system for compatibility with PC
Sensors:
- 3 ST Micro Gyros
- 3 ST Micro Accelerometers
- 2 Freescale Pressure sensors (MPX5004 and MPXH6115)
- 1 Temperature
- Ublox GPS is Externally connected
Comments
I don´t think is too expensive , The support is an important thing too. They have another contender in U-NAV.
@sevenboarder /NuperVids: Has Goose autopilot a photogrammetry tool to take a photo every forward lap or waypoint?
Ánimo
Robota Glider Video
I'm really enjoying my goose autopilot. With all its capabilities, I think the price is very fair. Great product.
Antonio has a very good track record and should charge a fair price for services. Considering cost of MicroPilot, he should do well in professional market, Procerus AP is a real good contender too.
Congrats on starting your new business!
I may have a little bias, but I've had the great pleasure of helping Antonio test out this autopilot and I have to say in my personal and professional opinion, its far from a homebrew. I've flown many different systems including the Cloudcap and Micropilot and would say it is very comparable to the Micropilot. I've got well over 100miles on mine and it's been smooth sailing from day one. Antonio is an engineer and the system is appropriately engineered extremely well. The price may seem a little steep, but if you think about it... it's more than a fair trade for a very reliable system that has proven its worth in many competitions. In reality you're going to have to give up a little cash if you want to do some serious flying with a serious autopilot.
I can help answer any questions if anyone has them, otherwise visit robota.us to get more info and to live chat with Antonio if he's around.
When will HappyKillmore have it integrated into his GCS?
Isn't that the gold standard for autopilots.
Quite a big chip on the pic. Which MCU is used ?
Found the answer:
"The Goose is powered by an RCM4120 running at 58mhz with 512KB of ram and 512KB of flash memory"
Probably developped in C.