A couple questions about software

[ram0207]

Hello,

I'm new to all this and have been trying to read as much as I can.
I'm very new to working with robotics, especially programming everything so I might have just gotten lost somewhere while looking for the answer to my question.

I'm looking for an autopilot that I can create flight paths and upload to the plane (duh!), but also be able to adjust flight paths while in flight via either a radio modem or maybe something else (don't know what).

So far it seems to me that of the two systems I've been looking at (paparazzi and Arduino) Paparazzi is the only one with this ability.

I like Arduino for it's simplicity, and price to set up, but am willing to try to get more money (and time) to build a papparazzi based system as well as learn how to use it properly if this feature is not available with Arduino.

I am also curious if there is a better system to get the results I'm looking for. All I want is to be able to include a camera payload, and adjust location should I not pre-program a good angle for my pictures.

also has anyone georeferenced any imagery they've taken with their UAVs I figure with a relative Lat/long from the GPS bringin the image into GIS and overlaying it on some .KMZ files should be a piece of cake, and produce some interesting imagery.

again thanks for any advice, I'm not looking to do this soon as I need to learn much more, but I want to know what direction would be good to start with.

[airmcn_3]

Hello,

I'm new to all this and have been trying to read as much as I can.
I'm very new to working with robotics, especially programming everything so I might have just gotten lost somewhere while looking for the answer to my question.

I'm looking for an autopilot that I can create flight paths and upload to the plane (duh!), but also be able to adjust flight paths while in flight via either a radio modem or maybe something else (don't know what).

So far it seems to me that of the two systems I've been looking at (paparazzi and Arduino) Paparazzi is the only one with this ability.

I like Arduino for it's simplicity, and price to set up, but am willing to try to get more money (and time) to build a papparazzi based system as well as learn how to use it properly if this feature is not available with Arduino.

I am also curious if there is a better system to get the results I'm looking for. All I want is to be able to include a camera payload, and adjust location should I not pre-program a good angle for my pictures.

also has anyone georeferenced any imagery they've taken with their UAVs I figure with a relative Lat/long from the GPS bringin the image into GIS and overlaying it on some .KMZ files should be a piece of cake, and produce some interesting imagery.

again thanks for any advice, I'm not looking to do this soon as I need to learn much more, but I want to know what direction would be good to start with.


AttoPilot V1.8 will do everything you are looking for and is considerably better then the autopilots you mentioned above.

There are many threads on here in regards to Atto and its uses. You may want to take a bit of time and look through them. I would start with Deans thread first.

Good luck and don’t hesitate to ask us questions.

Chris

[Cort]

Ram,
there are many systems to explore and compare. I am personally excited about the new Atto IMU version but I have no experience with it. I have been using a MicroPilot 2128G autopilot with Horizon software for well over a year now and am very pleased with it. Search around here and you will find various opinions about each company; to date I have had no problems with MP or their support. This autopilot may be on the more technical end compared to some but if you are good with reading manuals and you like to experiment it is extremely capable and can do almost anything. Its a bit on the pricey side but not ridiculous. We regularly georeference photos and even orthorectify if the project requires it (Direct georeferencing is also possible given the proper software and hardware). You can modify way points on the fly via the Ground Control Software and well as set up payload buttons for custom patterns, function, triggers, lock on targets, etc. I had no experience with autopilots before using the MP 2128G and have had no problems learning or integrating the system.

I want to make it clear that I am not affiliated with MP just a happy customer and like I said before I am very excited about the IMU ATTO and can't wait to try it.

My 2 cents.....curious to hear what other have to say.

Good Luck,

Cort

[airmcn_3]

Ram,
there are many systems to explore and compare. I am personally excited about the new Atto IMU version but I have no experience with it. I have been using a MicroPilot 2128G autopilot with Horizon software for well over a year now and am very pleased with it. Search around here and you will find various opinions about each company; to date I have had no problems with MP or their support. This autopilot may be on the more technical end compared to some but if you are good with reading manuals and you like to experiment it is extremely capable and can do almost anything. Its a bit on the pricey side but not ridiculous. We regularly georeference photos and even orthorectify if the project requires it (Direct georeferencing is also possible given the proper software and hardware). You can modify way points on the fly via the Ground Control Software and well as set up payload buttons for custom patterns, function, triggers, lock on targets, etc. I had no experience with autopilots before using the MP 2128G and have had no problems learning or integrating the system.

I want to make it clear that I am not affiliated with MP just a happy customer and like I said before I am very excited about the IMU ATTO and can't wait to try it.

My 2 cents.....curious to hear what other have to say.

Good Luck,

Cort


Nice! Its actually good to hear success stories about other autopilots, guess it because the seem to be rare!

I can tell you that we just got back from 4 flights with the IMU Atto with full telemetry coming back and with the tracking antenna!! OH YA forgot to mention we designed, built and have thoroughly tested it in flight!!!! Works like a dream!!!!

Anyhow if anybody has any question please feel free to ask.

Chris

[Buzz_Lightyear]

AttoPilot V1.8 will do everything you are looking for and is considerably better then the autopilots you mentioned above.

There are many threads on here in regards to Atto and its uses. You may want to take a bit of time and look through them. I would start with Deans thread first.

Good luck and don’t hesitate to ask us questions.

Chris
Chris,

Does Atto allow you to upload new/change existing waypoints midflight? Where is the software to do this? I would be very surprised if the GCS was anything _close_ to paparazzi's.

I seem to also remember comment that the pan/tilt functionality is not currently working, whereas paparazzi's is very advanced.

I guess we are all entitled to our opinions, and mine is that paparazzi will do everything he is looking for and considerably better than the autopilot you mentioned :)

PS - I'm biased.

[airmcn_3]

Chris,

Does Atto allow you to upload new/change existing waypoints midflight? Where is the software to do this? I would be very surprised if the GCS was anything _close_ to paparazzi's.

I seem to also remember comment that the pan/tilt functionality is not currently working, whereas paparazzi's is very advanced.

I guess we are all entitled to our opinions, and mine is that paparazzi will do everything he is looking for and considerably better than the autopilot you mentioned :)

PS - I'm biased.



It’s all in the current GCS software and being debugged. Every function in the current GCS works as described, the point and click is still being ironed out. The point and click functions are there and will be working very soon.

The pan tilt function is being turned on this week! As you may or may not know Dean is extremely busy trying to get all the functions and reliability you are looking for.

Being biased is no problem. ;) I personally am not, I would be more then glad to use other autopilots if they could repeat the accuracy and ease of operation as my current system. I have worked with and or been involved with demo flights of multiple autopilots currently on the market. My opinions and suggestions are based off 200+ auto flights with AttoPilot.

Either way, I hope you find what you are looking for weather it is Atto or any of the others suggested.

Good luck with your project!

Chris

[BeefStake]

Here are a few autopilots and my current opinions:
Paparazzi - I used this for a project last year, worked a dream and could do some real amazing stuff because of it's sheer configurability and customization options.
I ended up killing the board through a bad flash or EMI (not sure).

Ardupilot - Very simple, open source again and extremely active userbase over at DIYDrones. I haven't used personally but have followed the project closely. It currently can't do what you want but porting the code to one of the higher power ardunio platforms with more UART ports it could do what you want that much is for sure.

Micropilot - Very capable autopilot but considerably more work than the other commercial autopilots. This is a mixed blessing, personally I would prefer this as I am a tinkerer but it's just something I think I would mention. All in all their range of autopilots are possibly the most popular in the world for commercial applications.

Picollo (Cloud Cap Systems) - Another very capable commercial system. Very integrated and very short time to first flight and smooth integration from what I have heard. Used by many university research groups because of it's excellent developer options.

There are many more but these are a few of the most popular ones.
Goodluck on making a choice, I suggest you sit down and think about how much programming experience you have and how much time you have to devote to the project and move from there.

[Buzz_Lightyear]

It’s all in the current GCS software and being debugged.

Cool? Where can I get this software and play around with it?

Being biased is no problem. ;) I personally am not

I thought you were financially involved with AttoPilot?

[stikmunkeyrc]

I'm a Picollo and Athena man - they both are awesome and fool proof if you can affort it!

[airmcn_3]

Cool? Where can I get this software and play around with it?



I thought you were financially involved with AttoPilot?

I wish I was financially involved. I am an employee of the company who is going to be providing marketing and sales. I am not in the marketing and sales division. I am the prototype manager in our Engineering division.

I will talk with Dean about the first question you asked.

Chris

[ram0207]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the advice, opinions, and good news. I looked at Attopilot as well but couldn't tell if it had the midflight waypoint management that I was seeking, if it does it will definitely be on my list.

I think I need to do a lot more reading about some of the other software. I have heard of cloud cap somewhere, I'll have to see if someone at my university uses it...somewhere....

I'm picking this up as something to do in my down time. I am a student working on my masters right now in archaeological survey so I do some work with GPS and laser scanning, and thought that I might also be able to toss in some georeferenced aerial photography for some of the sites I work at if I got this toy up and running, I try to use as much satellite imagery as I can but in some places I'm having to deal with poor resolution, cloud cover, or just bad lighting.

I did have one question about the "point and click" with Atto is that waypoint planning without having to manually enter in lat/long?

Thanks
Robert

[airmcn_3]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the advice, opinions, and good news. I looked at Attopilot as well but couldn't tell if it had the midflight waypoint management that I was seeking, if it does it will definitely be on my list.

I think I need to do a lot more reading about some of the other software. I have heard of cloud cap somewhere, I'll have to see if someone at my university uses it...somewhere....

I'm picking this up as something to do in my down time. I am a student working on my masters right now in archaeological survey so I do some work with GPS and laser scanning, and thought that I might also be able to toss in some georeferenced aerial photography for some of the sites I work at if I got this toy up and running, I try to use as much satellite imagery as I can but in some places I'm having to deal with poor resolution, cloud cover, or just bad lighting.

I did have one question about the "point and click" with Atto is that waypoint planning without having to manually enter in lat/long?

Thanks
Robert


Robert,

If you have the funds the Cloud Cap is the top dog! Atto GCS point and click is as simple as a mouse click on a point in the map..... No need to manually write Lat and Lon.

Good luck with your project it sounds fun! I miss the days of flying for pleasure instead for work.......

Chris

[ram0207]

Well just as an update I've decided on Paparazzi, I've got a friend who essentially passed me a library of books on programming in C and circuitry for newbies, looks like it's time to get reading!

On top of that I've got a colleague who uses paparazzi with his UAVs, and has supposedly used paparazzi on AUVs (Autonomous Underwater vehicles) as well, but the AUV part came from a third party so it might not be the case.

Thanks for all the help, and once I get past the theory (reading) and into the method I'm sure I'll have lots of questions to ask.

[BeefStake]

A fine choice. Paparazzi will serve you well if you configure it correctly.
Make sure to read the vast archives of the mailing list and ofcourse the official wiki.
There have been several unsuccessful forums but I would stick the mailing list or the thread here on RCGroups for asking questions.
Goodluck with your project.

[ram0207]

Hey guys,

I've been doing much more reading and have installed Paparazzi into Ubuntu 8.04 through VMware on my Mac. Everything seems to be working well from simulation, and I've crafted up my first flight plans based off the sample flightplan provided. I am very impressed with what I've been able to do.

I do have a few questions about hardware now.

I'm looking to use this with an EZ* RTF I've got, but I'm reading about the Tx and what needs to be done with the PPM encoder. I'm assuming I need to move over to 2.4GHz (was going to anyway) but do I really need a 7 channel receiver or would I be fine with something like a DX5?

Also I was going to grab this kit from PPZUAV http://ppzuav.com/osc/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=2&products_id=68, any reccomendations on this?

Lastly, anyone have a generic airframe file for an EZ* I could build off of? I saw what BMW330i built for funjets and the likes, but I haven't made it far enough to see one for EZ*s in the PPZ thread.

Edit: I also am having a hard time locating the mailing lists. I found http://savannah.nongnu.org/mail/?group=paparazzi and have registered but every time I log in and try to view the archives I get a 404 error.....am I at the right place?

[ram0207]

More reading done and my questions were answered in the PPZ thread.....

[hwarang]

Hi guys thanks for all this info. I have a question, all this autopilots a mean micropilot, paparazzi, ardupilo,piccolo, etc. Which is the max distance you can get with it. Why am asking, is because I need to istall one of these systems on my model aircraft to due at least 3 miles. IT´S POSSIBLE WITH ANYONE OF THESE SYSTEMS?

[Buzz_Lightyear]

Your distance is going to be limited mostly by your telemetry modem. If you get a modem that can handle that range, most of those systems will go that far (I don't know of any that has a hard-set range limit < 3 miles). If you were brave/confident in your system, you could even fly without telemetry. In that case, you are only limited by battery endurance.

[hwarang]

Thanks Buzz_Lightyear, which modem you recommend to do more that 5 miles let we say like 8-10 miles so that way I would buy it and do my 5 miles with a lot of confidence on my system.

Which autopilot system you recommend for this purpose, I would like a very frendly instalation and operation one wich can cover the distance I mentioned before. Again Thanks a lot!!!!