BTA AS-07G Auto Pilot with Plane Retriever

[ThaiskyDigital]

I use BTA AS-07G Auto Pilot with Plane Retriever
from this link http://www.maxxprod.com/mpi/mpi-16.html.

Just looking for a friend to share some experience. Any of you here have it please share me your experience.

[kd7ost]

I have a BTA AS-06 and an 07 but don't have the plane retriever version. How does it work? Does it steer the rudder?

Dan

[ThaiskyDigital]

Oh Dan, It seem that you are the real fan of Maxxproduct.

Actually I do not fix it to my plans yet.

Now 3 system on my hand to test , one is pico pilot RTL other is RCAP3 and this expensive Maxproduct.

May be your device will arrive to me soon, then I will test pico pilot first. I feel that is is not so complicate as Maxproduct.

However if you know how to hack this product for Waypoint set up then it will be better than just let them do return to home function.

[kd7ost]

I don't know how they employ the GPS.

When I bought my 07 it came with a port for the GPS, but at that time they didn't yet supply the GPS unit. I imagine they have the GPS and waypoint sequencer all in one little package. My plans have been to use the 07 on roll and pitch but use a Pico Pilot or PDC-10 on rudder for waypoint sequencing.

Dan

[ThaiskyDigital]

I was told that this product can do waypoint sequencing, but after 911 in US they disable this function.

I did wrote to maxproduct but seem that they are not say clear about yes or no.

[kd7ost]

They've obviously done some design changes since I bought mine. Here's my 06 and 07. You can see the GPS port on the right side of the 07 but there is no SMA connector. Yours must have the GPS engine inside?

Dan

[kd7ost]

Oop's I made a mistake. I see your pictures isn't the 07 but rather is the GPS unit itself.

Dan

[ThaiskyDigital]

Acutally I should show you their full set of photo.

They have two unit, one is autopilot which conect with return to lunch.

[kd7ost]

What is the computer connector on the return unit used for?

Dan

[ThaiskyDigital]

What is the computer connector on the return unit used for?

Dan

This is the point,
Yes I got information that actually we can use the connector and computer to do some waypoint programing.

But when I mail to Maxxproduct I can not get this information, again this is due to 911 situation so they disable the wps program.

I did mail them and inform them that why it seem that just only you worry about 911 but at the same time we can buy WPS in many place in the world.

He make a word to me " Play UAV with WPS it look like the king without palace".

Actually I got a big project from my customer to make a AP Map. I really need some WPS to do this work.

May be if the deal on payment of this project is clear any one of you who interesting to get this project in my country will get invite to join this interesting project.

[kd7ost]

Good luck,

You're right. It sounds like they have some built in capability to prevent you from flying it autonomously. I suspect you would need some form of interface program to even communicate with it. I wonder if you could talk to it with hyperterminal? But not knowing the pin out or not won't get you too far unless you reverse engineer what they're using inside to see what pins connect to RS232.

I see why you need to get the Pico Pilot working. I imagine it's too soon for the level shifter to get there yet?

Dan

[jbeanelliott]

I contacted the manufacturer of the BTA (Wireless Avionics Ltd of Israel) asking about the DB15 type NMEA connector. Below was their reply. It appears that they are only using pins 2 and 5 of the DB15 connector. Pin 5 is ground. Pin 2 is GPS NMEA output (RS232). In the schematic they show the NMEA output going to a block with a sub-block labeled "Telemetry Tx" which is then combined with video camera data I assume to be sent to a ground station. They do not indicate what the RS232 baud rate is but I think I should be able to figure it out by trial and error. I would suspect that some of the other pins of the DB15 connector may allow for 2 way communication (perhaps waypoints????) to the BTA autopilot but they did not provide any information about this.

------------------------------------------------------
Hello,

I recently purchased a B.T.A AS-07 Automatic Pilot (with the GPS).
I would like to access the GPS data stream while in flight using an
embedded computer.
Could you provide me with a pinout definition of the NMEA connector
and also the protocol definitiion?
--------------------------------------------------------------

Dear John .
The output protocol is NMEA 0183 that you can download anywhere . The more useful sentence is RMC .
The output is a low voltage version of the RS232 ( Hi = 0v , Low = 5v . No mistake about Hi and Lo .....) , and you can connect it as a standard RS232 source .
See enclosed a diagram .
Regards
Alon Wallach
Wireless Avionics Ltd.

BTA GPS PLANE RETRIEVER TYPICAL CONNECTION DIAGRAM

[kd7ost]

Interesting. getting into the waypoint sequencing would be a boon.

Normal NMEA 0183 V.x is at 4800 baud. There is an NMEA 0183 HS, (for High Speed) that operates at 38.4 k-baud.

Dan

[jbeanelliott]

I have emailed Alon Wallach of Wireless Avionics Ltd. a followup question asking if it would be possible to input the waypoints or change just the homing position while in-flight. I will post Alon's reply here if and when I get one.
-John Elliott

[kd7ost]

Cool. That would be great. Hope they let the cat out of the bag.

Dan

[ThaiskyDigital]

Haha Dan I love your word, me too so many cat in the bag now.

I hope this topic will end up with good news.


Again Dan
Today I already got your your connector ( with nice post bag).
Look at your work , sound professional.

Will report you again after test.

Thank again

[jbeanelliott]

Below is the answer from Alon Wallach of Wireless Avionics Ltd. to the question of whether it is possible to update waypoints of the BTA while in flight. (i.e. "NO"). I don't seem to understand Alon's concern about the use of the waypoint feature for crashing into buildings since anyone can buy a MicroPilot or PicoPilot autopilot off the shelf which has those features. But perhaps because the company is in Israel they are a little more concerned with terrorism than here in the USA.

-John Elliott
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi John .
Sorry , the unit does not allow a dynamic waypoint to fly to .
The NMEA is just an output .
If we allow it , then anyone can program a waypoint and fly into the Pentagon . We are not in this game ....
Sorry about your cross country story , But what you want costs several times more than our simple autopilot with plane retriever , and you probably know it .
The only thing you can do is to turn off the Plane retriever and back on to let it acquire a new "home" while flying , but be careful , as it also "learns" the analog voltages of the AS-07 sensors , so if you are turning at the time of power up , the Retriever will learn a wrong zero ....
Regards
Alon

[ThaiskyDigital]

The answer is same as what I got it before.

However it can mean that yes we can do but we have to pay more (for other set of it).

So, we are in this RCGroups come to the right way to get help to each other and RCAP3 with WPS can be better choice.

[ThaiskyDigital]

This post is alreay one year post, do we have any simple product in the market yet? that we can easy program the way point?

[Mick Molloy]

Attopilot is coming