help figuring out the antenna tracker

[Randy Mackay]

 

     Would anybody be interested in helping to test out Tridge’s Antenna Tracker program?

 

     Tridge developed this antenna tracker for use in the outback challenge and the code is sitting in the ardupilot/Tools/AntennaTracker directory.

            https://github.com/diydrones/ardupilot/tree/master/Tools/AntennaTracker

 

     It’s apparently fairly functional but sadly we have no documentation on how it works so it will take some poking about to figure it out.  As we figure it out, I’d like to document it on a still-to-be-created antenna tracker wiki page.  Until then we can just chat on this thread (or maybe we should create a diydrones discussion thread).

 

     It can apparently be loaded onto any of the existing flight controller boards we support (APM1, APM2, Pixhawk, PX4, Flymaple maybe even VRBrain) and it can control a pan and tilt servo.

 

-Randy

[Randy Mackay]

 

     I’ve created a diydrones thread to hopefully also gather some help from the community:

                http://diydrones.com/forum/topics/figuring-out-the-antenna-tracker

 

-Randy

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "drones-discuss" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to drones-discus...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[Craig Elder]

Thanks Randy

[David Pawlak]

Stick a GPS on it, and listen to the MAVlink telemetry for aircraft position and you are pretty much independent of any GCS, unless you wanted to send it special commands like "reset", "offsets" etc. etc.

I imagine Tridge would have some kind of manual interface.

[Monroe King]

I can do that. I'll take a look at it for ya.

 Monroe

[Monroe King]

OK duh it's compiling now.

On Saturday, July 26, 2014 11:56:08 AM UTC-5, Monroe King wrote:

Hummm I got a compile error  GCS.h: No such file or directory

Monroe

[Monroe King]

Ok sorry so many post it's been a while since I compiled. All is good now and loaded.

On Saturday, July 26, 2014 1:29:19 PM UTC-5, Monroe King wrote:

Where or what the type def for AP_Int16?

Monroe

[Monroe King]

Ok so far it would be great if we could load the code from mission planner and it would be great if we could reverse the servos in mission planner.

Should I write into the documentation at this point how to change the code to reverse the servos?

[Monroe King]

Michael brought up a couple of good points "

couple of points.

in MP.

if the tracker is not in proxy mode. ie doesn't have the radio on the radio port, you need to feed it a mavlink stream. in mission planner press control-F, and click mavlink. and select the tracker comport.

 

if the tracker is in proxy mode. then only the usb is required. as the tracker is receiving data direct from the MAV

I can add this to the documentation.

Do you just want me to write up a document and display it here?

Monroe

[Monroe King]

Ok! I was able to compile the Ardutracker code. I used the Arduino IDE to load the code. I used a bluetooth serial connection to look at the tracker and see that it was functioning (Make sure to un-check "reset apm on connect" in mission planner properties) and I discovered I can hit "Ctrl-F" in mission planner and select "Mavlink" and output the mavlink to a com port to connect to the tracker.

adventure so far. Now lets see how it works.

Monroe

[Monroe King]

Oh also the servos needed to be reversed so I edited the code to reverse the servos, I'll include how to to that. It would be nice if we could load the code from mission planner and we could connect mavlink to the tracker and reverse the servos all on one page in MP don't you think? This tracker is different from the Ardutracker built into mission planner. So perhaps we need a new name for one or the other? With this tracker the APM flies the antenna the other is basically a mux that controls the servos (you can even use the original ardupilot for it) This tracker is the full deal.

I'd like to add I think this tracker is perhaps fully mobile also? If not it is very close to it and that modification is a small step to go. I'll know more as I begin testing it. It has several interesting modes as well I'll get to try out.  

Monroe

[Matthew Ridley]

Edited the code to reverse the servos? You mean in MP? They are reversible just like arduplane. There are a lot of parameters to set, many in common with arduplane, MAVProxy may be your only option for now (I am not familiar with how MP handles new parameters)

Yes the tracker "flies" and can be fully mobile if GPS fitted. You can set the start position and dispence with the GPS if you know it's location. A working and well calibrated compass is essential, we have been using the off diagonal compass calibration parameters to get good pointing accuracy.

Being able to set the altitude/pressure is essential for tilt accuracy.

Matt

--

[Monroe King]

No I edited the code in the tracker (Just to reverse the servos). I have not tried it yet, I expect to try it tomorrow at some point. I'm not sure what you mean. I guess your talking about in the calibrate radio in Mission Planner? (I did not think to try that as I didn't expect that to work)  I'm setting up SITL to make testing easier for me right now and that's taking a long time due to my connection to the internet is slow. I think MP can do it. I'll let you know if I get it working. Yeah I can use MavProxy and I will if MP can't be made to work right now. I'll know more tomorrow.

I also expect being very level on start up is also imperative. But yes just now getting to the really fun part :)

For this application it would be better to set the compass manually (as there are no large currents flowing to worry about) Like real aircraft do and you can use the baro and set the altitude manually and calibrate it yourself. I'm not sure yet any of that would be necessary. I'll know more tomorrow.

I have the hardware all set up now I just have to try it. I don't see why it wont work with MP (yet) It's 2am way past my bedtime trying to get SITL going right now. I'm getting geared up to get some real work done. Let me get up to speed here and I can do some good.

Monroe

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to drones-discuss+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.