Phone Drone vs APM2.5

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Moe Adham

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Apr 17, 2013, 12:46:38 AM4/17/13
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Hi Folks,

A friend and I are taking on a new (crazy) project. You can read about it here:

We are planning to use ArduPilot Mega as an autopilot for a plane, and are planning on connecting this to Android for auxiliary tasks (principally communication, etc.)

We have been looking into getting APM2, but came upon the PhoneDrone board, and we have some questions, maybe someone can enlighten us.

We are unsure about what precludes us from using the APM2 in conjunction with the Android ADK? Both have the Atmega 2560, as well as the ATMEGA 32u2 for a usb interface.

If we have missed something with respect to the Android ADK requirements (maybe ftdi?), is there anything that precludes installing ArduPilot-Mega directly to the PhoneDrone Board? Has anyone tried this?

I guess, in short, we are asking: what is the difference between PhoneDrone and APM2?

Thanks,
Moe

Enrico

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Jun 5, 2013, 10:52:17 AM6/5/13
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I am sorry for the delay Moe, have been in a busy month.

Maybe you guys have already figured it out, but the difference between PhoneDrone and APM2 is that PhoneDrone doen't have the IMU shield. Basically, both are Arduino boards, in which you use the arduino IDE to program them.

The APM2 was design in a way that you can attach an IMU shield, with accelerometers and etc. The PhoneDrone, on the other hand, was design so you could communicate with an android device using google USB acessory APIs (http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/connectivity/usb/accessory.html).

You don't necessary need the APM2 to use the Arduplane codes, you could adapt an adruino mega, but DIY Drones made that way to facilitate the process.

The idea behind the PhoneDrone was to replace the IMU board with the android device. That way, you could have great quality sensors and an enhanced processing platform.

I used the PhoneDrone + Android in a quadcopter. The main idea was to use the mobile 3G conectivity to replace the RC communication, expanding the reach (in a sense, we tried to replace the antenna truck of an military drone with the antennas of the mobile network). After all, the project wasn't sucessful. First, because of time issues, we just happened to use the ArduCopter code with and APM2 to control the motion, wasting the sensor capability of the android phone. For second, the conectivity was an issue, mainly because of the ping. The commands took too long to reach the drone, making the control really hard. But it was fun to make it. For controller, we made an web page with and realtime feed of the camera streaming from the Android, and using firefox gamepad API (https://wiki.mozilla.org/GamepadAPI). Maybe we could make it work with the next gen mobile network.

I liked you project, will try to follow the progress. If you want to use the Phonedrone, a good starting point is the codes that Mr. Falko once posted in the group. It was really helpful making me understand the communication with the android device. You can also contact me at enricodvn at gmail.

Cheers.

Lot Amoros

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Jun 6, 2013, 6:40:56 AM6/6/13
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Hi Enrico,

Thanks for clear the information with your message.

I would like to ask you if you have some documentation about your project of phonedrone+android in a quad.
I'm doing the same and i would like to publish everything as open source, so this info can help us a lot.

I'm planning to use android for imu sensors, did you do something about this?
I have some ideas for read the sensors, but needs to be as close as possible to real time.

Thank you!

Lot Amorós.

John Pachtoun

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Jun 8, 2013, 8:18:32 AM6/8/13
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Hello folks!
Your project looks awesome and I would like to help you with this if possible.
You're more than lucky I think cause we have a great job we've done during the last 3 months of my thesis and it could help you out guys. We worked with the phonedrone board and android device.
We were able to successfully control our plan with RC commands, and logg the data from the android sensors. We didn't succeed yet in a 3G connectivity, but we are working on it.

To gain more info about the project please visit our blog: https://sites.google.com/site/phonedroneboard/
There is closely everything explained and you'll find the source code as well, videos, etc... (just I didn't had the time yet to upload the newest software, in case you need it just contact me again and I'll provide it to you).

We have some exams right now until the 25th of June but I think we can find some time to discuss and share our knowledge if needed.

Good luck with it and hope to hear from you soon :)

RRG team


2013/6/6 Lot Amoros <nolag...@gmail.com>
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Lot

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Jun 8, 2013, 8:21:33 PM6/8/13
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Hi John,

Finally after some problems I arrive to compile your phonedrone code in my board, but in your page I can't find the code of the Android side.
There is only a link to:
https://github.com/truckergroove/PhoneDrone_Board_ANDROID
But it's empy :(
Where I can download the final android code?

Thanks!
lot.






2013/6/8 John Pachtoun <john.sc...@gmail.com>
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John Pachtoun

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Jun 9, 2013, 10:33:30 AM6/9/13
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Hi Lot!

Yes I know I have some problems with uploading the android code to the github I don't know what's the reason for it. I'll send it to you via email, try this one it should work with the version PhoneDrone_selftest_v06_jscofferberg.ino

But remember you need an android version higher than 3.1 ;)

If you have some troubles just let me know.



2013/6/9 Lot <nolag...@gmail.com>
PhoneDroneAndroidControlV02_logg-masterGOOD2.rar

Lot

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Jun 9, 2013, 3:35:04 PM6/9/13
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Hi John,
Thanks for your fast message and work, I compiled your code and I find some troubles:

First, if you use Android 3.1 why you import:
com.android.future.usb.UsbManager
and not
android.hardware.usb ??

Also I think the minimal API needs to be 12, and in your manifest was 10.

Even with this changes I still having some errors:

The method getAccessory(Intent) is undefined for the type UsbManager      line 127   
The method getInstance(HelloADKActivity) is undefined for the type UsbManager    line 150  

I will try to repair this, I don't have too much experience programming Android but I want to use my android phone to record videos and use the IMU for a quad.

Please tell me if you make any upgrade to the code!
Thank you!

lot.



2013/6/9 John Pachtoun <john.sc...@gmail.com>

Enrico Davini

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Jun 18, 2013, 2:56:34 PM6/18/13
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I am sorry Lot,

Deadlines coming close, and being a gamer, when I am not working I am gaming lol

This project was done in the first half of last year, and I don't have contact with some of the folks anymore.

Since not the entire code was written by me, I don't think it would be right to copy and paste it to you, but I will make a document with the most significant parts and code snippets. I am currently working in the foundation that funded it.

Also, great job John for that blog, really nice explanation. Maybe you have already covered it all. As I said, the 3G communication didn't work out for us, and in the end we made a interface to control it over bluetooth with another Android, kinda copying AR.drone lol
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