Q: Frksy D16 , what Ardupilot data could I display on er9x screens?

er9x is the best known firmware. It has a superb range of features and is well supported by the community. Well worth trying out.
Post Reply
nvd07
Posts: 63
Joined: Sat Aug 15, 2020 8:45 am
Country: France

Q: Frksy D16 , what Ardupilot data could I display on er9x screens?

Post by nvd07 »

I have a matek F405-CTR with a GPS, which would be able to run some Ardupilot missions, but have never been in an airplane and have been collecting dust on a shelf for more than a year...

I have a ton of questions related to er9x with Flight Controllers and Ardupilot, as I am new to all this; but I will try to keep it short and centered onto er9x:

Let's first say that I understand that my 9X with m64 or m128 processors are limited, and are never going to be full-featured 'ground control stations'.

However I would like to get a rough idea of what features would be possible if I went ahead with this er9x/D16/ardupilot idea.

I see in the er9x help (attached) that there are m64 builds for 'Ardupilot'; none similar for m128, but I see that in my m128 menus I am able to select (in the Telemetry menu) 'ArduP' instead of 'FrSky', so does it mean that all m128 builds are now ardupilot compatible ?

Next, let's say if I purchased a Frsky R-XSR receiver, running D16 protocol, and connected it to the F405 FC ( via the uninverted Sport pad rather than via cPPM), and at the other end, on the ground, I would have my Frsky XJT module on my er9X:
from this setup, what Ardupilot data would I be able to display on the telemetry screens of my 9X transmitter ? i have read somewhere it was 'limited', but is there a list available?

(my additional idea is that at the same time I would plug a Bluetooth stick onto the XJT Sport pins and send the telemetry data to a laptop which would show me the plane location on a map - but this is more a ground control Pc software question, than a er9x question)

thanks...
Attachments
builds.png
(99.45 KiB) Not downloaded yet

User avatar
kalle123
Posts: 905
Joined: Sat Mar 29, 2014 10:59 am
Country: -
Location: Moenchengladbach

Re: Q: Frksy D16 , what Ardupilot data could I display on er9x screens?

Post by kalle123 »

Hi, I am using openTX on Taranis X9D and X9D+.

This is a demonstrator for testing the functionality of arduplane with Matek F405-STD,

Image

but for my planes I use CC3D revolution mini, because they are smaller and come with a MS5611 baro and a magnetometer on board and have 8 pwm outputs!

There is a project for sending telemetry data to the TX and displaying it on a screen. Works!

https://github.com/yaapu/FrskyTelemetryScript/wiki

The screen looks like this here.
Telemetrie screen.jpg
Telemetrie screen.jpg (35.37 KiB) Viewed 4899 times
But I am not interested to look at screen while flying. The data is on the TX

Image

and can be announced per voice and logged.

But this is openTX :(

br KH
Attachments
Telemetrie Taranis.jpg
(49.42 KiB) Not downloaded yet
nvd07
Posts: 63
Joined: Sat Aug 15, 2020 8:45 am
Country: France

Re: Q: Frksy D16 , what Ardupilot data could I display on er9x screens?

Post by nvd07 »

kalle123 wrote: Fri Jun 11, 2021 7:10 am
This is a demonstrator for testing the functionality of arduplane with Matek F405-STD,
Thanks! Nice demonstrator. I will probably need to do a similar thing, from a pizza box, before I really send anything into the air ...
kalle123 wrote: Fri Jun 11, 2021 7:10 am
There is a project for sending telemetry data to the TX and displaying it on a screen. Works!
...
But this is openTX :(
Yes these are impressive capabilities with opentx and Taranis, artificial horizon, voice anouncement of data, and logging as you said...


With a simple 9x + er9x though, there were posts 3 years ago from Fardenco on the erSkyTx thread below; he was successful even though I can't see how the end result would be:
https://openrcforums.com/forum/viewtopi ... NK#p137129
so I should probably head into this direction.

Now about my question about er9x-ardupilot builds, by googling it I was able to find that this build was aimed at handling the original plain-text data from Ardupilot, before the advent of MAVLINK (2011/2012) :
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showpos ... ount=11686
So, I came to the same conclusion as Fardenco: it would not be of any use for me today, with a recent Ardupilot.
User avatar
MikeB
9x Developer
Posts: 17990
Joined: Tue Dec 27, 2011 1:24 pm
Country: -
Location: Poole, Dorset, UK

Re: Q: Frksy D16 , what Ardupilot data could I display on er9x screens?

Post by MikeB »

I've never used MAVLINK/Ardupilot, however I believe the following works with a '128 or '2561 processor when using FrSky D16.

The MAVLINK data is transported over the D16 telemetry link. er9x does handle some of this, with some specific mapping.
If you then select the ArduP option for the telemetry "Usr Proto", an extra telemetry screen is available with Ardupilot specific values displayed.

Mike
erskyTx/er9x developer
The difficult we do immediately,
The impossible takes a little longer!
nvd07
Posts: 63
Joined: Sat Aug 15, 2020 8:45 am
Country: France

Re: Q: Frksy D16 , what Ardupilot data could I display on er9x screens?

Post by nvd07 »

MikeB wrote: Fri Jun 11, 2021 12:13 pm ...
If you then select the ArduP option for the telemetry "Usr Proto", an extra telemetry screen is available ...

Mike
Thanks Mike, this bit put me back on track : i was expecting to add items to my custom telemetry screen, whereas in reality the Ardupilot infos are shown on the separate/extra screen. I can see it now , it comes next after the custom screen (attached / sorry no backlighting yet)

So I see that on my 9x running er9x , this screen is similar to the 9XRpro shown at the start of erskyTx thread:
https://openrcforums.com/forum/viewtopi ... NK#p110011


Now, if I go ahead with a R-XSR/D16 solution onboard the plane, i think that, because this Rx only has one pin, configurable either to 'cPPM' or to a 'port', whereas many people are showing Ardupilot setups running both connections, I would probably have to reflash this R-XSR with Fport firmware (mentionned on Ardupilot website and available from Frsky Website) in order to replace Sport (which lacks 'RC') by Fport... However, searching Fport here, does not yield a lot of results...
And, if I do this, the Ardupilot documentation says that the Ardupilot talking to the Rx by Fport will do it in 'Passthrough mode' :
https://ardupilot.org/copter/docs/commo ... y-protocol

I am concerned because it means that the other option: 'Repurposed Frsky' which was mentionned earlier in the documentation :
https://ardupilot.org/copter/docs/commo ... nformation
would become unavailable in this 'Fport' scenario...

:?: So would this 'Fport' and 'Passthrough mode' be ok for my er9x / 9x-m128 to be able to decode the data and display it on these screens?

Because if not ok, if 'Passthrough' will cause a problem, then I might be better off seeking another D16 Rx , with more pins than the R-XSR. This would allow me to connect both cPPM and Sport to the F405/Ardupilot. This way, 'Repurposed Frsky' would still be possible between Ardupilot/F405 and the Rx...

( Next, other than the above, there would be also the 'MAVLink to Frsky converter' solutions, which I have not explored much yet...)
Attachments
IMG_20210611_er9x_9x_m128_arduP_telemetry.jpg
(177.95 KiB) Not downloaded yet

User avatar
Kilrah
Posts: 11108
Joined: Sat Feb 18, 2012 6:56 pm
Country: Switzerland

Re: Q: Frksy D16 , what Ardupilot data could I display on er9x screens?

Post by Kilrah »

R-XSR has both SBUS and S-Port, you connect those 2 to the FC. No need for F-Port.
nvd07
Posts: 63
Joined: Sat Aug 15, 2020 8:45 am
Country: France

Re: Q: Frksy D16 , what Ardupilot data could I display on er9x screens?

Post by nvd07 »

Kilrah wrote: Fri Jun 11, 2021 6:26 pm R-XSR has both SBUS and S-Port, you connect those 2 to the FC. No need for F-Port.
Ok thanks Kilrah. I have never used Sbus before as I had no S-bus compatible device so far; and I had missed it in the Ardupilot help. I understand now!

So, among the family of Frsky D16 receivers, I see that the R-XSR would indeed be well suited to this task!

With Ardupilot 4.0.9 it sounds like I would have a lot of freedom to connect uninverted Sbus and uninverted Sport easily to my FC :
https://ardupilot.org/copter/docs/commo ... .html#rcin
https://ardupilot.org/plane/docs/common ... -and-fport



Now, before I purchase the R-XSR :
Let's say that if during the flight I also wanted to have a laptop running Mission Planner, or a Smartphone running Tower app, as ground stations, would it make more sense to avoid the D16 protocol ( XJT + R-XSR ) and would it be simpler to use two 433 OrangeRx modules instead, running Ultimate LRS, and a bluetooth stick to talk back and forth to the ground station ?
(more or less similar to Fardenco's post here
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showpos ... ount=13372 )

I am asking this, because although it is now clear to me that D16 / XJT+R-XSR would work well with the ArduP screens of my 9x unit, I am not sure that the idea at the bottom of my first post - to plug a bluetooth stick into the back of the XJT - would work at all with any ground control software... I think that, in this scenario, at best, the ground station could only 'listen', similar to what I was doing with the FRS_logger app for Frsky telemetry. and it seems that Fardenco quit using DJT.
nvd07
Posts: 63
Joined: Sat Aug 15, 2020 8:45 am
Country: France

Re: Q: Frksy D16 , what Ardupilot data could I display on er9x screens?

Post by nvd07 »

nvd07 wrote: Sat Jun 12, 2021 8:19 am ... I am not sure that the idea at the bottom of my first post - to plug a bluetooth stick into the back of the XJT - would work at all with any ground control software... I think that, in this scenario, at best, the ground station could only 'listen', similar to what I was doing with the FRS_logger app for Frsky telemetry.
I now have a better understanding, without any Frsky R-XSR or any OrangeRx 433 module yet,
1) With STM32CubeProgrammer I installed Arduplane on my F405-CTR , I wired a HT-06 bluetooth stick to the serial1 output of this Flight Controller, with arduplane configured to output '1/Mavlink' on serial1 (so, no 9x / er9X , no Frsky involved). The Mission Planner on the laptop connected fine to this 'Bluetooth craft', so I now understand this bit.

2) next I removed the HT-06 , I configured the Arduplane/FC to output '10/PassthroughFrsky' on serial1, and I removed the module at the back of my 9x radio, in order to attempt a wire connection to the FC as explained by TLMNO on another thread. This, I could not get it to work, despite several attempts ( always NoData ); however I will stop trying to debug this 'lab setup', because of the following:

When the time will come to ditch the 'lab setups' / wired connections, and to look at something with a longer range, even though a R-XSR would connect well to the FC and allow the 9x Ardupilot graphical displays discussed in the previous posts, this would be involving the 'Passthrough' solution, which is regarded as more desirable than the 'repurposed Frsky', but is something not to be mistaken as a way to retrieve/obtain 'Mavlink' as I can see from the two posts below from another thread. This means that once such a R-XSR would be involved, I could not run easily and at the same time as my 9x, a Mission Planner / ground control station (which were not part of my initial post when opening this thread - but are things that many users like to have ).
MikeB wrote: Fri Jul 31, 2020 11:42 am ... The "passthrough" data is not the raw Mavlink data, but makes use of SPort user IDs to send data.

Mike
Kilrah wrote: Fri Jul 31, 2020 12:37 pm Again it is not just "serial data", well it is but not mavlink.

Mavlink is too heavy to get good throughput that way, so the passthrough is a custom protocol tailored to work well in that case. If that was passed on then whatever you have behind would need to understand that protocol....
So I no longer intend to keep FRSKY D16 and purchase the R-XSR ; for a few more euros I will probably get 2 OrangeRX 433 modules and run a true Mavlink , as Fardenco did; like him I would use Mike's arduino 'Mavlink to Frsky Translator' for my 9x :
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showpos ... ount=13372

I see this setup as a straightforward way to avoid any loss of functionnalities on the er9X side or on the Ground Control Station side.

Post Reply

Return to “er9x”