Hi everyone!
I am looking for a solution to run Pixhawk 2.1 connected directly to a joystick(no rc or laptop used). There is a ppm port on Pixhawk board so i imagine taking an ordinary joystick and modifying it so it outputs ppm signal would be necessary?
Has anyone done this?
Any ideas much appreciated!
Can you provide more details? Are you trying to control via a tether? Or doing something other than Copter?
The plan is build a manned x8 multirotor prototype. We want to avoid all the unnecesary wiring and points of failure. Controling it via tether is also an option at the begining.
Wow. Using a Pixhawk and Arducopter for an unmanned prototype is ok. I really can’t endorse it for manned flight. Neither the hardware nor firmware are certified for such an endeavour.
I will say this: don’t use ppm. Remove it from consideration completely. Use canbus if you can, but at the very least a serial protocol that ensures correct message delivery.
I really wish there were better suited options to even consider. Doesn’t the Cube’s triple redundancy make it safest possible FC for checking proptotype layout?
Any more specific guides regarding the use of canbus?
The Cube is awesome, but it is designed for UNMANNED FLIGHT.
So far as I know, there isn’t an available UAVCAN joystick, but there are for CANOpen and CANAerospace. I’d recommend CANAerospace/ARINC825 if you intend the pilot to be onboard the air vehicle.
Presently only UAVCAN is implemented in ArduPilot, but if you are serious about developing for manned aviation, I’d suggest looking into CANAerospace. If you have all your inputs and outputs running CANAerospace, and implement CANAerospace into ArduPilot, you could do full vehicle tests (unmanned) with a Cube, before investing in a certified flight control system.
CANAerospace: http://www.stockflightsystems.com/canaerospace.html
CANOpen: https://www.can-cia.org/
UAVCAN: http://uavcan.org/
As an additional point, CAN can tolerate quite long cable runs, so you could control via tether or onboard without any significant changes.
Good luck with this project, but please don’t take any unnecessary or ill informed risks, and engage experienced help. Manned flight is a serious, and dangerous, endeavour.
Thank you so much for your help! The project is still in it’s early developing stages and we are looking for all possible options. Safety is the number one priority and we are well aware of this.
Hey James, what does it matter what type of weight is on the craft?
The flight controller will basically be agnostic to size (just tuning really).
In most jurisdictions you’ll need to meet certification requirements above 150kg though - but you need to check with your relevant airworthiness authority.