Air quality sensor with APM 2.8

Hi everyone,
I am a member of student research group, which is builing a drone (hexacopter). It’s our first drone, so we haven’t got actually any experience in this field. We base on APM 2.8 and we want to connect Nova Fitness SDS011 sensor with Ardupilot. Then data from sensor together with telemetric data should be send to the ground and displayed on a monitor (OSD). As far as we know, Ardupilot allows to attach “many additional sensors”, so it should operate our sensor. Unfortunately, we haven’t found any examples of this connection on the internet. Maybe one of you has an experience in integrating non-standard accessories with Ardupilot?
Our sensor has a digital output, it communicates via UART or PWM signal, it’s compatible with Arduino and Raspberry PI.

Question 1:
What do you think, is it also compatible with Arducopter, which bases on Arduino?
Question 2:
If so, where on the board can we connect this sensor? In our project UART is being used by GPS and telemetry (is there any free UART or PWM input on APM board?)
Question 3:
If so, how (using the Mission Planner or not) to upload a program that supports this sensor and how to transfer that data together with telemetry data?

We’ll be grateful for any tips.
Students from Poland

About the sensor:


http://www.inovafitness.com/en/a/chanpinzhongxin/95.html