[APPROVED] HeadTracker Serial Driver for CADDX 3 axis gimbal

Description: Gimbal and Goggles for wireless headtracker. Goggles transmit headtracking over RF link to video air unit in vehicle muxed over telem link connected from autopilot for OSD info back down to goggle. Gimbal has serial input for info from autopilot as alternate to three PWM outputs. A driver is needed to connect serially, allowing either manual or headtrack info to drive the gimbal. This is for the hardware required to develop a driver. The possibility of using a single servo/motor outputs instead of an autopilot UART to drive the serial input of the gimbal will also be investigated.

Planned amount $$ (USD): $519 see attached

Estimated time for completion: 1 month starting Sept1

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It’s not clear to me how this equipment enables development of the serial driver for the gimbal.

the gimbal uses a serial port to get its xyz position input commands from the autopilot
the autopilot gets the goggles headtracking position commands over the VTX OSD link
the headtracking position command are generated by the goggle and transmitted to the VTX

you need all three to develop and test the system

Yes. But let’s step back a little.
The walksnail head tracker system is currently designed to be self contained (doesn’t pass through the autopilot), with manual/autopilot control available via pwm if you want it. This is obviously intended to simplify integration across any flight stack/configuration, as it’s completely agnostic.
I’m not against developing an alternative so that you can use the autopilot as a mitm, but the request, as per your heading, is to support implementation of the gimbal serial protocol, from the autopilot. This has nothing to do with head tracking or goggles or the walksnail vtx. Just the gimbal. But you haven’t asked for the gimbal.
It seems like you’re jumping to stage 2 without doing stage 1 first: the requested hardware doesn’t actually support the stated purpose of the request.
As an extra question: what protocol does it use?

the second item includes the 3 axis gimbal…

the gimbal can be controlled several ways, it has PWM inputs and it has a serial input.
-In the simplest case it can connect its PWM inputs to an autopilot conventionally for manual control via RC inputs to servo outputs
-on output poor autopilots (many copter targets) it can connect to a UART on the autopilot (we would need a driver…the point of this)
-it can connect to the VTX directly for this head tracker goggle (they will update all AVATAR google including the high end ones) but then the autopilot cant send OSD overlays, so we can develop code to take the Display Port back channel flow which has this data, and then send it out either PMW or Serail (with the new driver) to the gimbal

so we need a gimbal serial driver and then an extension to DisplayPort to get the headtracker data and route it to outputs or gimbal serial input
and once I get the protocol details from CADDX (or reverse them from iNAV) we may be able to also send the serial gimbal data over a servo output (like serial LED) and give people the option to use only one servo output…maybe

also I a waiting for response back from CADDX R&D on if they are willing to give AP some or all of the above…but I have a friend that has worked with them and they are a bit fickle when you dont have a jillion Youtube subscribers

i have the gimbal i cloned you branch @hwurzburg i will try to build and test it soon