Ardupilot future proof hardware

ArduCopter Copter 4.5
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Hi!
I’ve got a medium sized quad that I’ve fully built using Cube Black, some Zubax Myxa’s, a RFD900, and a pair of Here GNSS. I’ve built it as a test rig for future development and testing (especially ArduCopter Beta’s and other hardware modules). I’ve got some questions:

  1. What are the next steps for tuning the drone past AutoTune? Is AutoTune the ceiling of tuning setup?
  2. To upgrade from Cube Black on my Kore carrier board, what are my options? I find that Cube Orange is just crazily expensive ($450!! for me). I’ve used the Cube Black for years now with no problems, but I see that there exist some hardware limitations and there will come a point in the not-too-distant future that leaves Cube Black End-Of-Life.
  3. Is a combination of the Original Here GNSS and the Here2 GNSS decent? I’m looking at upgrading to Here3+, but what are my options and is there better? I don’t have lots to spend at once on this setup, but more me developing parts of the quad at a time.
  4. In terms of an FPV setup for BVLOS flight, what do I need?

Thanks in advance for all your help!

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Here* are decent GNSS receivers as long as you don’t need to use RTK corrections, then you need something with uBlox F9P receiver.

Cube Black is fine as long as you don’t need scripting for something. There are a few manufacturers of industrial grade FCs. Anything that has H7 processor and satisfies your requirements will be fine.

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Realistically, at what point would I need RTK corrections? I feel like unless I have two, I find that there is lots of positional drifting across 2-5 meters.

I see. Is there like a registry of Lua scripts for people to browse, or do we just have to google them. I don’t currently use Lua scripting, but it seems that by itself, it offers lots of potential improvements; in this case, would a H7 be worth?

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The post has little to do with tuning, these are mor hardware related questions.

  1. Use ArduPilot methodic configurator, it explains the exact tuning steps past autotune.
  2. Yes, you need an H7 and it is worth it.
  3. Decent, but not great. You need an uBlox F9P with an helical antenna, and yes, it is worth it.
  4. A Good telemetry link

I updated the tittle of the post

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I’ve seen this, will go through it and report back my results.

Operationally, what other improvements does the Cube Orange have over the Cube black. Also, is a Cube Yellow sufficient (H7 with other improvements?)

Can you give me some examples? I’ve seen some in the $700-<$1000 range and that is simply poor value for a slight improvement; What about a Zubax GridSens? That seems to have some merit although it runs on the M8 family. Is any M9 chip based GNSS a better GNSS than the Here* GNSS I’m utilising so far?

Also, what are the thoughts on using a Pusher config. It doesn’t seem to be very popular in hobbyist applications, but more so in professional and industry applications. What’s the reason there?

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H7 has more performance to fully use multiple redundant IMS and do stuff like per-motor notch filtering.

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Sorry, notch filtering? Is that something I must enable seperately? I thought that was enabled by default.

Indeed, I’d seen Tridge’s post, but most of the GPS sensors are unavailable to me here in Australia (and were definitely in the $700+ range). I’ll probably have to be on the lookout for some of these soon.

A thought I’ve been incubating for a while is to design and build a completely independent IMU and Compass module communicating through CAN to the Main controller. This would build a secondary IMU circuit (another level of redundancy) and more sensor options for the main controller. Is this possible in the current ArduCopter codebase?

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It’s not. It requires some data collection and subsequent configuration.

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