BeagleBone Blue released, Linux-enabled autopilot for 80$

I’ve created a wiki page in our “Autopilot Hardware Options” section. http://ardupilot.org/copter/docs/common-beagle-bone-blue.html

Also think I now have 4 boards coming my way. It was a real challenge getting them actually because mouser.com (and I think only mouse.com) seems to be applying export restrictions.

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Can this be set up to trigger a camera with relay like the APM 2.6?

lovely that you ported ardupilot to BB blue! I will look at buying one as well now. thanks mirko!

I haven’t used a BeagleBone before, and need some basic instructions on how to set it up in order to follow these instructions: https://github.com/mirkix/ardupilotblue#prepare-beaglebone-blue

If I plug the BBBlue into a USB3 port on my PC, I can ssh into it over the ethernet connection it creates, but I don’t have access to the internet at that point. I assume there’s a way to use the wifi for that?

answer is here: https://www.digikey.com/en/maker/blogs/f6452fa17bd24347a59f306355ebfef8
Just use “connmanctl” to connect to a wireless router.

@mirkix Are you using a a USB-serial converter for telemetry1 in order to get flow control? And would it be possible to use the built-in wifi for telemetry instead of adding a radio modem?

@kd0aij I am not using any flow control and I think it is not necessary.
You should be able to use the wifi as well.

@mirkix,

@peterbarker is working on an APSync image for the BeagleBoneBlue to help people get started with it more quickly.

At this point APSync just sets up a wifi access point for wifi telemetry and video. Also for the BBBlue the image will have ArduPilot running on there as well (Rover, Plane, Copter, Sub or Tracker). If you have time to pop-in and help us with that we’re on the ArduPilot/Companion gitter chat. In particular we’re struggling a bit with the streaming video.

No pressure of course, thanks!

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@rmackay9 Hi Randy, I will contact you via the Companion gitter chat.

I got a message from mouser saying that the export restrictions are solved now so we can order these directly from Japan now.

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Made a case for the Blue: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2243883

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Hi Tridge. I received my blue board. Installation of Ardupilot was a breeze using Mirko’s procedure. but now I don’t have a clue how to connect with Mission Planner. any guide exist? if not, how can we build one? thx.
-Eric

Hi @Swift, you have 2 ways to connect, first is using radio connected on a serial port and start using -A option /dev/ttyOX(number of serial port) or if you are connecting using tcp or udp you should use -A udp::port
When I connect my beaglebone on my computer, the computer has IP 192.168.7.1 and beagle 192.168.7.2, so I use ardu<copter/plane> -A udp:192.168.7.1:14550 and in mission planner choose the option UDP informing port 14550.

@mirkix Vielen Dank! for your work. I have just started a personal project with this board and with it also a blog http://dronerai.de/blog/. I would like to know more info about ESC’s connection, could you say us where we can find it or how they should be connected. Thank you very much!

@Gabriel_Dai Hi Gabriel. There is nothing speziale to connect the ESCs. I recommend to remove the + Pin if your ESC is equipped with a BEC.

Regards
Mirko

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Hi,

I bought a couple of these and have set them up on rovers to teach my sons robotics.

I have everything working except the radio connection and I cannot seem to find any information on this.

I expect I connect the receiver to the DSM2 port. Does the receiver have to be a DSM2 receiver? I have some OrangeRx R920X V2 SBUS but the power from the DSM2 port is not sufficient to power them. I read on Mirko’s instructions that the signal voltage should not exceed 3.3V but all the receivers are 5V, I also have some PPM converters but these are also 5V so I am totally confused.

Any help would be appreciated, I have done a lot of googling but this information is eluding me.

Cheers,

Paddy

I ordered one of these from Arrow and I received mine Next Day Fedex with Free Shipping in the US. Just an FYI for anyone in the US. It looks great actually. Lots of IO and not too big. Runs Ardupilot.

Anyone know if the onboard compass actually is usable?

Can I suggest that it gets its own section in the hardware section on these forums.

@Miko or anyone.

  1. Can I use an i2C hub and connect a digital airspeed sensor as well as compass?
  2. Any pointers on Current and Voltage monitoring with 3DR-style power modules (assume ADC port is used)
  3. How does Telem 1 and Telem 2 map to the serial ports? I can probably figure it out but I assume you know!
  4. Can I use Bluetooth and Wifi for Mission Planner connectivity? How?
  5. Can we use the OLED display now supported in Ardupilot via an i2c hub?

The more I look at this board the better it looks. Sorry for all the questions. I will tackle them myself but I thought you would probably know this stuff anyway.

@Paddy Hi Paddy,

you have to connected your receiver signal (DSM, SBUS or PPM) to connector E4 pin 4 when using ArduPilot (connect receiver GND to BeagleBone Blue GND as well), the DSM2 connector does not work here. Do you have a scope to check the signal voltage? If not, you may have a Arduino (5V) and can use this project https://github.com/mirkix/ardulevel that show the signal level. At some OrangeRX the signal is 3.3V even it is powered by 5V.

Regards

Mirko

@Marc_Dornan Hi Marc,

you can use the onboard compass. All my flight are done with the onboard compass only.

Regarding the hardware section, I would suggest to post in Hardware->Linux With the topic Blue: …

For my first autopilot project BBBmini, this worked well.

Regards
Mirko