Connecting EDGE Autonomy EFI to cube problems

ZvikaF · February 3, 2023, 6:51am

Would like to connect this EFI to the cube, in order to get engine data recorded on the log and viewed in mission planner.
Tried the CAN bus option with no success (EFI documentation notes it works with Piccolo autopilot).
Made ESP32 interface that gets the EFI data and sends it to the cube as Mavlink EFI message, alas, the message is not fused with the main vehicle and can only be transmitted as a different one.
is there a way to add the EFI data to the Mavlink in a way that the cube will fuse it to the flight controller and log it ?

BrunoBagarini · February 4, 2023, 6:48pm

If your FC supports it, you could use this ESP32 interface to interact with LUA Scripts and easily integrate these messages into your log file.

tridge · February 4, 2023, 8:21pm

@ZvikaF if you send me the documentation I can see if we can create a lua script that handles the CAN protocol.
Note that we have lua based device drives for two other CAN based EFI systems:

and we have a test lua script that emulates these two CAN EFI systems for testing (the test script outputs on CAN2 and you cross-connect CAN2 to CAN1 to test the driver on CAN1)

github.com

ArduPilot/ardupilot/blob/master/libraries/AP_Scripting/examples/EFI_tester.lua

--[[
   simulator for CAN EFI
   this can be used with a loopback cable between CAN1 and CAN2 to test CAN EFI Drivers
--]]

local driver2 = CAN.get_device2(25)
if not driver2 then
   gcs:send_text(0,string.format("EFISIM: Failed to load CAN driver"))
   return
end

local PARAM_TABLE_KEY = 13
local PARAM_TABLE_PREFIX = "EFISIM_"

-- bind a parameter to a variable given
function bind_param(name)
    local p = Parameter()
    assert(p:init(name), string.format('could not find %s parameter', name))
    return p
end

This file has been truncated. show original

ZvikaF · February 4, 2023, 8:52pm

Thanks a lot @tridge and @BrunoBagarini
Excellent idea, did not think about that, will check the LUA based CAN drivers for the other EFI.
Will compile the required messages, how would you like me to send it @tridge ?

tridge · February 5, 2023, 9:31pm

@ZvikaF got the spec.
As I replied in email, a few things unclear, we’ll need to experiment:

it doesn’t say if 16 bit numbers are big-endian or little-endian
some units are clearly wrong, eg. barometer in degrees makes no sense
some messages it isn’t clear if it is an input or an output. For example, the throttle source, should we send message THROTTLE_SOURCE to set that we want CAN% ?

tridge · February 5, 2023, 9:33pm

@ZvikaF are you on the ArduPilot discord server? We can create a thread under hardware for this and work on it there. I could create a test driver which we could use to test endianness, it would just read and display the temperatures and pressures.
Then I can add throttle output and we can test it running
join discord here: ArduPilot

ZvikaF · February 5, 2023, 10:11pm

Thanks a lot, answered in the mail, joined the discord, under ZvikaF
will you open the thread ?

tridge · February 6, 2023, 12:07am

i’ve created the thread and pinged you there

ZvikaF · February 12, 2023, 5:58am

Updating, loaded the can_test.lua, printed on the HUD the messages that the EFI sends.
looks that all the needed data is there.
my Lua knowledge is low, looking for a way to update the relevant parameters for it to be shown on the MP and recorded on the cube.