HEX ProfiCNC Here2 GPS - a mystery

Hardware Other Hardware
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Okay, Just got the Here2 in to switch in for the original Here and wanted to know if anyone has any documentation on this thing. Resellers have a great list of features (custom LEDs, Barometer, firmware updates) but @proficnc NC and HEX don’t even have a users manual that I can find, and its not even listed anymore on their ‘Products’ tab at the top of their webpages.

Can we access the barometer on this yet? can Ardupilot make use of it? what about those LEDs?

I felt the same way about the original Here, nice-seeming product, but terrible documentation.

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I am in the same boat as you and also notice they took it out of their website, it is only in the shop not under products tab.

I am waiting they implement UAVCAN in it as they promised, but i am afraid they are very busy with HereLink and these issues are not on top of the list at the moment.

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I’m also worried about the promise for CAN as well. If they can’t even release good documentation up front, I’m really worried about their follow through.

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Documentation just like firmware has always been a community collaboration. Ask and we will help as much as we can.

We have recently hired 3additional full time Developer team members, and CAN is on top of their list.

The firmware development for the gps is under the open motor drive project.

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I understand that if I use Ardupilot and don’t pay money for it that I could expect nothing but a middle finger in terms of support (but instead there is this huge community here). On the flip side, if I pay what I gauge to be a fair price for something (reseller profit+cost to manufacture + dev cost + profit margin) as I suspect I have with this, then I would expect at least something other than the sales print for a device like this. My best example of this is the stuff by Craft and Theory (@tomlauzon) here: http://ardupilot.org/copter/docs/common-frsky-telemetry.html They obviously want me to buy their stuff (and I did).

While I’m not familiar with the “community collaboration” model of documentation and firmware for a hardware product as the sole plan for those things (third party firmware and supplemental docs don’t fall in this category) it wouldn’t surprise me if this was a thing. But there is literally nothing from you guys anywhere that I have found. Nothing here

(not even a release notice), nothing on your website, nothing on your github (that I could find on the HERE2 at least), or anywhere else that I looked. Am I missing something? If I wanted to participate in the community collaboration I would have no idea where to even begin as it doesn’t seem to be obvious anywhere.

Here then are my questions for @proficnc then:

  1. how do you program the LEDs,

  2. do you have files (pcb schematics, data sheets, ANYTHING AT ALL) on what this is made of

  3. will all the HERE2 modules have the same MAG chips, or will they differ like they did on the HERE, we had issues with some chip types not working well, and others working just fine

Questions for adruplane devs (@tridge, @wickedshell):

  1. can we get external barometers added (like in copter)?

  2. can we port over arducopter ground effect compensation code (off topic, but related to question 1)?

Questions for the community: Who is using something other than the HERE module for compass and gps, and loves it?

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@jace26

I have been using mrobotics gps and compas units with great success. quality parts. check them out mrobotics

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The LED functionality and access to the Barometer will come with CAN the team are actively working on that now.

You can get involved just like any part of the Ardupilot team. Calls on Monday afternoons US time, or by asking questions here, or on the Facebook groups. But primarily via your reseller.

The reason that the hardware is so cheap, is that we don’t have to pay for a massive team of technical writers etc. though recently we have just hired and started paying 4 full time Ardupilot developers! That’s over 300K USD that’s going towards mostly Ardupilot development. Other companies have pitched in and have paid for people to do a lot of editing of the wiki, and others have sponsored other developers.

Personally, I’m taking a part time wage now, which is awesome! I can now focus on engineering more to get great stuff out the door.

But we simply don’t charge enough to hire the sort of team you are asking for. My priorities are on getting the firmware right.

I’m truly sorry if that doesn’t suite you. But I can assure you that the CAN future we have been talking about is now real, and that’s why we have put all of our profits and further borrowings into the software team to make this happen.

We are not VC funded at all! So we don’t have cash to splash.

Your questions…

1… programming the LEDs… coming when ProfiLED is integrated into master. It’s currently public on bugoblitorator’s github account for the LEDs strips, and the CAN LEDs will be added soon.
2… due to a total lack of anything positive coming from supposed open hardware other than people trying to put us out of the game with our own work… it’s not likely that we will release schematics for new development. However, none of the chips are hidden… the processor is an stm32f302, the IMU is the ICM20948, the Barometer is the MS5611… the LEDs are ProfiLED, and as mentioned before, how to use the LEDs is all in Bugoblitorator’s new branch
3… all Here2 and Here+V2 have the same sensor set now. Only the ICM20948. The old here+ had the mag that is in the icm20948 onboard, and testing showed it to be the best. It was included on the old here plus so we could prove it in the field.

Your second set of questions…

  1. External Barometer is already in Ardupilot

  2. I don’t understand the question… what are you porting it too? It’s alread in Ardupilot

Who are you getting your hardware through? They can help you with all your questions… that is why we sell via resellers, and do not do direct sales.

We are working towards a dedicated wiki and support forum for our hardware as well. But I hope this all helps in the meantime.

@jschall @bugobliterator may help if you have specific questions.

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  1. looking again I see that yes, the external barometer is in the plane code. cool.

  2. arducopter has a function that you can enable to add in ground effect compensation, but its not in the plane code that I am aware of. http://ardupilot.org/copter/docs/ground-effect-compensation.html

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Does the HERE2 use WAAS correction?

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If uBlox supports it… then it’s there.

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Hi ProfiCNC,

what’s about the progress with CAN as you answered in Dec 2018; now it’s nearly April?

“The LED functionality and access to the Barometer will come with CAN the team are actively working on that now.”

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See here: https://discuss.cubepilot.org/t/here-2-can-update/471

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So I’m coming abck to the here2 now and finding that many questions have been answered and MP and ardupilot have caught up with CAN, hooray!

But, I still havent seen anything on getting the baro to work. Has anyone got the Here2 baro to work over CAN with arduplane specifically or is this still not possible (I’m on 3.9.10)

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Just select CAN on the possible ports for Barometer

And use SLCAN to enable the Barometer on the Here2.

Latest support for CubePilot hardware is on our forums, obviously the ardupilot bit is still here

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Hmm, I’m not seeing that as an option, nor does the parameter list seem to show that as an option.

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Just try enabling external… I will give it a go myself

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I’d love to hear how this goes, or to have a screen show showing me where on 4.0.0beat two you can “enable it”. I haven’t found it yet…

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are you planning to release the schematics, like for the cube?