Hello all,
I’m new to Ardupilot and flight controllers so I’m struggling quite a lot. I’m building a very simple fixed wing aircraft (2 surface controllers - elevator and rudder only) that needs to be autonomous but also radio controllable if the need arises. It needs to be extremely light yet capable of GPS localisation, telemetry and as mentionned above, RC control.
I took a look at the list of flight controllers supported by arduplane and the Kakute boards stand out to me for their very tiny form factor. Specifically, the Kakute H7/ H7 Mini (link). I would like to use it with SiK telemetry radios. Is this feasible? Will it work with RC input? I will be using Mission Planner on a PC as a ground station.
Yes, that looks like it will do the trick. You’ll need to use an RC radio for the initial setup, but once you’ve got it tuned you wouldn’t need an RC. SiK telemetry radios are well known and work fine. Stick with name-brand like Holybro or mRo. There are plenty of clones out there but they seem to cause lots of problems. Just realize the range on SiK radios range won’t be revolutionary. I don’t know about the V3, but with V2 I’ve reached about 700m on a good day in ideal conditions but normally I’m happy if I get 500m from them. Looking at the specs for the V3, i’d expect about the same performance.
Thanks a lot for your reply!!
Do you have any idea how the 3DR radio would be connected to the flight controller if i use the kakute h7 for example? I looked around and I couldn’t find any answers…
In regards to using only the GCS, its sadly not an option. This project is for a competition and for safety reasons we must be able to switch from autopilot to manual flight.
Just out of curiosity, which wifi board are you using and what kind of range are you having? Is there any advantage to using Wifi vs 3DR radio telemetry?
ESP8266 radios. I have them on most craft for configuration, calibration and tuning purposes. Range is 100m or less so not much use for live telemetry. One obvious advantage is you don’t need anything on the Ground side. I use Laptops, IOS and Android phones and connection is simple.
A note about telemetry options. I use SiK radios also but I primarily use telemetry on my Transmitter, a Radiomaster, using the Yaapu script. With long range RC systems like Frsky R9 or Crossfire, I use both, the range is very good. TBS has a version of the Crossfire Rx with more power for the transmitted telemetry and range is excellent.
Hi Dave,
I am trying to connect a Holybro SiK Radio to Kakute H7v2. The Serial 1 (UART 1) pins on these are on the VTX port of the board. Am I correct to assume that we have to connect the radio to these?
You can connect the radios to any free UART/serial. Just make sure you configure the UART for the radios. I don’t know the Kakute, but most boards will default some UARTS to things like GPS, but in most cases you can re-configure them to suit your needs.
Thanks Allister. Kakute H7v2 has set up some UARTS to with certain components by default. UART1 by default is set up as telem 1, but it is used by the VTX port.
If I need to reconfigure UARTx, which are the parameter that I should be changing.
Currently trying to connect a SiK Telemetry Radio to the same Kakute H7 via QGroundControl. Does anybody know how to configure this? The radio is connected to UART 1.