I discovered this about two years ago when I implemented and tested both types. Since they are distinct, I presumed they were proprietary.
Note - both also support MavLink - and Storm32 support MavLink2 to support some custom commands having to do with their camera modules. The documentation for Alexmos states that it’s serial protocol has more capabilities than it’s MavLink implementation - but it doesn’t elaborate. When testing the Alexmos serial protocol, I found it didn’t work properly.
Anyway - since the Storm32 Serial protocol is used for the SIYI A8 - I’m guessing that this product may be using their own version of the Storm32 gimbal control board - which is open source. (Alexmos is not)
I took a look at my MNT1_DEFLT_MODE parameter - I wasn’t familiar with it. I can see now that it’s the parameter that sets how the gimbal will respond. So what would be handy is the ability to set this parameter from an RC Switch or MavLink command. In particular, to have the ability to set MNT1_DEFLT_MODE=3 for RC targting.
Txs for the info on the AlexMos serial issue. We could sort that out although I wonder how many users there will be of Alexmos in the future. If you’ve got a link to any ready-to-use hardware that’d be great. No pressure though of course.
BTW the Siyi uses it’s own protocol which is very different from the SToRM32 serial protocol. For the Siyi setup AP needs to know which serial port is connected to the gimbal but the protocol used is actually specified by the MNT1_TYPE parameter. It’s really overkill to have both separate MNT1_TYPE and SERIALx_PROTOCOL parameter options for each mount type… so for Siyi we reuse the “SToRM32 Gimbal Serial” SERIALx_PROTOCOL setting. I plan to rename “SToRM32 Gimbal Serial” to just “Gimbal”. This will make it more like the “Rangefinder” option just below it.
To my knowledge, there are no “ready to use” gimbals with Alexmos control boards.
However - I believe they are critically important because of their support for encoders - which in my experience, make a huge difference in gimbal performance. Technically, Storm32 also supports encoders - but no one makes hardware for it.
iFlight sells gimbal motors with and without encoders - and Alexmos gimbal controllers with and without encoder support. I bought encoder equipped motors and a controller from iFlight when I built my Alexmos gimbal. My guess is that people with advanced needs for camera gimbals may be taking the same approach as I did - but that’s just a guess. https://shop.iflight-rc.com/motion-control-systems-cat34
Thanks for explaining about the serial protocol and MNT1_TYPE issue.
If you create a parameter option of “gimbal” for the SERIALx_PROTOCOL you’ll then need to ensure all gimbal controllers with unique serial protocols are then identified ins a consistent manner with secondary parameters. As far as I know, there are at least 3 proprietary serial gimbal protocols - Alexmos, Storm32 and SIYI. Perhaps Gremsy too. Plus - MavLink - which requires a serial connection.
Quite a challenge to design. Please let me know if I can support your efforts.
