Hi,
I have a BBB (Beagle Bone Blue) that has never been installed. I was just wondering if it is still an option to be used with the lates Ardupilot code in Copter mode?
Yes, but…
It will likely prove frustrating. It is not a particularly friendly device, and you are probably better served using something else rather than investing the time it takes to configure it.
The main issue with it is that its a full Linux computer so you need to shut it down before you unplug the battery or it corrupts its memory.
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I’m not sure I’d characterize that as the main issue, but it definitely adds to the list.
I think you have more recent experience than I do configuring one. Maybe you could share some of the pitfalls. I recall many.
That was the main one that stopped me from using it.
IO is the other big problem, all the software works fine, lua works, ardupilot networking works, its a super computer of a flight controller but trying to connect stuff to it is a pain,
PWM out is handled by some extra controller that works like a FPGA so you need to be a low level hardware dark arts guru to make it do anything other than basic PWM output so no dshot.
It has some pins that can be used for ADC but only up to 1.8v and some pins that can be used for relays but only relays, you cant use it for any other GPIO function like wheel encoders, buttons or rangefinders.
canbus kind of works things get detected but never properly function.
SBUS RC input is handled by the extra controller chip and is dangerous. if there is no signal it will just detect the rc channels at random values that constantly change, my rover was arming and disarming itself.
I got around most of the problems because I was using mavlink for RC and IO but the corruption was something i couldnt bypass.
I think there is still some very neich use cases where the beaglebone blue would be ideally suited:
its massive amount of ram and processing power compared to a micro controller, it could run multiple massive scrips without running out of memory.
Using its native usb you can add a lot of hardware that you couldnt normally connect to a flight controller use like USB serial adapters or usb ethernet.
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IO complexity was my biggest hurdle. I recall jumping through hoops to get the correct kernel version to even have any hope of success. I didn’t notice RC issues, but I abandoned it before truly stress testing in a real world scenario.
I think a more robust serial RC protocol on a UART (like ExpressLRS) might be advisable, given @geofrancis experience with SBUS.
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