LIDAR measurements using FUTABA? (help for a PhD Thesis)

Hi everybody. This is my first message on the board, I hope you can help me on some issues I have.

I want to build a quadcopter preferably using APM, it will be a FPV, then if I can get a reliable one it will be used in my PhD project. Thus it will be more than a hobby then.

What I finally want to do is, [color=#00BF00]travel in field[/color] a few of 10s of miles then [color=#FF00BF]autopilot [/color]the quad. Scan the terrain with photos and [color=#4040FF]LIDAR [/color]to have a topography map. The rest is my[color=#800080] PhD thesis[/color] :slight_smile:

The component I researched are,
Xu Gong 10 pro V2 frame (foldability is important for treks in the field)
APM 2.6 obviously
DJI E300 for motor-esc-propeller (may be T motors depending on to the budget)
Futaba 8j receiver.

Then I will add FPV (Fatshark Predator), radio telemetry, and LIDAR (3DR).

My main concern here is about the Futaba. I cannot be sure if I will have some compatibility issues between Futaba and APM or not. The only source I could find are some youtube videos and all are dated 2 years back.

Does anyone have any experience on this?
I appreciate you.

The Futaba 8J transmitter will work just fine. It usually comes with a R2008SB receiver, which is what you’ll have to connect to your APM. However APM’s don’t recognize the Futaba’s S-Bus feature so you’ll have to connect each channel from the receiver to the APM with separate wires. However if you instead use a Pixhawk, it does recognize Futaba’s S-Bus, so you would need to connect only a signal wire between the receiver and Pixhawk and get all 8 channels (It multiplexes them). It’s a much simpler setup.

I own and use a very nice Futaba transmitter and am aware of their high performance. However if you haven’t yet obtained your Transmitter I’d recommend a Taranis instead of a Futaba. You get an amazing amount of features for the price and the Taranis is a far more capable transmitter. It’s cheaper than the Futaba you are considering also.

If your plan is to lift a LIDAR unit and a camera you had better think carefully about a Xu Gong. True, it is very transportable. But to lift the sort of things you are describing may be a challenge for it. My sense is it would be too small for your needs. A slightly less transportable option might be one of the Tarot line. They can run larger props and motors, and do fold to some extent.

Have you heard about HK Pilot 2.7. It is a APM clone, and they are selling a set including FC, radio telemetry, minim osd, a gps+compass unit (having ubox module). All the parts are 3DR clones, and the price is about 200 USD lower than the 3DR ones (180 vs 380 USD).
Do you think it will do the job?
Can I run it like APM (arducopter and mission planner etc)?
Lidar connection?
Follow me?

So far, with the reply of +OtherHand, I decided to get a Taranis+X8R. I researched, there are 2 certain methods to use SBus of Taranis on APM (or HK possibly). So I can use 16 Ch of it in future. (Servo etc)

Yet I am still not very sure about the frame. XuGong and its IRC brand gimbal cost 390 USD (199+189). On the other hand, tarot frame (foldable, quad) and 2D gimbal cost 190 USD (99+89). I will have a more protective area for my GoPro on Tarot, however it still has a folded volume of 3-4 times more than XuGong (due to landing gear).

I will probably give the order till Monday for FC, E300, Taranis. First I need to decide between HK 2.7 and APM 2.6.
In a few weeks, I will order the frame.

Have any idea on my questions?