I’m in the proccess of trying out Arducopter on OpenPilot Revo hardware. Seems connect and configure fine from Mission Planner via a USB cable, but after a bit of head scratching I’m still not able to get Mission Planner to connect via the OPLink radios.
They so far don’t behave link the old 3DR radios I’m used to (no Link LED and not accessible via the SIK Radio GUI).
Has anybody had success via OPLink radios ?
I’m wondering if the radio modules are supported in the ported over FC code yet.
I have no experience with these radios but I’ve ping the ArduPilot/ChibiOS gitter channel to see if anyone knows.
To me they look like serial radios which I would have thought would have worked but I’m guessing. Anyway, let’s see if any of the ChibiOS experts know…
hey sneezy,
see section “default interfaces” in referenced wiki page. OPLINK hardware on fullsize revo is not supported by ardupilot firmware as for now.
revomini’s OPLink port pins however can be used to connect alternative hardware like an external SD card adapter. this requires setting respective pin assignments in hwdef and recompiling though.
Thanks basti, that info will save me a lot of time today, much appreciated.
Sadly we made an assumption that we would be able to use the built-in radio module, we’ll need to work around that problem or swap to another FC.
I’m not 100% sure but I think the OPLink radio chip (RFM22B ?) uses SPI bus to converse with the FC MCU, which is a big difference to the old school TTL serial used by the 3DR type radio modems.
At the least I can see that Ardupilot would need to have SPI comms modules in the code and know the address of the chip as a starting point, a bit like the digital pitot sensor (which is I2C).
Yes, when this was discussed on the ChibiOS channel, @tridge mentioned that the OPLink used an SPI interface. Tridge is happy to provide advice on how this could be implemented but a developer will need to step forward to volunteer to add support I think.
Hi,
the title of this thread is spot on to my interest, so I just add on here.
Unfortunately I am not a developer, but I can help testing
Hope to make it easier for someone with developer skills to try.
I have many OPLink mini units and full size Revolution, Revo mini and Sparky2 flight controllers. Can test on helicopters, quads, fixed wings, car and boats.
Just now trying out Ardurover on a sailboat using Openpilot Revolution board. Its amazing to have the mighty Ardupilot running on this small board. For rc control already using an OPLM input PPM with no problem.
However, telemetry will not work as discussed here. Its just sooo convenient to have both rc control and telemetry in one and same radio link and difficult to move back once gotten used to it.
It frees up ports on the boards that can be used for other work and the OPLinks can be upgraded from max 100 mW to max 1W. There are meny possible setup combinations with these units, and also getting easier to get hold of in good quality (at least my experience).
Aha, I found this thread very helpful, how to set up a similar solution but using other hardware, using the telemetry prod above (rfd900x radio modem). I will give it a try.
Hi vierfuffzig, I see that you can help me…I would like to use the OPLink port of my fc revo mini for an SPI peripheral (external SD card). This would be essential for me to record the logs. I’m currently using the I2c revo firmware. Could you please help me with pin assignment in hwdef? I really don’t know how to change it. Thank you anyway.
