Hi everyone, apologies if this is the wrong place to ask this question – please move if necessary!
I am working on a project that includes displaying avionics on a LCD screen, via an application built on the BeagleBone Black. I need to get actual avionics data (altitude, airspeed, climb rate, etc) from somewhere to display on the screen. I realized that software like Ardupilot already has this data if installed on a device like the BeagleBone Blue. My question is, can I run Ardupilot on the BeagleBone Blue only for the purposes of getting the data I need out via MAVLink? I could run a python application on the BB that fetches the data via the MAVLink protocol, and sends it out via UART or something to the BeagleBone Black display. My main concern is, can I run the ardupilot software in a basic way that doesn’t require creating a flight plan, connecting to a ground station, and a lot of other configurations I don’t need? I basically just need it to run and give me the flight data.
Now, I know that running a whole autopilot software for this purpose is overkill (and I am open to suggestions for simpler solutions that would allow me to programmatically get the data I need), however, I genuinely have an interest in using Ardupilot for its intended purpose in the future, so I don’t mind using and learning how Ardupilot works.
Thanks in advance!