Soliciting Boat Hardware Advice/General Questions

Hardware Rovers and boats
1

Hello!

I am on a small research team that is building a proof of concept autonomous water testing boat, and we are looking for some advice on the control hardware. We have already designed/built the hull and acquired ESCs, motors and servos. We are looking for a flight controller, radio/telemetry equipment for the boat and our computer on the shore, a GPS, a battery and a battery charger. The controller would be running waypoint missions and would be running 2 ESCs/Motors and 2 rudder servos.The battery does not need to be particularly high capacity, as this is a proof of concept, the runtime can be quite short. The radio equipment can similarly have a short range, it is only for demonstration purposes. The controller and GPS must be capable of sending location data over to a companion computer, probably a RPi 3, so that we can location-stamp our testing data. Having the ability to add in a depth sensor to the controller later in the design process would be a plus, but is not a requirement.

I have reviewed some past posts on this forum, and have poked through the documentation. I am currently considering the Holybro Kakute F7 V1.5, but the documentation seems to suggest that it may not be able to run the full Ardupilot firmware. I also cannot find any information on its ability to pass along information to a companion computer, except for the fact that it has an unassigned serial port that we might be able to make use of. I also have some additional, more general questions:

-Is it possible to pass data from a companion computer back through a controller to be sent via radio to a ground station?

-Is Ardurover the right software for this application?

Our budget for the outstanding components is a strict 200 CAD, shipping and tax included. Any advice on what hardware to purchase would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

2

you should look at the Matek H743-Mini or slim they are well supported and can be found for a very reasonable price.

1 Like
3

Thanks for the advice, we will be proceeding with a H743 Slim over the Kakute.

4

Hi, thinking of building a floating platform, for positioning the umbilical cord of an ROV.
then need the option of position hold, also want the option that it can be run out with a regular rc controller, phone app or something simple.
is this card suitable for this?
Any advice on what hardware to purchase would be greatly appreciated from me to:-)
Thank you!

5

The matek will do what you want it to do. If you need a simple RC video telemetry system look at andruav you just need an android based phone to set it up.

6

Thanks, then I go for this card.