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  4. GPS & IMU into VOXL2 (outside of dsp)

GPS & IMU into VOXL2 (outside of dsp)

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    ryan.langlois1
    Contributor
    wrote on last edited by
    #1

    We're looking to pull in GPS and IMU data into the VOXL2. We are not using the DSP. We are using an external flight controller with the VOXL2 as a standalone SBC for our autonomy. We want to use an external IMU and Compass to improve our state estimation. What would be your recommendations on doing this?

    Eric KatzfeyE 1 Reply Last reply
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    • R ryan.langlois1

      We're looking to pull in GPS and IMU data into the VOXL2. We are not using the DSP. We are using an external flight controller with the VOXL2 as a standalone SBC for our autonomy. We want to use an external IMU and Compass to improve our state estimation. What would be your recommendations on doing this?

      Eric KatzfeyE Online
      Eric KatzfeyE Online
      Eric Katzfey
      ModalAI Team
      wrote on last edited by Eric Katzfey
      #2

      @ryan-langlois1 How are you connecting your external flight controller to VOXL 2? For the external IMU and compass, which units were you considering using? There are 2 IMUs on the VOXL 2 board as well, would you rather use one of those?

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      • modaltbM Offline
        modaltbM Offline
        modaltb
        ModalAI Team
        wrote on last edited by
        #3

        Hi @ryan-langlois1 ,

        Also, check out this, we have a few options to expose an apps_proc UART and then we can pump MAVLink through it between the two systems.

        This is a use case we are internally using presently, but it's not in the production release just yet (it's in the dev branch of voxl-mavlink-server https://gitlab.com/voxl-public/voxl-sdk/services/voxl-mavlink-server/-/tree/dev)

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        • Eric KatzfeyE Eric Katzfey

          @ryan-langlois1 How are you connecting your external flight controller to VOXL 2? For the external IMU and compass, which units were you considering using? There are 2 IMUs on the VOXL 2 board as well, would you rather use one of those?

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          ryan.langlois1
          Contributor
          wrote on last edited by
          #4

          @Eric-Katzfey We're using a daughter board; yours (the 3.0 with UART & USB) and we have a custom one that essentially does the same as yours, but we're converting USB to ethernet on-board. This eliminates our need for a fat external USB to eth converter. As for external IMU, we're considering a vectornav VN200. We currently fly that same unit on a different airframe. We are also considering using the ones onboard the VOXL2, but I'm assuming it's a low cost "hobby-grade" mems? I believe it's the icm-42688 so I'm looking at it online and comparing to the vectornav units.

          Eric KatzfeyE 1 Reply Last reply
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          • modaltbM modaltb

            Hi @ryan-langlois1 ,

            Also, check out this, we have a few options to expose an apps_proc UART and then we can pump MAVLink through it between the two systems.

            This is a use case we are internally using presently, but it's not in the production release just yet (it's in the dev branch of voxl-mavlink-server https://gitlab.com/voxl-public/voxl-sdk/services/voxl-mavlink-server/-/tree/dev)

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            ryan.langlois1
            Contributor
            wrote on last edited by
            #5

            @modaltb thanks for the info, but we already have our UART configuration working. See my response to Eric Katzfey for explanation. We're about to start doing some gps-denied research in-which we expect to have gps, and then have gps get jammed. We'll need a better IMU than the mems on pixhawk and VOXL2.

            For what it's worth, we're starting small here. GPS-denied SLAM is not our wheelhouse. We develop fully autonomous "plays" and swarming algorithms on fixed-wing UAS.

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            • R ryan.langlois1

              @Eric-Katzfey We're using a daughter board; yours (the 3.0 with UART & USB) and we have a custom one that essentially does the same as yours, but we're converting USB to ethernet on-board. This eliminates our need for a fat external USB to eth converter. As for external IMU, we're considering a vectornav VN200. We currently fly that same unit on a different airframe. We are also considering using the ones onboard the VOXL2, but I'm assuming it's a low cost "hobby-grade" mems? I believe it's the icm-42688 so I'm looking at it online and comparing to the vectornav units.

              Eric KatzfeyE Online
              Eric KatzfeyE Online
              Eric Katzfey
              ModalAI Team
              wrote on last edited by
              #6

              @ryan-langlois1 said in GPS & IMU into VOXL2 (outside of dsp):

              vectornav VN200

              Yes, we have a couple of the 42688 on board. What are the external interfaces on the Vectornav unit?

              R 1 Reply Last reply
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              • Eric KatzfeyE Eric Katzfey

                @ryan-langlois1 said in GPS & IMU into VOXL2 (outside of dsp):

                vectornav VN200

                Yes, we have a couple of the 42688 on board. What are the external interfaces on the Vectornav unit?

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                ryan.langlois1
                Contributor
                wrote on last edited by
                #7

                @Eric-Katzfey 232. I'm not terribly worried about it. I've worked with their VN-100 series before, which we might go with. A logic shifter should work fine. So maybe we open another UART? Our custom daughter board connects to J3 and J5 so we can get more than 1 UART even though we're currently only using UART7? from the J3.

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