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Lab 08- Believer Comms and Firmware

Overview

The purpose of this lab was to configure, test, and verify wireless telemetry communication between two RFD900x modems and to install and test the Windracers custom firmware on the Blue Cube flight controller using Mission Planner and Ground Control to prep the Believer further for flight.

Part 1 – RFD900x Setup

Specification Questions

Operating frequency: 902–915 MHz and 915–928 MHz (for interference mitigation).

Why connect antennas before power: Prevents damage to the transmitter by allowing power to radiate properly.

Special feature of USB Serial Plug: Includes a 6-pin connector for easy serial interfacing.

Pin 1 color and location: Farthest left, black wire.

BAUD definition: Rate of data transfer per second.

Configuration Settings

Each group configured its modems using RFDTools. The Serial Speed was set to 115200 bps (from default 57600 bps), and each group used a unique NETID to prevent cross-communication interference.

Table 1

Table 1

Group

Setting Name

Default

Set Value

Purpose

SERIAL_SPEED

115

Increased data rate for faster communication

NETID

125

Unique ID to avoid interference with other groups

There are no rows in this table

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Testing Communication

Using PuTTY, both ground and air units were connected via USB serial ports. After setting the correct COM port and baud rate (115200), “hello world!” messages were successfully transmitted between computers, verifying two-way connectivity.

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Part 2 – Installing Firmware

Specification Questions

File type (.apj): Used by ArduPilot for loading firmware onto flight controllers.

What is Mission Planner: Free ground control software for configuring and monitoring flight controllers.

Alternatives: QGroundControl, MAVProxy.

Compatibility: The Windracers firmware is expected to work with Mission Planner.

Blue Cube memory: 2 MB.

Firmware Installation

The Windracers .apj firmware was loaded using Mission Planner on the AIDA3 PC following the ArduPilot firmware loading guide.

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Testing the Firmware

Once installed, the Blue Cube was connected via USB to Ground Control. A new Serial connection was created using:

Type: Serial

COM Port: (from Device Manager)

Baud Rate: 115200

The connection was successful, and the aircraft appeared in the Flight Plan interface.

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Results and Discussion

The telemetry modules functioned correctly, confirming successful configuration and serial communication. The firmware upload was verified, and the Cube was successfully detected in Ground Control. This demonstrates that both the communication link and onboard firmware were operational, forming the backbone of a fully functional CubePilot system.

Conclusion

The lab reinforced the process of:

Configuring telemetry modules using RFDTools,

Establishing serial communication with PuTTY, and

Loading and verifying custom firmware using Mission Planner and Ground Control.

This foundational setup allows for real-time data transfer and remote control capability in future Believer operations in AT21900.

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