Skip to content
Flash ArduPlane onto the CubePilotUse Mission Planner to configure the Here3 GPSRe-enable CAN bus communicationSet GPS parametersRe-flash Windracers firmwareLoad a clean parameter set
Lab 10 Motors and Controls (RX & TX)
AT209 – Believer Avionics
Group 4 – Nolan Lach, Jacob Sieber, Ryan Pirro, Elijah Meadows, Madison Baker, Venkata Devapatla
Introduction
This week in Lab 10, our group continued to work with our Believer’s avionics, syncing new firmware and updating parameters. This lab focused on building the Receiver that will be found within the drone, and connecting it the controller so they can properly communicate between each other. We also worked through our GPS problems from last weeks lab.
Receiver Setup – Tracer Nano RX
We started the lab by identifying and preparing the Tracer Nano RX. This small board is what allows our DATX to communicate with the aircraft.
Tracer Nano RX before any soldering
To install it properly, the header pins needed to be soldered onto the board.
RX held in the helping hands to help with soldering
Jacob soldering the header pins onto the RX
After soldering, the RX was fully assembled and ready to connect antennas and wiring.
Finished RX with antennas installed.
DATX & Workspace Setup
While the RX soldering was happening, other group members including me also prepared our DATX, laptop, and flight-controller interface.
Ground station and airspeed sensor connected during setup
Fixing the GPS Parameter Issue
Our biggest challenge from last week was that we couldn’t configure the GPS because unexpected technical troubles.
To fix this, we had to:
While this step was time consuming, it was necessary to get our all of our avionics properly working.
Flashing the TX Firmware & Pairing the System
After we solved the GPS issues, we then updated the firmware for our Tracer Micro TX using TBS Agent Web, this firmware came from an already assembled, airworthy Believer drone with correct parameters.
Before Pairing, we also edited the model files in the controller SD card.
Viewing and editing model files
When both units were in bind mode, we initiated the pairing process — and it successfully paired!
Binding confirmed (BINDING OK)
Conclusion
This week we made lots of progress on configuring our Believer drone’s avionics. We soldered and assembled the Tracer Nano RX receiver which will be inside the Believer receiving inputs for flying. We flashed new, well working firmware onto the Tracer, and successfully connected the TX and RX so we can control the aircraft in flight.
The only setback was our GPS troubles from the previous lab which we had to take time and fix. After working out this problem everything is now properly synced, and ready to be tested with our ESCs, motors, and flight control servos we will be using next lab.
Want to print your doc?
This is not the way.
This is not the way.
Try clicking the ··· in the right corner or using a keyboard shortcut (
CtrlP
) instead.