GPS on Crius SE board

Jonit · Post by **Jonit** » Mon May 21, 2012 10:20 pm

djrm wrote:There is something wrong here, on my board there is 5V on the VCC terminal. I am using it to supply power to my OSD board.
hth David.

hmm, that is kinda weird, something is wrong with my board, but i assume that i can use any other VCC pin e.g. from FTDI port. Anyway, what about RX and TX pins vs. GROUND? David, can you measure it?

djrm · Post by **djrm** » Mon May 21, 2012 11:19 pm

The signal pins show an average reading of approx 4.5V DC, the actual voltage here will depend on the data.
I'm sure you know that the FTDI and TTL connectors are one and the same i/o ports, they are just two for convenience.

i.e The Tx, Rx, 5V, and Gnd are common to both connectors. If there is no 5V on ther TTL pin then you must have a broken track, if this is so then a link from one 5v pin to the other 5V pin should cure the problem. (The above is guesswork, I have not seen a schematic)

You could check the pin continuity when the board has no power appied. Are you sure you were measuring the DC voltage, and not AC by mistake?

Jonit · Post by **Jonit** » Tue May 22, 2012 10:47 am

now i checked it and you were right, there is a broken path between FTDI and TTL VCC pin. It is hard to see by eye, but on photo you can see it clearly. So I am gonna use FTDI pins instead of TTL and everything should be fine

Thanks for your help.
Jonit

Jonit · Post by **Jonit** » Tue May 22, 2012 1:45 pm

now i stuck on one thing. When i comment //serialCom(); how can I assign functions like Stable mode, gps RTH, gps POS HOLD, etc... to my transmitter switches without using a GUI? I tried to find it somewhere in the code, but without success.

Jonit

sismeiro · Post by **sismeiro** » Tue May 22, 2012 10:38 pm

Jonit wrote:now i stuck on one thing. When i comment //serialCom(); how can I assign functions like Stable mode, gps RTH, gps POS HOLD, etc... to my transmitter switches without using a GUI? I tried to find it somewhere in the code, but without success.
Jonit

I think if you upload the firmware first without the serialCom() commented, configure all the settings you want, write them to the EEPROM and next upload the firmware with the serialCom() commented, all the settings will be there. At least for me I change the firmware and all setting are like before.

Jonit · Post by **Jonit** » Wed May 23, 2012 11:56 am

Good idea, i am gonna try. Thanks

Jonit

Jonit · Post by **Jonit** » Wed May 23, 2012 8:43 pm

Maybe a stupid question, but:
TX from the GPS must be connected to TX pin on the Crius board and RX from the GPS must be connected to RX pin on the Crius board ?

or

TX from the GPS must be connected to RX pin on the Crius board and RX from the GPS must be connected to TX pin on the Crius board ?
:oops:

Jonit

dramida · Post by **dramida** » Mon May 28, 2012 1:12 am

The merged Multiwii shared with Eos bandi R33 GPS code works great with GPS pos hold and RTH. I am using this version on atmega328 core with a single serial and i have to comment / uncomment serialCom() function to use GUI or GPS acordingly on serial 0.

Is any software patch to plug the GPS and the software automatically enable GPS and disable the GUI?

PatrikE · Post by **PatrikE** » Mon May 28, 2012 11:13 am

I have a patch who sense if Gps is present.
It check if theres a NMEA sentence at starup and select comunication depending on that.

To switch.
connect the gps and press reset on ardu.
Or
Connect Ftdi and press reset on ardu.

I'll try to put it in shared later today.

Alexinparis · Post by **Alexinparis** » Mon May 28, 2012 11:48 am

Hi,
There is no need to implement an initial sequence recognition.
It should be possible to reduce enough the code size to parse both serial link in order to detect either a NMEA frame or a MSP frame.

Pyrofer · Post by **Pyrofer** » Mon May 28, 2012 2:05 pm

this "gps auto selection" is exactly what I need!

Any progress been made on detecting GUI or GPS connected automatically?

I have a serial GPS and unless I buy an i2c Interface I cant use it.

PatrikE · Post by **PatrikE** » Mon May 28, 2012 4:08 pm

With this selected.

Code: Select all

#define TRI
#define GPS_PROMINI_SERIAL    9600
#define CRIUS_SE
#define SERIAL_SUM_PPM         ROLL,PITCH,THROTTLE,YAW,AUX1,AUX2,AUX3,AUX4 //For Robe/Hitec/Futaba

My hack occupies 106 bytes..
Binary sketch size: 30486 bytes (of a 30720 byte maximum)

And "original" Shared
Binary sketch size: 30362 bytes (of a 30720 byte maximum)

The 328 starts to be to small......

Enable and select your Gps Baud-rate

Code: Select all

//#define GPS_PROMINI_SERIAL    57600 // Will Autosense if GPS is connected when ardu boots!.....

Connect Gps and reboot.
Or
Connect to Gui and reboot.

The autosense will delay the bootTime 1 sec and blink fast 5 times.

Uploaded to shared

/Patrik

dramida · Post by **dramida** » Mon May 28, 2012 5:44 pm

Thank you Patrik, I'll test the new shared R824 version and eventually make a movie of the GPS switch and GPS pos hold working.
How about LCD config? Will it work in both modes?

2 cent ideea: If dump the bootloader and upload the .hex file on pro mini with 9$ hardware (AVR USB), we could use the entire 32K of flash memory (back to KK update world)

PatrikE · Post by **PatrikE** » Mon May 28, 2012 6:11 pm

The lcd should work in Gui mode i think.
Probobly not with the Gps who spam the port quite much.

dramida · Post by **dramida** » Tue May 29, 2012 9:40 pm

Your GPS sensing software patch works perfect, here is a demonstration of all GPS functions of MultiWii based on Atmega 328 (Crius) and serial GPS.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=952DYF3XV8s

flyboy_____ · Post by **flyboy_____** » Thu May 31, 2012 12:56 pm

DRAMIDA can you please post some pictures of the GPS connected to the CRIUS SE?
Do you think that this GPS will work connected to the serial port?
http://www.dragonlabseu.bigcartel.com/product/10hz-gps

dramida · Post by **dramida** » Thu May 31, 2012 1:11 pm

The GPS conects on Crius on the GPS connector. it is written on the board, near ftdi. Remzibi GPS fits exactly there, no rewiring needed. Also you may put on still the video on 720p image (0:27) with tricopter and see the wiring. (note that this was a previous development, not so good pos hold)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho_PYBi3QwY

tomge · Post by **tomge** » Fri Jun 01, 2012 2:43 pm

flyboy_____ wrote:DRAMIDA can you please post some pictures of the GPS connected to the CRIUS SE?
Do you think that this GPS will work connected to the serial port?

Yes please post some pictures so us not so experienced guys can benefit from your expertise
Please please please...

flyboy_____ · Post by **flyboy_____** » Fri Jun 01, 2012 3:32 pm

Thanks Dramida and PatrikE.

I'm going to try tonigh this GPS http://www.dragonlabseu.bigcartel.com/product/10hz-gps, that I use with Dragon OSD. Do you think it will work?
Do I need to configure anything in this GPS. If so... how to?

I will do the following step by step:
1 - Connect the 4 wires from the GPS to Serial Port on Crius SE (GND,Vcc,Tx,Rx)
2 - Change my usual Tricopter code of Multiwii with the activation of:
#define GPS_PROMINI_SERIAL 9600
#define GPS_PROMINI_SERIAL 57600 // Will Autosense if GPS is connected when ardu boots!.....
3 - Configure in GUI a switch to assign to GPS features.

Is this all??

What do we loose with this mod:
- Possibility of using a Bluetooth transmitter to use telemetry and configuration trough the serial port.
- Can I use GUI normally with FTDI cable?

dramida · Post by **dramida** » Sat Jun 02, 2012 9:27 am

Yes, the 4 steps are correct, that's all, but you must find the baudrate of your Dragon OSD GPS to put in your config.
If you can, set this OSD to 10Hz NMEA sentence.
note.
-You don't need to define twice GPS_PROMINI_SERIAL
-The GPS will be detected at boot time and the GUI will be disabled until you reboot without GPS (Thanks to Patrik)

udi123 · Post by **udi123** » Sun Jun 03, 2012 9:01 am

Hello people
Sorry for my English.
I own CRUISE SE and I wanted to connect a GPS
Is this GPS fit ?
http://www.goodluckbuy.com/gps-receiver ... oller.html
If so,,,
when I will connect it via I2C Can I use GUI ?
Thank you
udi

flyboy_____ · Post by **flyboy_____** » Sun Jun 03, 2012 7:53 pm

I Wrote incorrectly my previous post
What I meant was:

//#define GPS_SERIAL 2 // should be 2 for flyduino v2. It's the serial port number on arduino MEGA
#define GPS_BAUD 115200

#define GPS_PROMINI_SERIAL 57600 // Will Autosense if GPS is connected when ardu boots!.....

This is the correct setup to use serial GPS. Correct?

dramida · Post by **dramida** » Sun Jun 03, 2012 7:59 pm

yep

Be shure to config your GPS to a baudrate accordingly to your define.

flyboy_____ · Post by **flyboy_____** » Sun Jun 03, 2012 11:28 pm

1 problem... 328P is starting to get small.
I want to activate Camera Triguer, and Tilt, and Failsafe but there is no space available.

What can I remove to free space?

flyboy_____ · Post by **flyboy_____** » Mon Jun 04, 2012 1:25 am

Finally I tested Dragon OSD GPS serial connect to 328P (Dev0528)

Issues:
- Cannot load all settings in 328P by lack of space. Must disable camera tilt, trigger and failsafe that I wanted.
- GPS is recognized has green in GUI and its led blinks, but does not pick up info in GUI (alt, lat, lon, sats...)
- Tried reversing Tx and Rx from GPS but that blocks GUI.
- GUI is slow...

How to send AT command to GPS to check if it is sending NMEA?

PatrikE · Post by **PatrikE** » Mon Jun 04, 2012 3:28 am

If you can live without Baro it's possible to disable it in def..
It will save some space.

Pyrofer · Post by **Pyrofer** » Mon Jun 04, 2012 12:29 pm

flyboy_____> Are you connecting the GPS and GUI serial on the SAME serial port/pins?

If so, I can't see how that will work...

PatrikE · Post by **PatrikE** » Mon Jun 04, 2012 12:47 pm

If you want to see what the Gps outputs it's possible to connect it direct to the Ftdi programer.
But you must cross the TX & RX connections between Gps & Ftdi.

Then you can use serial monitor in Ardino to se what commes out.

On a 328P you can only use Gui OR Gps!.
Not Both at same time!...

flyboy_____ · Post by **flyboy_____** » Wed Jun 06, 2012 2:43 pm

I tried DOSD GPS with several baud rates in GPS_BAUD and GPS_PROMINI_SERIAL.
The GPS led blinks, but in GUI never catches GPS sats.

I was thinking if udi123 link is any good to connect to CRIUS in serial or I2C
http://www.goodluckbuy.com/gps-receiver ... oller.html

I'm planning on connecting the GPS to PC trough the FTDI cable and use miniGPS tool to try and read this GPS setup.
I'm afraid of burning the GPS LOCOSYS LS20031 because specs sheet says it only supports 4,2v... well I have connected it to 5v for some hours and still works when connected to DOSD. I'm I burning it slowly?
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showpost ... ount=17691

PatrikE · Post by **PatrikE** » Wed Jun 06, 2012 11:21 pm

It Will never work to connect GPS And GUI to the serialPort on a Crius SE board...
There's two physical serialports pinned out on the board But They are connected in paralell.
Therefore you can only use one at a time.

You can find a thread on the forum describing that if you have a Lcd connected when you program
the Crius the Lcd is also reprogrammed and will behave strange.

When the board boots it will detect if a gps is connected to the serialport.

If a GPS is detected.
It will disable Gui Communication.
And Activate GPS communication

It's not a optimal solution but atm its the only way to use a serial Gps together with a 328P.

Patrik
Another alternative is to make a I2c Gps unit.(Quite easy actually)

Pyrofer · Post by **Pyrofer** » Wed Jun 06, 2012 11:51 pm

I have an all in one control board and no easy access to the i2c pins.
Is it not possible to have a digital pin used as an output "switch" to select serial port? Some simple logic gates can then select which device to talk to...

flyboy_____ · Post by **flyboy_____** » Wed Jun 06, 2012 11:51 pm

If I connect the Crius SE to GUI from FTDI cable pins and GPS in serial port pins that will not work?
Is that what you are saying?

With this setup all functions from GUI work, besides the GPS that does not report no info.
How do I know that GPS is locked and that is enabled for position hold and RTH?

Pyrofer · Post by **Pyrofer** » Wed Jun 06, 2012 11:52 pm

There should be a "lock/fix" LED connection on the GPS module, other than that I have no idea, you are in the same boat as me.

PatrikE · Post by **PatrikE** » Thu Jun 07, 2012 1:24 pm

flyboy_____ wrote:How do I know that GPS is locked and that is enabled for position hold and RTH?

The statusLed is normally off when card is unarmed.
With GPSFix it will start to blink fast 3-4Hz when board is unarmed.

The board only check for Gps at boot.
Crius board dont have a reset button and you must disconnect power to restart it.

Connect the comDevice of your choice and the board will detect the type at startup.
The board must be restarted every time you switch interface.

It's possible to reset the board by using a jumper.
Or connect a PushButton to the pins.

PatrikE · Post by **PatrikE** » Thu Jun 07, 2012 1:33 pm

Pyrofer wrote:I have an all in one control board and no easy access to the i2c pins.
Is it not possible to have a digital pin used as an output "switch" to select serial port? Some simple logic gates can then select which device to talk to...

Shure it can work.
If you can switch RX-line between the devices the code will detect it at startup.
The logic test is only run at startup Not continiusly.

Pyrofer · Post by **Pyrofer** » Thu Jun 07, 2012 2:03 pm

Yeah, I was meaning for using both. Ie, making a "fake" second serial.
Use only one serial port but "switch" between 2 serial devices using an output pin to control external logic.

Is the auto-detect rolled into the multiwii dev yet or do I have to patch manually?

PatrikE · Post by **PatrikE** » Thu Jun 07, 2012 4:08 pm

Autodetect is merged in dev the release.
Its possible to do what you mean..
With a pnp & a npn & a resitor. Like a swtching relay.
Then make a function to switch between the intrefaces....

Bledi · Post by **Bledi** » Thu Jun 07, 2012 4:44 pm

it's looks to exist a software solution :

Code: Select all

see the following code snippet from user HULK

void(* resetFunc) (void) = 0; //declare reset function @ address 0
...
resetFunc();  //call reset
...

from here : http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaB ... 250663814/

PatrikE · Post by **PatrikE** » Thu Jun 07, 2012 7:36 pm

Maby it's not a reset you want to do. ;-)

It's better to make a function with the autodetect inside.
Then you can call the function when ever you need.

Pyrofer · Post by **Pyrofer** » Thu Jun 07, 2012 7:44 pm

Why does it need to be called? Why not parse each incoming line and see if its nmea or not?
Its easy to identify each type of data and react accordingly.

There is no reason it has to "choose" one of the other, both can be supported at the same time based on the incoming data.

Alexinparis · Post by **Alexinparis** » Thu Jun 07, 2012 7:50 pm

Pyrofer wrote:Why does it need to be called? Why not parse each incoming line and see if its nmea or not?
Its easy to identify each type of data and react accordingly.

There is no reason it has to "choose" one of the other, both can be supported at the same time based on the incoming data.

This is also how I see the way to share the same UART.
With the new protocol, there is a header.
So it's easy to detect either a NMEA header or a MSP header without the need to sense the presence of a GPS at the init.
just one inconvenient: the Serial speed must be the same between GUI and GPS device

Pyrofer · Post by **Pyrofer** » Thu Jun 07, 2012 8:07 pm

The only problem is the amount of data coming from a GPS device at 10hz.
If Multiwii output "OK" after each set of nmea data (all lines sent, would have to be detected as some GPS send different data) you could in theory attach the GUI and the GPS, the GUI would simply wait for the OK before sending its command. at 115200 baud there should be plenty of time between nmea sets to get a couple commands in and out.
You wouldn't have to do this but you would need robust checksums at each end to watch for corrupted data, if the GUI sent a command at the same time as a nmea string you could easily corrup the data, sanity checking (making sure the data wasn't vastly different to previous data) should mitigate this.

You still need a multiplexing circuit outside the chip though, some simple logic gates would do (some OR gates). If you set up the logic so both send and receive ended up on one single half duplex channel the GUI could watch the NMEA data itself to avoid collisions, and also get that data sent to it for free

flyboy_____ · Post by **flyboy_____** » Fri Jun 08, 2012 12:24 am

PatrikE wrote:
flyboy_____ wrote:How do I know that GPS is locked and that is enabled for position hold and RTH?

The statusLed is normally off when card is unarmed.
With GPSFix it will start to blink fast 3-4Hz when board is unarmed.

The board only check for Gps at boot.
Crius board dont have a reset button and you must disconnect power to restart it.

Connect the comDevice of your choice and the board will detect the type at startup.
The board must be restarted every time you switch interface.

It's possible to reset the board by using a jumper.
Or connect a PushButton to the pins.

Great tip for reset. Thanks
Are those 6 pins suited to connect one AVR programmer? How to do it?
I need this help because after flashing the code to calibrate ESC's now I cant flash the normal MultiWii... I tried reseting at lots of times but it always gives me error avrdude: stk500_getsync(): not in sync: resp=0x00

Please help me

UPDATE:
Sync error fixed. Moved to a slower PC that gave me time to do the reset.
Reset should be done when sketch size appears on screen

If AVR programmer is usable for this board the we do not need to do manual reset

axskin · Post by **axskin** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 8:26 pm

Hello people, i have a question, i recently bought a crius SE board, to connect a GPS

i can use the serial pins (where actualy i connect the ftdi or bluetooth) but i lost this possibility of connect on of that with gps Serial or i can use a i2c gps, but the board don't have this connector, i can add it , am i right? or not ? thank you all

Pyrofer · Post by **Pyrofer** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 8:57 pm

i2c is probably there somewhere, I have the same issue with my quad.

You would have to find the i2c bus, probably best to tap onto the end of the pullup resistors. If you have a schematic for the board not so hard. If you have a scope, not so hard.
If you have neither. good luck!

PatrikE · Post by **PatrikE** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 10:03 pm

Solder the i2c cabels as picture shows.

haydent · Post by **haydent** » Sun Jun 17, 2012 1:43 am

Upgraded MultiWii SE Flight Controller v1.0 version is now available on ebay with I2C port, not sure what else has changed though...

haydent · Post by **haydent** » Sun Jun 17, 2012 2:06 am

my summary of this thread: (correct me if im wrong)

Atmega 328P based CRIUS boards can either use I2C GPS on the I2C port (one added if not available) or a non-i2c (serial) gps on the UART port, the to do this later one a code 'switch' can be added to disable loading of GUI code and enable the GPS code on the UART port. As both cannot be loaded at the same time, requiring a reboot between GPS & GUI connection.

Possibly OSD that reads its data from MWC via UART (serial) will not work also with UART connected GPS ?

Another issue becoming apparent with these 'Mini' boards is the lack of space for code additions (eg as optioned above), being pretty much full already...

Depending on your plans and needs likely its worth spending the extra $10-$30 to get a Atmega 2560 based board:
(http://www.goodluckbuy.com/mwc-multiwii ... quadx.html
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1648569)

Chip: 328P / 2560
Flash: 32Kb / 256Kb
EEPROM: 1024b / 4096b
SRAM: 2kb / 8kb
Max MHz: 16 / 20
# UART: 1 / 4
(this is raw chip data, and all resources may not be allocated on the multiwii boards, eg UART ports)

Rickybritish · Post by **Rickybritish** » Mon Jun 18, 2012 2:02 pm

Hi I have a neo-6m ublox GPS +nano V3.0 AVR ATmega 328+crius multiwii control board i2c GPS I connect the GPS but don't know how to get it to work,how con I conf it and where can I get the codes from,the copter is conf on 1.9 and it flight but don't know how to get the GPS to work can you help me plz.

PatrikE · Post by **PatrikE** » Mon Jun 18, 2012 4:01 pm

V1.9 don't do much more than show the coordinats.
You need to run a never ver. to have Gps to any real use.
Dev 120606 for example.