Accessory bay super board.

[just_bruce]

So, for a while now I've been reading lots of posts about interfacing this, or triggering that, and I have my own desires to expand on SOLO's capabilities. To that end, I've pretty well decided that an FTDI 232H is the answer. With the MPSSE on board, suddenly a python script and some rudimentary wiring can get almost any functionality I can imagine airborne. GPIO, I2C, SPI, and UART are all offered by the MPSSE (For those interested, here is the product page http://www.ftdichip.com/Products/ICs/FT232H.htm )
http://www.ftdichip.com/Products/ICs/FT232H.htm
My thought is to eventually design an Accessory Bay breakout board with nearly the same footprint as the currently available ones, but to integrate the 232H on board and wire it to the USB pins.

So, a couple of questions for the intrepid reader:

1. Would anyone except me be interested in such a thing?
2. If there is interest, should the other pins from the Accessory Bay connector be left available? If there is a space Constraint, which pins should be sacrificed?
3. Has anyone compiled libraries for the IMX6 in SOLO, specifically libftdi ? The whole idea depends on being able to use the MPSSE, and to my knowledge the kernel driver only supports serial functionality.
   
4. What seems like a reasonable price for such a board?

Okay folks, fire away.

 

[OldCoder]

So, for a while now I've been reading lots of posts about interfacing this, or triggering that, and I have my own desires to expand on SOLO's capabilities. To that end, I've pretty well decided that an FTDI 232H is the answer. With the MPSSE on board, suddenly a python script and some rudimentary wiring can get almost any functionality I can imagine airborne. GPIO, I2C, SPI, and UART are all offered by the MPSSE (For those interested, here is the product page http://www.ftdichip.com/Products/ICs/FT232H.htm )
My thought is to eventually design an Accessory Bay breakout board with nearly the same footprint as the currently available ones, but to integrate the 232H on board and wire it to the USB pins.

So, a couple of questions for the intrepid reader:

1. Would anyone except me be interested in such a thing?
2. If there is interest, should the other pins from the Accessory Bay connector be left available? If there is a space Constraint, which pins should be sacrificed?
3. Has anyone compiled libraries for the IMX6 in SOLO, specifically libftdi ? The whole idea depends on being able to use the MPSSE, and to my knowledge the kernel driver only supports serial functionality.
   
4. What seems like a reasonable price for such a board?

Okay folks, fire away.

Would it enable the Solo to operate as a USB host? We could plug in flash drives, USB cameras, etc? If so, it sounds interesting!

 

[just_bruce]

Currently you'd just have to compile the kernel modules for the device you'd like to use and set the USBID jumper on the existing Accessory bay development board and the companion computer would act as a host.

The board I'm thinking of would allow driving things like add-on LEDs, or reading gas or mag sensors, or interfacing with cameras that have external trigger points (like the FLIR DUO), reading temperature or humidity sensors, or controlling a gimbal that takes PWM input, or a pickup and release claw, or a little winch, or anything else that you can think of that needs external input or output. And with Solex and a python script you could program sliders and controls to use any of these from the GCS.

 

[OldCoder]

Currently you'd just have to compile the kernel modules for the device you'd like to use and set the USBID jumper on the existing Accessory bay development board and the companion computer would act as a host.

The board I'm thinking of would allow driving things like add-on LEDs, or reading gas or mag sensors, or interfacing with cameras that have external trigger points (like the FLIR DUO), reading temperature or humidity sensors, or controlling a gimbal that takes PWM input, or a pickup and release claw, or a little winch, or anything else that you can think of that needs external input or output. And with Solex and a python script you could program sliders and controls to use any of these from the GCS.

Yes, I am interested in such a device!
Chris Shaker

 

[Solo_Maverick]

I would also love such device.

 

[just_bruce]

Guess that's enough for me to at least venture into figuring out kernel compilation. Library compilation will come later.

 

[Gary Burch]

Great news. I am interested

 

[just_bruce]

I've discovered many interesting things in my research. Chiefly that there exists a procedure for recompiling the kernel that solo runs on (and having it fly afterwards). So, enabling kernel modules for various USB devices should be doable. I'm also going to look into whether yocto has an existing repository for libftdi and/or libmpsse. If I can figure those out, I'll get to designing a board and also getting myself a breakout board to make sure everything works before committing to a new board spin.

 

[mrreddog]

yes, I would be interested also.. This type of thing is what Solo was touted as, a platform to expand upon..

 

[CartersFARM]

Count me in, I'm doing a Solo Grande build and want to keep all electronics consistent, just scale to X8 and larger props/secondary drive train battery. I'm keeping the Solo gimbal intact, but adding a secondary gimbal for my larger camera and was planning on using a second controller (Frsky) for the gimbal and retracts. If you could pull out 4 PWM channels using the existing radio, it would be much simpler...

 

[just_bruce]

I'm pretty sure the FT 232H could generate 4 PWM signals, but understand that they would probably have to be controlled thru Solex, unless I can figure out where some GPIO pins are on the Artoo.

 

[just_bruce]

I've been pondering the inclusion of a (jumper selectable for enable) I2C PWM chip like the PCA9685 on the board but worry that it might be a little too much or lean towards too specialized a usage. I don't think it'd really tax the IMX6 much... Any thoughts?

 

[just_bruce]

The five or six folks who've expressed interest- I need to suss out a price point for this so I can decide if I'm just chasing quadricorns or not.

Is $65 too much? If so, what price point would be more in line with your expectations ?

 

[OldCoder]

The five or six folks who've expressed interest- I need to suss out a price point for this so I can decide if I'm just chasing quadricorns or not.

Is $65 too much? If so, what price point would be more in line with your expectations ?

I would still be interested in the device in that price range.
Chris Shaker

 

[XevetS]

I would like to try one myself

 

[Gary Burch]

The price is fine

 

[OldCoder]

Here is a competitive product. Not sure if it is actually available or not
3DR Solo Host Connector | Intermet Systems

Chris

 

[just_bruce]

Here is a competitive product. Not sure if it is actually available or not
3DR Solo Host Connector | Intermet Systems

Chris

That's not thing more than a fixed USB port wired to the appropriate pins. Slightly less useful in my mind. But to each their own.

 

[jerryn]

I have a few projects coming up where I would like to interface sensors to I2c. Is it possible like the old days of mission planner to record data from an i2C sensor and also stream the value to the HUD ?
I would like to record lat, long, and millisieverts. .. measuring background radiation with a board from Spark fun.

Pwm could be used to drive a funky illumination system, or maybe build a gripper system. Are there some optional features I can enable with mission planner as I did in the old APM 2 days
or does the solo run an optimized stripped down version of APM
no extra functions to enable?

I have been reluctant to update the firmware because my Solo flies well and I don't want to risk exposing the stock esc bug.

$65.00 works for me. Are the I/O pins going to have "protection" ?

The five or six folks who've expressed interest- I need to suss out a price point for this so I can decide if I'm just chasing quadricorns or not.

Is $65 too much? If so, what price point would be more in line with your expectations ?

I would still be interested in the device in that price range.
Chris Shaker

The five or six folks who've expressed interest- I need to suss out a price point for this so I can decide if I'm just chasing quadricorns or not.

Is $65 too much? If so, what price point would be more in line with your expectations ?

 

[just_bruce]

I cannot answer most of your Mission Planner questions. Maybe someone else can?

Elaborate on i/o pin protection. Are you looking for optos? Fuses? PTCs?