Connecting directly to the pixhawk 2 on a Solo

[zlipp3032]

Serial 2 connects right to the pixhawk. You need to enable it by setting the desired baud rate and protocol in the arducopter parameter settings. It works perfectly fine for me.
The usb port on the accessory bay connects to the IMX companion computer. In order to talk to the IMX I installed pymata and use some python code to talk over the usb port with an Arduino.

Thanks for all your all's help.

fpvsteve,
When you activated your serial 2 port, did you just use Mission Planner or Tower? Also, are you using the latest firmware version 1.5.3 or were you able to accomplish this with earlier versions?

-Zack

 

[fpvsteve]

I am on Arducopter 3.5.3 and use Mission Planner for changing parameters.

 

[pyrate]

Just use a Linux based computer like raspberry or IMX6, Edison or TX1 would be better

 

[pyrate]

that is exactly what companion computers do
amongst other things.
Android not needed

Companion Computers travel on the vehicle and communicate with (and control) the flight controller. The Companion Computer gets all the MAVLink data produced by the autopilot (including GPS data) and can use it to make intelligent decisions during flight. This enables a broad range of functionality, from computer mediated flight paths, though to very CPU intensive functionality such as vision processing.

Companion Computers — Copter documentation