Solo Providing Telemetry Data to FLIR Vue Pro?.

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Hello Everyone,

I have mounted a FLIR Vue Pro R thermal camera core to my 3DR Solo for obtaining still thermal-IR images. The Vue Pro has an Accessory Port cable that is pre-terminated to connect properly with the 3DR PixHawk TELEM 1 port (see attached illustration from Vue Pro user guide). The Vue Pro can be configured to capture telemetry data provided by GPS, altimeter, accelerometers from the PixHawk. This data is saved as standard EXIF metadata in the still image files (TIFF). Does anyone have experience with the PixHawk on board the Solo with regards to a TELEM 1 port being available for connecting the Vue Pro’s Accessory Port cable to?

FLIR_Vue_Pro_PixHawk_Telemetry_connect.jpg

Warm regards,
- Craig Thompson
 
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Hello Everyone,

I have mounted a FLIR Vue Pro R thermal camera core to my 3DR Solo for obtaining still thermal-IR images. The Vue Pro has an Accessory Port cable that is pre-terminated to connect properly with the 3DR PixHawk TELEM 1 port (see attached illustration from Vue Pro user guide). The Vue Pro can be configured to capture telemetry data provided by GPS, altimeter, accelerometers from the PixHawk. This data is saved as standard EXIF metadata in the still image files (TIFF). Does anyone have experience with the PixHawk on board the Solo with regards to a TELEM 1 port being available for connecting the Vue Pro’s Accessory Port cable to?

View attachment 4082

Warm regards,
- Craig Thompson
Craig, I'm curious about your setup. Is it working well? Do you have resulting images you could share?

Thanks for sharing!
 
I am about to purchase that same camera; highly interested in your feedback.
Thanks
 
Hello Everyone,

I have mounted a FLIR Vue Pro R thermal camera core to my 3DR Solo for obtaining still thermal-IR images. The Vue Pro has an Accessory Port cable that is pre-terminated to connect properly with the 3DR PixHawk TELEM 1 port (see attached illustration from Vue Pro user guide). The Vue Pro can be configured to capture telemetry data provided by GPS, altimeter, accelerometers from the PixHawk. This data is saved as standard EXIF metadata in the still image files (TIFF). Does anyone have experience with the PixHawk on board the Solo with regards to a TELEM 1 port being available for connecting the Vue Pro’s Accessory Port cable to?

View attachment 4082

Warm regards,
- Craig Thompson
Hi Craig,
Any update from your end ?
I am about to buy the FLIR Pro R, but wondering if I install it on Gimbal or separate...
 
Hello Everyone,
I still haven't been able to get the telemetry data from the PixHawk2 autopilot from the Solo to the images on the FLIR Vue Pro R. I've attached some photos displaying the wiring and the Mission Planner settings. I've updated the firmware on the PixHawk2 and have the latest version of Mission Planner. Any assistance I can get from this very helpful community of Solo pilots would be greatly appreciated.
Warm regards,
- Craig Thompson


FLIR_Vue_Pro_PixHawk_Telemetry_connect02.jpgFLIR_Vue_Pro_PixHawk_Telemetry_MissionPlanner.jpg
 
Hi Joel,
In my photo the big green cable is a Mini-USB spliced to a 10-pin connector which is fed through the gimbal bay hole and connects to the Solo's gimbal wire inside the bay (I know it's hard to see from the photo). This provides the 5v power to the FLIR Vue Pro and connects to its female Mini-USB port. The other wire, in the red conduit, is what connects to the Vue Pro's Accessory Port and then to the Serial 2 (P4) on the "Accessory Board".

If you're referring to the Accessory Cable Pinout Definition Chart, then Green goes to Rx In and White goes to Tx Out. BTW, I still haven't been able to get Telemetry data written to my images from the Vue Pro.
Hope this helps,
- Craig
 
Hi Joel,
Are you able to get Telemetry data on your FLIR Vue Pro images? I think I remember from our chat on DIY Drones website that you were successful in getting the data written to your images. If so, how and in what software program are you viewing the images to check on the telemetry data? Do you have radiometry temperature data, also? Have you used any of the FLIR software packages? Thanks for any help and assistance you can pass along. This is one roadblock we've never been able to get past!
Cheers,
- Craig
 
Hello Everybody,
With the assistance of Joel Newman I was able to get the correct wiring on my 6-pin Molex connector that plugs into the 3DR Solo Accessory Board's Serial-2 slot. I'm now able to get radiometric temperature data on continuous grid JPEG images with telemetry geotag location data on each image. Our company, Take Flight UAS, is now ready for the 2017 flight season with thermal-IR capabilities that we were trying to achieve since 2013! And several thousands of dollars later spent on a few failed attempts! o_O
Warm regards,
- Craig

TFUAS_logo_sm_20161128.jpg
Take Flight UAS, LLC
Boise, ID USA
(208) 991-6701
 
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Hey there Craig
A colleague and I are trying to do the same on a Solo, but I thought the Serial port on the Solo Pixhawk was disabled? I never got any data and Philip Rowse said it was disabled on a firmware update.
How did you manage to get data out of the Serial port? Did just work out of the box when you connected and configured it? Are you using the green cube?
I am a bit surprised o_O congratulations on your build
 
Hi Josealb,
I'm using the Solo Accessory Breakout Board which can be bought here: http://viresity.com/product/3dr-solo-accessory-breakout-board/
It allows the Serial Ports to be accessed without opening up the Solo body. Plus it allows us to swap different connections for our different camera payloads (FLR Vue Pro R, MicaSense RedEdge3, etc.)
As you can see the "P4" connection is the Serial-2 port from which you can get the TX and RX signals with Telemetry Data...you'll need to get a Molex connection to access it. Hope this helps! Good luck and warm regards,
- Craig
13055286_10154143193298648_4284446701512849499_n.jpg

Take Flight UAS, LLC
Boise, ID USA
Tel: 1-208-991-6701


accessory_breakout_board_pcb_below.jpg
 
Hi Craig,

Thank you for the information, we will try it out and let you know how it turns out!

Best regards
Jose
 
Hi,

I am using a different breakout board to get telemetry data to flir vue pro. Please see the attached picture. I took the wires out of serial connector and put connectors on it to connect directly to headers on the board. I have couple of questions:
Am i missing something in this setup? Does the connectors labelled PWM 3 and 4 have to be connected to get the telemetry feed to work? I did not get enough information from the posts here that the setup won't work without them. Thanks
 

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svirk, PWM 3 and 4 aren't necessary for this to work.

Firstly, your green wire needs to go to Ser2 RX and white wire to Ser2 TX. Normally those two should be right next to each other, so it looks odd how yours are positioned.

Secondly you need to enable Serial 2 output from the Pixhawk, which is a whole other problem. There is lots of info on this post at DIY Drones: Solo Providing Telemetry Data to FLIR Vue Pro?...
 
Joel, Thanks for your input on this. The pinout for this accessory board is not similar to the standard accessory breakout board suggested by 3DR so Ser2 Rx and TX are across from each other on this board. It actually worked for me yesterday after swapping the green and white wires and PWM3 and4 not connected. I can see the lat long information in the image details. However, I am still not sure on how to check if there is radiometric data with the images? Any specific software or program to view that info? I am processing my imagery using Agisoft Photoscan.
 
That's great that it works now.
You need the Vue Pro R if you want radiometric data, but if you do have the R model then you should be able to view the radiometric data using Flir Tools (download from the Flir website).
I can't help you with Agisoft sorry, I use Pix4D.
 

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