Swift Nav Piksi and EMLID Reach RTK and 3DR Solo

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Hey all, I have been reading up on Solo's accessory bay, and Swift Nav's Piksi.

From what I read here, it sounds like the accessory bay JAE SJ038252 connector can interface over CAN (UAVCAN) and USB.
solodevguide/hardware-accessorybay.md at master · 3drobotics/solodevguide · GitHub

From what I understand, Piksi is normally setup using the UART or the Serial Port (the recommended Pixhawk setup). Possibly Solo's largest weakness compared to other Pixhawk setups is its lack of the additional ports found on other Pixhawks.

Since on the other end at the ground station, Piksi is normally connected over USB, is a USB steup doable on-board Solo? Can it be setup using the CAN bus?

Also, I don't know if RTKlib and EMLID's Reach are any easier to integrate, given that 3DR's Dronekit has Python support and Reach uses MAVLink Python (I think).

I am way out of my depth on the programming and electrical engineering involved here, and have been unable to find anyone else writing about this possible solution online. Given how challenging creating a working setup might be, could explain why nobody has attempted this.
 
Dear Fireycoldd- this is an "English only" forum. Please post your comments in English only. Thank you, The MGMT.

Just kidding- welcome to the forum! I have no idea what you're talking about but somebody will chime in who can help..maybe..o_O
 
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This is a question probably best asked on the Solo Mod Club on Facebook. I'm sure the Pixhawk 2 has all the connectivity of the normal Pixhawk, tapping into that via the Solo is another question though.

For those that don't know the Piksi is about the most precise GPS you can get on a consumer drone, it's very specialised however.

http://www.swiftnav.com/index.html
 
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Anyone get any further on this? I am going to setup a Solo with Emlid Reach RTK this spring and would benefit from anyone's previous experience.
The setup will be Solo with accessory breakout board for camera trigger relay (any maybe Reach GPS in, if set up as secondary), static mounted Sony QX10.
The goal is a high accuracy light weight mapping/modeling Solo platform.

My main concerns right now before I begin are with the addition of the Reach GPS. Can I simply make a DF-13 to Molex Clik-Mate cable and swap out the reach for the NEO-7? Or should you (have to) add the reach in as a secondary GPS with a separate data logger for position data.

I will start a new thread for my adventure. If anyone has any similar experience please chime in.
 
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I've now got a Solo and 2 Reach systems and am interested in integrating them. Please let me know if you have made any progress here. Thanks!
 
Philip Rowse is trying out an RTK M8 series GPS on the Solo Mod Club (Facebook).
 
I've now got a Solo and 2 Reach systems and am interested in integrating them. Please let me know if you have made any progress here. Thanks!

Reach now has official ardupilot support so it shares the telemetry radio to receive corrections. Stating the obvious..Solo does not have a separate telemetry radio given the entire system is wifi based. So what is to stop you anyone from replacing the stock gps module with the reach module and adding a 915 3dr radio? It would be a DIY solution for sure but would be nice however if we could add a script to the controller to pass the correction to solo. Reach has tons of options in the app to utilize wifi and ble connectivity.

Reach by the way is great. I have one on a rover and very happy with its accuracy and ease of use. Definitely recommend it to anyone wanting to jump into RTK.

I made a clean base station out of a $6 project box from radio shack. The ground plane is under the lid.

base1.png base.png
 
My main concerns right now before I begin are with the addition of the Reach GPS. Can I simply make a DF-13 to Molex Clik-Mate cable and swap out the reach for the NEO-7? Or should you (have to) add the reach in as a secondary GPS with a separate data logger for position data.

No need to add Reach as a secondary gps. It defaults back to standard resolution if it looses RTK fix but will never just turn off. I would put the Reach module internally replacing the stock module. Then you just need to run +/-/TX/RX lines to a 3dr radio mounted under the belly and print up a holder for the ground plane and antenna. The antenna really would be the only somewhat tricky part to get right as its very picky in regards to a clean view of the sky..it definitely does not like anything 30deg above the horizon so it be elevated a bit factor in chassis tilt in flight.
 
Anyone get any further on this? I am going to setup a Solo with Emlid Reach RTK this spring and would benefit from anyone's previous experience.
The setup will be Solo with accessory breakout board for camera trigger relay (any maybe Reach GPS in, if set up as secondary), static mounted Sony QX10.
The goal is a high accuracy light weight mapping/modeling Solo platform.

My main concerns right now before I begin are with the addition of the Reach GPS. Can I simply make a DF-13 to Molex Clik-Mate cable and swap out the reach for the NEO-7? Or should you (have to) add the reach in as a secondary GPS with a separate data logger for position data.

I will start a new thread for my adventure. If anyone has any similar experience please chime in.
Was considering order a reach system today but not up to on the development myself. I also believe plagiarism is best when using forums. I mean did you get your working? care to share?
 
Was considering order a reach system today but not up to on the development myself. I also believe plagiarism is best when using forums. I mean did you get your working? care to share?

Not yet! The next batch has been pushed back until May 20th by the looks of things.
 
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I can see a bigger bang for the buck using the Reach($570) with a new camera($350-600) instead of the Escadrone solution($1,700) using the Sony Qx1 - that give no improvement to accuracy. It does have a 2 axis gimbal. Buy a new Solo ($800), Reach ($600) and camera ($500) = <$2k for dedicated mapper. I like where this is going.
 
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Yes I am headed that way too. I didn't research too much into the Escadrone package. It seems like a lot of money for exactly what I am going to put together for half the price. That may be because I am leaning towards no gimbal. I have seen great results with just static mounts matching the forward angle of flight. Post processing software is really incredible at determining and accounting for orientation of the photo center.
 
Yes I am headed that way too. I didn't research too much into the Escadrone package. It seems like a lot of money for exactly what I am going to put together for half the price. That may be because I am leaning towards no gimbal. I have seen great results with just static mounts matching the forward angle of flight. Post processing software is really incredible at determining and accounting for orientation of the photo center.
Agreed. I like the gimbal as I wanted to start mapping the side of building /surface to add to the model. A solid mapper first.
 
I might jump on this bandwagon and see if we can prove it out

Not yet! The next batch has been pushed back until May 20th by the looks of things.

Any updates on the status of the 3DR Solo / Reach RTK integration? Also, any suggestions where to get an inexpensive fixed gimbal for the Sony QX1? I'm hoping for some documentation similar to the Piksi 3DR Solo Integration Guide: (3DR Solo Integration Guide - Swift Navigation Wiki).

Is there support yet for the camera trigger timing for Geotagging with the QX1/Reach RTK?
 
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On another thread I posted we can not use the flash circuit for the trigger as we are unable to hack the primary circuit. This the flash works great for a bout 20 to 30 times then lags. We are going back to using the shutter motor hack however we have bricked three camera so far so we are going to try an inductive pick off of the motor. I'm dead in the water on this project for at least two weeks.

Nothing on Qx1 gimbal, please advise if you find something
 
On another thread I posted we can not use the flash circuit for the trigger as we are unable to hack the primary circuit. This the flash works great for a bout 20 to 30 times then lags. We are going back to using the shutter motor hack however we have bricked three camera so far so we are going to try an inductive pick off of the motor. I'm dead in the water on this project for at least two weeks.

Does the pricey Escadrone gimbal (with computer) aid with this?
 

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