LoRa based inter UAV communication
INAV-Radar is an addition to the INAV flight control software, it relays information about UAVs in the area to the flight controller for display on the OSD. INAV-Radar does this by using LoRa radio to broadcast position, altitude, speed and plane name. It also listens for other UAVs so INAV OSD can display this information as a HUD.
News
We now have a RCgroups thread: INAV-Radar on RCgroups
*** 1.01 (2019/05/06)
- More detailled screens per nodes
- Displays the local vbat and mAh. These datas are not yet transmitted to the other nodes.
- Pressing the top button during the boot sequence will put the module in "silent" mode (ground-station), it will only receive, and won't transmit, thus freeing a slot. Button must be pressed at least once, between the time the module is plugged and the end of the SCAN progress bar.
- No need to update iNav since 1.00, no changes.
*** 1.00 (2019/04/25)
- Initial release
- Require iNav 2.2-dev, including the latest version for the Hud branch (build date 2019/04/27 or newer)
- Cycle time 500ms, slotspacing 125ms, LoRA SF9 bw250, maximum 4 nodes (you + 3 others)
If you feel brave engough to be a tester, just ask us in the Facebook group. Contact
Thanks to Olivier we now have 'the HUD' it's nealy augmented reality! He also put a lot of work into the radio part!
Index
Hardware
Current development is done using these cheap ESP32 LoRa modules.
There are different variants for 433MHz and 868/915MHz:
Banggood: ESP32 Lora 868/915MHz (2 Pcs)
Other variants (e.g. Heltec) or without OLED display and different antenna connectors should also work.
Also please keep track of your countries regulations regarding radio transmissions.
Development
Everything here is WORK IN PROGRESS!
The software is based on two components:
- ESP32 LoRa part is found in this repo. It's developed using PlatformIO plugin for Atom editor.
- INAV OSD part repo is found here. It's a fork from the INAV repo and instructions how to build can be found here.
INAV-Radar is a experimental firmware based on INAV and is currently no part of the INAV flight control software. INAV repo can be found here.
Testing
For testing there is no need to install Atom and PlatformIO, just use the esptool for flashing.
We are working on an easy installer! still alpha stage
Your system needs the driver for the USB UART bridge: Windows+MacOS or Alternative MacOS
Also you will need Python 3.4 or newer installed on your system.
Be sure to check 'Add Python to PATH':
The latest stable esptool.py release can be installed via pip in your command prompt:
Windows:
c:\> pip install esptool
MacOS:
$ pip3 install esptool
Download the air-to-air test firmware from the releases page and extract it. Run this command to flash it onto your ESP32 Lora module (Windows and MacOS):
You may change the --port to match your operating system. If you are using Windows check the device manager.
Windows:
c:\> cd (your air-to-air directory here)
c:\> esptool.py --port COM11 write_flash -z --flash_mode dio 0x1000 bootloader_dio_40m.bin 0x8000 default.bin 0xe000 boot_app0.bin 0x10000 firmware.bin 0x291000 fs.bin
MacOS:
$ cd (your air-to-air directory here)
$ esptool.py --port /dev/tty.SLAB_USBtoUART write_flash -z --flash_mode dio 0x1000 bootloader_dio_40m.bin 0x8000 default.bin 0xe000 boot_app0.bin 0x10000 firmware.bin 0x291000 fs.bin
The output should look something like this:
Wireing
To connect the ESP32 to the FC:
- wire up +5V and GND
- TX from FC to ESP RX pin 17
- RX from FC to ESP TX pin 23
FC settings
Backup your FC settings, flash the current testing version of INAV.
Dump your backup back into the cli.
Activate MSP on the corresponding UART, the speed is 115200.
OSD and HUD settings:
set osd_crosshairs_style = TYPE6
set osd_horizon_offset = 0
set osd_camera_uptilt = 0
set osd_camera_fov_h = 135
set osd_camera_fov_v = 85
set osd_hud_margin_h = 1
set osd_hud_margin_v = 3
set osd_hud_homing = OFF
set osd_hud_homepoint = ON
set osd_hud_radar_disp = 4
set osd_hud_radar_range_min = 1
set osd_hud_radar_range_max = 4000
Please also flash the extra Vision OSD fonts for signal strenth and the homing crosshair. Vision 1 is small/light, Vision 4 is heavy/bold.
The HUD has an entry in the stick menu (OSD->HUD) where you can change this configuration at runtime.
Thanks for testing! 😄 👍
Commands
!!! COMMANDS ARE DISABLED IN CURRENT VERSION !!!
If something is not working correctly, please open a serial terminal (Windows e.g. PuTTy).
Attention !!! On Windows with Putty you must use [CRTL]-[J] instead of the [ENTER] key.
Type in "debug" to activate debug mode. Reset the device (lower button) connected to the terminal and send us a copy of the output.
Also there are some other commands:
================= Commands =================
status - Show whats going on
help - List all commands
config - List all settings
config loraFreq n - Set frequency in Hz (e.g. n = 433000000)
config loraBandwidth n - Set bandwidth in Hz (e.g. n = 250000)
config loraSpread n - Set SF (e.g. n = 7)
config uavtimeout n - Set UAV timeout in sec (e.g. n = 10)
config fctimeout n - Set FC timeout in sec (e.g. n = 5)
config debuglat n - Set debug GPS lat * 10000000 (e.g. n = 501004900)
config debuglon n - Set debug GPS lon * 10000000 (e.g. n = 87632280)
reboot - Reset MCU and radio
gpspos - Show last GPS position
debug - Toggle debug output
localfakeplanes - Send fake plane to FC
lfp - Send fake plane to FC
radiofakeplanes - Send fake plane via radio
rfp - Send fake plane via radio
movefakeplanes - Move fake plane
mfp - Move fake plane