Quadcopter controlled with a 4G mobile connection, Emlid Navio+, Raspberry Pi 2 B

[@GiovanniBalestrieri]

Respect for the tarot frame, for the raspberry pi and for the Internet connection. You rule mate!

[@joshgervais6716]

do you have instructions on how to make it

[@95djole]

Finally i found someone who did exactly what am i planning to do! Well done! You helped me alot in choosing parts of drone :D

[@Konge555]

***** me to!

[@jstaguan]

Im getting my Board Very soon.. so excited to have this build...

[@clandroid7912]

Excellent project imo. As I saw in a previous video, you have a lot of available bandwidth thanks to 4g access. Maybe you could replace the Raspberry cam with a 360° cam? What do you think?

[@mohammadalinabeel8572]

Hey nice video, how did you get the remote to work with mission planner. I tried to enable and the mission planner keeps saying Please connect to joystick.

[@emilostberg7866]

Can you give me a list of all the parts you were using ?

[@OleGulbrandsen]

+Emil Östberg Most of the components are listed in the video description. You might also have a look here: community.emlid.com/t/my-quad-with-rpi2-navio-and-a-4g-modem/298/8

[@jeneilpringle215]

How did you map the controller in joystick on MP? Can you share your mapping layout?

[@eafindme]

Will it be better if you use Wifi dongle for short range control as well as video streaming? Let's say 100m range, with a good USB Wifi adapter configured as router. I think the response should be faster depending on the signal strength.

[@OleGulbrandsen]

+Lee Yy For shorter range, yes. lower latency and better bandwidth. (and free!)

[@ganstagirs]

что на компьютере,как реализовано? ничего не понятно ,где видео с распи онлайн,я похожее делаю ,но не через телеметрию,а по другому,но думаю что по телеметрии тоже можно будет подключить,немного другим путем это делаю,через сервер на распбери и управление прям с него,с реал-тайм видео

[@Katawentos]

Great work! what worries me is the server poll function. Do you have a VPN connection? How are you handling an IP change and consequent lost of MAVlink connection?

[@OleGulbrandsen]

change of ip results in RTL, but is very rare due to a special APN that I'm using with my mobile provider

[@enmadam9624]

Please share information of how we can do the same connecting rpi3 with 4g

[@dadycharso4905]

Hi, actually i wanted to build a similar setup and i was wondering if you could please guide me through!

[@kostan3v]

Could you explain more about the software you are using on your computer. Particularly how do you control your quad using traditional computer joystick?

[@OleGulbrandsen]

I'm using Mission Planner on the computer. Search Google, and you'll find several articles explaining how to set up Mission Planner with a joystick input. It is not difficult to set up and works very well.

[@mancheetah5610]

have you ever worked out how to connect the modem directly to the pi, it might remove some of the drag if it didn't need to use wifi as well, I'm looking to do something similar

[@markgiles8527]

I'm assuming you'd have no problems controlling a 3-axis gimbal. If you can then I'm sold!

[@spredana]

This will my next project, need to do a huge research now as i do know nothing about raspberry....thx mate,

[@taylormichae21]

Agreed. Interesting project

[@mostafaalbana]

Can you please explain how you connect the 4 brushless motors with raspberry pi ? I think Raspberry have a problem of make multiple GPIO pins work as PWM at the same time. Did you use any additional hardware ? or What's the software you use ? . Thanks so much!!

[@OleGulbrandsen]

+mostafa albana I used the Emlid Navio+ board. check out: www.emlid.com

[@blakegolledge2339]

is there any way you can do a scratch build vid with this system. i am fairly new to programming and am trying hard, but find my self pounding my head every no and then

[@MasterMint2]

do you have a blog or something with more information about your setup?

[@OleGulbrandsen]

MasterMint2 no, but there is some info over at the Emlid forums: community.emlid.com/t/my-quad-with-rpi2-navio-and-a-4g-modem/298/19 Is there something specific you want more info on?

[@wielandbeck]

Ole Gulbrandsen can you assist me in building a setup like this?

[@wassimmeziou4586]

can you tell me how u send socket to the modem 4g pls

[@amirsyazwan5976]

Hi, If I'm correct, your setup with 4G was, a (4G dongle) + (RaspberryPi with wifi adapter) that connect to the 4G built-in wifi, right? and, what powers the 4G dongle? Thanks

[@OleGulbrandsen]

I soldered a wire directly from the 5v bec

[@sadigov]

Is it possible to control Navio2 using only a radio, without internet connection to the ground station APM/Mission planner? I have built my Navio2 quad, it flies only when plugged in through ethernet :) I would like to fly it without and internet connection, using a Futaba T10J radio.

[@OleGulbrandsen]

yes you can, just connect the receiver to the NAVIO. You will have no ground station unless you buy a APM radio link: www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/RC_PRODUCT_SEARCH.asp?strSearch=HKPilot+Transceiver+Telemetry+

[@la7yka]

Dette ser spennende ut. Har du et prinsippdiagram eller lignende for hvordan du samkjører 4G-modemet med flight controlleren? Eventuelt bruker du 4G kun som telemetri?

[@OleGulbrandsen]

+LA7YKA Norway RPi kjører APM, som bruker en 2 veis protokoll som heter MAVLink for overføring av telemetri og kontroll input. MAV Link kan overføres med UDP eller TCP, (og andre). APM er koblet direkte mot IP til PC gjennom 4G internet forbindelsen. (Man må sette opp egen APN for at telenor skal gi deg egen IP modem oppkoblingen)

[@thisdude5584]

How did you connect your computer to the internet?

[@jarisipilainen3875]

with phone or modem or wifi

[@clandroid7912]

With a USB 4g dongle, I would say (available between 20 and 60€ on line)

[@MahiPUNDIR]

Oh great work dude, well done, I'm doing the same. Thanks for sharing with us.

[@mohamed4579]

i made a raspberry pi robot controlled through local network ( i used lighttpd and motion for the camera) can you tell me if it is possible to control it through 4g as far as i know for ordinary modems you need to do something called ip forwarding..don't really know. i haven't tried it ye

[@OleGulbrandsen]

I use a special APN that is specific to my mobile provider. This gives me a unique and my own public internet IP. I access it directly through this IP on the internet.

[@fauzanammarputra5548]

does your laptop connected by 4G as well? or just connected to any internet access and sending communication with the PI on your drone via cloud server? I need to know more about this

[@OleGulbrandsen]

Hi, yes, well, there is no direct wifi connection. They both connect only to internet via 4g. But they do connect directly via a public internet IP. In this setup I was using a special APN on the moden that gives me a public internet IP.

[@icedragonfly05]

well done on your project id like to do the same on a 450 heli, say would it send the gps pos of where it was i.e a map GUI, if u could do a write up on how u built it and programmed it that would be great

[@OleGulbrandsen]

daniel reader It is possible to do on a normal heli, the APM software supports it. It does send live GPS coordinates ot the PC via internet. I do not have the time to do a write up :), search for multicopters, APM, Raspberry PI, Navio, you will find all the info you need online

[@wielandbeck]

Ole gulbrandsen I want a quadcopter setup like this I love how your cam has titlt on front Ive been reading a lot about navio builds but I'm not quite confident to order parts and start I need someone like you to help me get what I need to do this I would appreciate it so much I've been following you on emdlib

[@globegadget9660]

Very cool indeed. How hard is it to control the quad with the joystick? Can you still maneuver the craft like you would with the radio?

[@OleGulbrandsen]

Globe Gadget In loiter mode, the joystick works just as well as normal radio. In stabilize mode the latency is noticable and you cannot really get the control resolution you need with the tiny logitech sticks. You can fly it, but it is not comfortable and it only really works as a backup in case the GPS signal and the RC signal is lost. But, loiter mode is really all you need for a quad like this, and for that is works very well.

[@globegadget9660]

Ole Gulbrandsen Alright, kind of what I thought. Very interesting concept though, it's the first time I see someone use a computer joystick. Might be useful for gimbal operators maybe?

[@locotche]

Excellent!! how did you manage to connect the motors to the raspberry pi?

[@taylormichae21]

Generally I think a motor control hat should work

[@OleGulbrandsen]

+locotche I connected them through an ESC connected to the server output port of the NAVIO hat connected to RPi

[@denniswilliamsjr5646]

Did you connect the motors directly to the Raspberry Pi or did you use Pixhawk flight controller?

[@OleGulbrandsen]

I connected the ESCs to the Navio2 board. Navio2 is a HAT for Raspberry Pi to help with PWM signals and sensors needed for the flight control software running on the Raspberry Pi. The raspberry pi is running a special version of APM, (Same software running on Pixhawk)

[@808GT]

Hi Ole, can you tell me which ESCs and firmware you used for those motors?

[@808GT]

+Ole Gulbrandsen Thanks! Great work!

[@808GT]

+Ole Gulbrandsen If you dont mind, one more question: If the data link is interrupted, does Navio have a timeout / RTL feature? I am using Pixhawk now but would be interested in trying the Navio via LTE.

[@OleGulbrandsen]

+mvh808 Yes it does. If the datalink fails it will switch to RTL after a timeout period. I think you have the same in Pixhawk, but I have never tried it.

[@puerco911]

nicely done, pretty incredible....how did you get the latency so low to just 100ms, does it have to be 4G connection for that? also how did you have your failsafe setup if you lost GCS conenction to copter?

[@OleGulbrandsen]

+puerco911 Did nothing special to get the 100ms latency, but it depends on the mobile connection in the area. I've set up a direct IP to IP connection between the computer modem and the quad modem (no VPN etc). There are varoius options for failsafe in APM, I've set it up so that if the MAVlink connection goes down it will trigger RTL, but you can always override this with the UFH remote control, if the remote control fails it will trigger RTL too. if GPS fails and all connection fails too it will land.

[@puerco911]

+Ole Gulbrandsen thank you... I will be ordering my navio board soon!!

[@denisdenk]

МТС?)

[@АндрейКруглов-ь9л]

Денис Денк minla.ru/order.html - возможно это из России.

[@haianhle8247]

How can you control the pwm for the brushless motor ???

[@OleGulbrandsen]

Search Navio from Emlid...

[@fandrpollo123]

What tipe of device do you need for connect your navio and rasp to 4g? only a usb modem?

[@OleGulbrandsen]

+Matrix4225 Yes.

[@plinioaugusto5130]

Excellent! No vibration! I have a very similar setup but I have problems with vibration. What have you done to isolate the vibration? Engines and propellers balanced? The metal plate has increased the satellite signal?

[@OleGulbrandsen]

+P. Augusto I balanced everything carefully. First the motors, then the propellers, then motors with propellers. I used my mobile phone to measure vibrations and tape to add weight.Yes the metal plate made a big difference, but it is only needed when the camera is running as the camera emits a lot of RF noise.

[@plinioaugusto5130]

+Ole Gulbrandsen Thanks for the reply, I could balance my equipment and eliminate vibrations. What's the performace of your equipment with moderate wind?

[@plinioaugusto5130]

+Ole Gulbrandsen Have you made any pid adjustment? Have you had problems with magnetic interference with the on board compass?

[@OleGulbrandsen]

+P. Augusto It is quite slow, so the loiter mode is not so good when there is wind. Here is another quad I'm building: community.emlid.com/t/navio-2-build-and-first-flights/1823/ . This quad is much faster and is much better in wind. :-)

[@OleGulbrandsen]

+P. Augusto Yes I did adjust the PID a little. Tried the Autotune function, but it ended up a little too sensitive for a fairly large quad like this. Reduced the PID manually, and it was better.

[@unexplainedmysteries9540]

I had the same idea. Thanks for the video.

[@mailowest]

How you did calibraste?, thanks.

[@OleGulbrandsen]

before I mounted them, connecting them directly to rx

[@KazakhRonaldo]

so you said that radio range is practically unlimited... So as I understood it means that you can actively use your quad while sitting in your house? (let`s say quad range 200km)

[@OleGulbrandsen]

+Ернар Акимжанов Yes as long as there is mobile connection in the area. (Anyone in the world with a internet connection could control it.)

[@fandrpollo123]

what is navio antenna used for?

[@Jasongreen357]

Nice build, have you tried camera connection? and flying totally remotely.

[@OleGulbrandsen]

+Jason Green Yes, and it works very. But there is latency and need a good 4G connection

[@Jasongreen357]

I think the answer might be to have the drone fly itself, useing gps. And controls could be just a series of locations it must reach.

[@MrFernandocaldas]

Way too cool

[@Airaddicted]

Fantastic. What RC-Receiver do you use?

[@OleGulbrandsen]

Michael Steinweber I had a FrSky Taranis with a EzUHF module and a 4 channel EzUHF receiver, but they were not in use during the video, just there as a backup. I controlled it with 4G

[@Airaddicted]

Ole Gulbrandsen Thanks for your answer. What model is that controller you are using in this video? And how did you connect it to the Raspberry/Navio? Your project seems very interesting to me. I would like to build my own Quadcopter from scratch, with almost the same hardware like yours. Do you recommend me such a model to learn first time flying with a Quadcopter or should I buy a cheaper, ARF drone for practising?

[@OleGulbrandsen]

Michael Steinweber have a look here: www.emlid.com/ for the controller, you will find lots of info in the forums. I would not recommend starting with this controller and setup as your first quad. It depends on your interest and your background, but a good place to start could be www.getfpv.com

[@Airaddicted]

Ole Gulbrandsen Thank you very much! Have a good flight!

[@stijniman]

How much data are you sending? And would this work with the LoRa protocol?

[@OleGulbrandsen]

I depends on selected video quality, but around 0,5mbps is enough for good video

[@stijniman]

Would it technically be possible to control it w/o video and have it rely on GPS only?

[@stijniman]

Because imagine what you can do with it using the lora protocol

[@OleGulbrandsen]

yes, video is not needed for flight

[@thelotfi9967]

Hello , can you doTutorial to learn how to make it ?

[@АндрейКруглов-ь9л]

minla.ru/order.html

[@TexasCovertCarry]

Is there a delay in the communications using the 4G?

[@OleGulbrandsen]

+Steve sprague About 100ms

[@HAMZASMARI]

Hi I want to congratulate for this good result of your project but if you can put more information about the components and the program

[@OleGulbrandsen]

Hi, you find more info here: community.emlid.com/t/navio-2-build-and-first-flights/1823 community.emlid.com/t/my-software-setup-using-4g-mission-planner-gstreamer/3031/3

[@samseed666]

You are awesome!

[@Jonedcc]

do you have a tutorial?

[@OleGulbrandsen]

+Jam ing No, but have a look here for a similar project: community.emlid.com/t/navio-2-build-and-first-flights/1823/

[@adnansaood5195]

Can we use 3G modem instead?

[@OleGulbrandsen]

I have not tried, but it should work

[@davidong9244]

Will it work with 3G?

[@PauloNevesPortugal]

Did you use mavproxy?

[@OleGulbrandsen]

No, just Mission Planner over internet

[@laurynas8309]

why putin is balalaika?

[@peterreilly9740]

lol thats amazing i wish i can make my hubsan 4g lol

[@aidangomez4726]

You are cool