ardupilot/libraries/AP_HAL_QURT

ArduPilot on Qualcomm Flight

This is a port of ArduPilot to the Qualcomm Flight development board:

http://shop.intrinsyc.com/products/snapdragon-flight-dev-kit

This board is interesting because it is small but offers a lot of CPU power and two on-board cameras.

The board has 4 'Krait' ARM cores which run Linux (by default Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty), plus 3 'Hexagon' DSP cores which run the QURT RTOS.

There are two ports of ArduPilot to this board. One is called 'HAL_QURT' and runs primarily on the DSPs, with just a small shim on the ARM cores. The other is a HAL_Linux subtype called 'QFLIGHT' which runs mostly on the ARM cores, with just sensor and UARTs on the DSPs.

This is the readme for the QURT port. See the AP_HAL_Linux/qflight directory for information on the QFLIGHT port.

Building ArduPilot

Due to some rather unusual licensing terms from Intrinsyc we cannot distribute binaries of ArduPilot (or any program built with the Qualcomm libraries). So you will have to build the firmware yourself.

To build ArduPilot you will need 3 library packages from Intrinsyc. They are:

• the HEXAGON_Tools package, tested with version 7.2.11
• the Hexagon_SDK packet, version 2.0
• the HexagonFCAddon package, tested with Flight_BSP_1.1_ES3_003.2

These packages should all be unpacked in a $HOME/Qualcomm directory.

To build APM:Copter you then do:

 cd ArduCopter
 make qurt -j4

you can then upload the firmware to your board by joining to the WiFi network of the board and doing this

 make qurt_send FLIGHT_BOARD=myboard

where "myboard" is the hostname or IP address of your board.

This will install two files:

 /root/ArduCopter.elf
 /usr/share/data/adsp/libardupilot_skel.so

To start ArduPilot just run the elf file as root on the flight board:

  ./ArduCopter.elf

By default ArduPilot will send telemetry on UDP 14550 to the local WiFi network. Just open your favourite MAVLink compatible GCS and connect with UDP.

You can optionally give command line arguments for the device paths:

  -B  GPS device (default /dev/tty-4)
  -C  telemetry1 (default /dev/tty-2)
  -D  telemetry2 (no default)
  -E  GPS2 (no default)
  -e  ESC output device (default /dev/tty-3)
  -S  spektrum input device (default /dev/tty-1)

Logging

To get DataFlash logs you need to create the logs directory like this:

 mkdir /usr/share/data/adsp/logs

Normal ArduPilot dataflash logs will appear in that directory. You will need to transfer them off your board using scp, ftp, rsync or Samba.

UART connections

The Qualcomm Flight board has 4 DF13 6 pin UART connectors. Be careful though as they do not have the same pinout as the same connectors on a Pixhawk.

The pinout of them all is:

• pin1: power
• pin2: TX
• pin3: RX
• pin5: GND

3 of the 4 ports provide 3.3V power on pin1, while the 4th port provides 5V power. Note that pin6 is not ground, unlike on a Pixhawk.

The 4 ports are called /dev/tty-1, /dev/tty-2, /dev/tty-3 and /dev/tty-4. The first port is the one closest to the USB3 connector. The ports proceed counter-clockwise from there. So tty-2 is the one closest to the power connector.

Only tty-2 provides 5V power. The others provide 3.3V power. You will need to check whether your GPS can be powered off 3.3V.

The default assignment of the ports is:

• /dev/tty-1: RC input (Spektrum satellite only)
• /dev/tty-2: telemetry at 57600
• /dev/tty-3: RC output (see below)
• /dev/tty-4: GPS

You can control which device is used for what purpose with the command line options given above.

This assumes a GPS that can be powered off 3.3V. A uBlox GPS is recommended, although any ArduPilot compatible serial GPS can be used.

ESC PWM Output

To get signals to ESCs or servos you need to use a UART. The default setup is to send 4 PWM signals as serial data on /dev/tty-3. This is designed to work with this firmware for any ArduPilot compatible board:

https://github.com/tridge/ardupilot/tree/hal-qurt/libraries/RC_Channel/examples/RC_UART

that firmware will read the UART serial stream and output to the PWM output of the board you use. For example, you could use a Pixracer or Pixhawk board. This is an interim solution until Qualcomm/Intrinsyc release an ESC add-on control board for the Qualcomm Flight.