14 replies to this topic

[Kenn Sebesta]

PipX has come along far enough that it starts making sense to finalize documentation.

Looking at http://wiki.openpilo...Pilot PipXtreme, we have a view of the config gadget, which I would like to fill in a bit. So please correct me if I'm wrong in any of the following:

===================
Pairing--> Shows which external units PipX has paired to. PipX can only pair to 4 other units (I doubt this is true, but this is what the graphic implies). The value in dB is the signal strength, less negative is better.

Status
*Firwmare version (self explanatory)
*Serial number (likewise)

*Min frequency: Minimum frequency that PipX will use in transmissions.

*Max frequency: Maximum frequency that PipX will use in transmissions.
*Freq. step size: the size of the hop between transmission frequencies
*Link state: connected or disconnected
*Rx AFC: Automatic Frequency Correction, the measured offset between sender and receiver frequencies

*Retries: Number of retries (since when? Since connection was first established? Since PipX turned on?)

*Retries: Number of errors (since when? Since connection was first established? Since PipX turned on?)
*UAVTalk Errors: CRC transmission errors
*Resets: ???
*Tx Rate (B/s): transmission rate in bytes per second
*Rx Rate (B/s): receive rate in bytes per second

Configuration

*Telemetry Port Config (Can both ports have the same settings?): Determine if the Telemetry port
** is disabled.
**transmits and receives UAVTalk packets
**is a straight serial passthrough, or is disabled.

**Debug: ???


*Telemetry Port Speed (Can both ports have the same settings?): Configure Telemetry port baud rate in bits per second. Note that for all OpenPilot devices this must currently stay at 57600.

*FlexiPort Config: Determine if the FlexiPort port
** is disabled.
**transmits and receives UAVTalk packets
**is a straight serial passthrough, or is disabled.
**Takes in a PPM signal (on which pin? and what does it do with the signal?)
**Outputs a PPM signal (on which pin? How is the signal generated?)
**Outputs the RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator). (Is this an analog voltage signal?)
**Debug: ???

*FlexiPort Port Speed: Configure FlexiPort port baud rate in bits per second. Note that for all OpenPilot devices this must currently stay at 57600.
*VCP Configuration:
**Disabled: For PipX with OpenPilot hardware, this will be the most common setting, as the PipX HID is all that is necessary for GCS to speak with it.
**Serial: The PipX serves as a virtual com port over USB
**Debug: ???

*VCP Speed: (Why is it limited to such low speeds? USB1.1 can do several MB/s with VCP)
*Max RF Datarate: The maximum speed at which PipX can communicate wirelessly (note, this is not necessarily the same speed as the telemetry or flexi ports
*Max RF Tx Power (mW): Set the maximum power used by the transmitter. For shorter distances, this can help save power, increasing flight time.
Send Timeout (ms): ???
Min Packet Size: ???
Frequency Calibration: ???
Frequency (Hz): Currently this cannot be set, as it is a function of the hardware RF module on the bottom of the PipX.

Scan Spectrum: ???

AES Encryption: a future feature of the PipX will be to encode transmissions, providing a secure communications path between GCS and UAV.
===========

[peabody124]

AFC equal automatic frequency correction. It's the measured offset between sender and receiver
UAVTalk errors will be CRC errors

That's all i got

[Kenn Sebesta]

Thanks, updated to take those into account.

[Brian]

PipX has come along far enough that it starts making sense to finalize documentation.

Looking at http://wiki.openpilo...Pilot PipXtreme, we have a view of the config gadget, which I would like to fill in a bit. So please correct me if I'm wrong in any of the following:

===================
Pairing--> Shows which external units PipX has paired to. PipX can only pair to 4 other units (I doubt this is true, but this is what the graphic implies). The value in dB is the signal strength, less negative is better.

This shows any PipX modems that are within range, up to 4 units. The paired modem is the one that is selected via the radio button.

Status
*Firwmare version (self explanatory)
*Serial number (likewise)

*Min frequency: Minimum frequency that PipX will use in transmissions.

*Max frequency: Maximum frequency that PipX will use in transmissions.
*Freq. step size: the size of the hop between transmission frequencies
*Link state: connected or disconnected
*Rx AFC: Automatic Frequency Correction, the measured offset between sender and receiver frequencies

*Retries: Number of retries (since when? Since connection was first established? Since PipX turned on?)

*Retries: Number of errors (since when? Since connection was first established? Since PipX turned on?)
*UAVTalk Errors: CRC transmission errors
*Resets: ???

All of these stats are since the modem was turned on, and includes the statistics of the paired modem if it is connected.

Retries is the number of retries on writing to the com/usb port.
Errors is the number of uncorrected packet errors encountered.
UAVTalk Errors is any errors receiving UAVTalk packets over the USB/com port.
Resets is the number of times that the radio link was reset due to a supervisor timeout.

*Tx Rate (B/s): transmission rate in bytes per second
*Rx Rate (B/s): receive rate in bytes per second

Configuration

*Telemetry Port Config (Can both ports have the same settings?): Determine if the Telemetry port
** is disabled.
**transmits and receives UAVTalk packets
**is a straight serial passthrough, or is disabled.

**Debug: ???

This is a developer option will send debug messages out the com port. This probably should be turned off in release compiles. Is there a way to do that?

*Telemetry Port Speed (Can both ports have the same settings?): Configure Telemetry port baud rate in bits per second. Note that for all OpenPilot devices this must currently stay at 57600.

*FlexiPort Config: Determine if the FlexiPort port
** is disabled.
**transmits and receives UAVTalk packets
**is a straight serial passthrough, or is disabled.
**Takes in a PPM signal (on which pin? and what does it do with the signal?)
**Outputs a PPM signal (on which pin? How is the signal generated?)
**Outputs the RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator). (Is this an analog voltage signal?)
**Debug: ???

The PPM input/output pins are in the schematic. We need a diagram similar to what the CopterControl has. Currently PPM is output as GCSReceiver messages. In the future, it will be output via the PPM output pin if the receiving PipX is configured with PPM output as an option.

*FlexiPort Port Speed: Configure FlexiPort port baud rate in bits per second. Note that for all OpenPilot devices this must currently stay at 57600.
*VCP Configuration:
**Disabled: For PipX with OpenPilot hardware, this will be the most common setting, as the PipX HID is all that is necessary for GCS to speak with it.
**Serial: The PipX serves as a virtual com port over USB
**Debug: ???

*VCP Speed: (Why is it limited to such low speeds? USB1.1 can do several MB/s with VCP)

I don't think there's much benefit to allowing much faster speed than the speed that the modem can transmit over the air. I suspect that wold cause packets to be dropped when the limited buffers fill up.

*Max RF Datarate: The maximum speed at which PipX can communicate wirelessly (note, this is not necessarily the same speed as the telemetry or flexi ports
*Max RF Tx Power (mW): Set the maximum power used by the transmitter. For shorter distances, this can help save power, increasing flight time.
Send Timeout (ms): ???
Min Packet Size: ???
Frequency Calibration: ???
Frequency (Hz): Currently this cannot be set, as it is a function of the hardware RF module on the bottom of the PipX.

Send timeout and min packet size are used by the transparent comms. The PipX will buffer up to at least min packet size before it transmits a packet unless the time between receiving the first byte and the current time reaches the send timeout. This is intended to prevent sending a bunch of small packets.

I'll have to lookup frequency calibration. Some of these options should be on an expert page (if at all).

The frequency can be change within a range to allow for multiple PIpX on multiple channels. I would like to support frequency hopping at some point, but that's not in the current hardware.

Scan Spectrum: ???

AES Encryption: a future feature of the PipX will be to encode transmissions, providing a secure communications path between GCS and UAV.
===========

Scan Spectrum is a legacy feature that should be removed. I think it was intended to be used to scan the spectrum for signals in the frequency range of the PipX, but it is not currently implemented.

[Kenn Sebesta]

Oh, man, sorry Brian, I only just now saw you responded. The OP forums are really bad about getting me thread update messages. Half of them don't seem to go out.

[Kenn Sebesta]

This shows any PipX modems that are within range, up to 4 units. The paired modem is the one that is selected via the radio button.

Should this list be dynamic, for instance in case there are other PipX in range which crowd out the one you want to use?

Retries is the number of retries on writing to the com/usb port.

Can I call this "USB retries"? It might make it clearer what it's referring to, without having to refer to the tooltip or docs.

I don't think there's much benefit to allowing much faster speed than the speed that the modem can transmit over the air. I suspect that wold cause packets to be dropped when the limited buffers fill up.

I was thinking about future use. I know that Dankers had mentioned how this RF unit can be swapped out with other pin-compatible units. I get the feeling that some of them might be faster than 115200. Maybe a custom baud rate field might be appropriate here, so as not to imply to the user that this is something they should do, but to allow for future upgrades seemlessly. Of course, this might already be doable via UAVOs in the UAVO Browser.

I'll have to lookup frequency calibration. Some of these options should be on an expert page (if at all).

The frequency can be change within a range to allow for multiple PIpX on multiple channels. I would like to support frequency hopping at some point, but that's not in the current hardware.

Is this currently functional? Is there some way to screw these up, i.e. make it so that the PipX can't communicate anymore? If so, we probably really do want a "return to default settings" button.

Scan Spectrum is a legacy feature that should be removed. I think it was intended to be used to scan the spectrum for signals in the frequency range of the PipX, but it is not currently implemented.

Spectrum scanning was a really cool feature I saw on the EzOSD. I don't know anything about the radio, I suppose this is something that it either supports and pretty much gives to you as finished on a plate, or it doesn't and we can't do anything about it.

[Brian]

Should this list be dynamic, for instance in case there are other PipX in range which crowd out the one you want to use?

I don't think there's the facility for dynamically sized arrays in UAVOs, and adding more would increase the size of an already fairly large UAVO. I already added a field for displaying the PairID. Maybe it makes sense to make that editable, so that one can just type in an ID manually in the worst case scenario.

Can I call this "USB retries"? It might make it clearer what it's referring to, without having to refer to the tooltip or docs.

It doesn't have to be in a USB port. Most people will probably plug the GCS side into USB, but I can imagine someone wanting to e.g. connect a bluetooth adapter to the serial port to connect to an Android GCS. How about USB/serial retries?

I was thinking about future use. I know that Dankers had mentioned how this RF unit can be swapped out with other pin-compatible units. I get the feeling that some of them might be faster than 115200. Maybe a custom baud rate field might be appropriate here, so as not to imply to the user that this is something they should do, but to allow for future upgrades seemlessly. Of course, this might already be doable via UAVOs in the UAVO Browser.

This is consistent with the way it's done across the other OP widgets, and I suppose you could create a special widget for baud rate settings, but I'm not sure it's worth it. I don't see significantly higher baudrates happening on devices that use serial connections. I have some 2.4 GHz radios that support into the Mbaud, but they use SPI.

Is this currently functional? Is there some way to screw these up, i.e. make it so that the PipX can't communicate anymore? If so, we probably really do want a "return to default settings" button.

I'm sure you could screw things up pretty easily, and we should add a "return to default settings" button.

Spectrum scanning was a really cool feature I saw on the EzOSD. I don't know anything about the radio, I suppose this is something that it either supports and pretty much gives to you as finished on a plate, or it doesn't and we can't do anything about it.

It's not "just supported", and I don't know how general it is. At this point, it muddies up the code, and should probably be removed. Maybe in the future, when things are more stable, we can reinstate it.

[Kenn Sebesta]

It doesn't have to be in a USB port. Most people will probably plug the GCS side into USB, but I can imagine someone wanting to e.g. connect a bluetooth adapter to the serial port to connect to an Android GCS. How about USB/serial retries?

Sounds like a winner. Next time you're mucking around in the UI, give it a shot.

I've updated the wiki: http://wiki.openpilo...ilot PipXtreme Let me know if you see anything egregiously wrong, or if you happen to know how to get the wiki to display the config gadget in full, instead of cropping the image.

Edit: NM, I figured out how to shrink the image in Confluence.

[Felix Da Cat]

I've updated the wiki: http://wiki.openpilo...ilot PipXtreme.

only me?? i tried to look at your wiki link

The page you were trying to reach could not be found. This could be because:

• The page does not exist.
• The page exists, but you do not have permission to view it.

[Berkely]

only me?? i tried to look at your wiki link

The correct link is here. A small typo ;-)

[Kenn Sebesta]

The correct link is here. A small typo ;-)

Typo my ass, that was the forum's fault! Damned thing tries to add in terminal "." to links. Grrr...

Problem fixed in original post, too.

[Felix Da Cat]

thanks.... looking very good so far..

later this year i try to get my hands on the new turnigy Tx... and try hook it up with the PipX

[Aasto]

where i can get Pipxtreme datasheet?

[RobCC]

http://wiki.openpilo...Pilot PipXtreme

Attached Files

•  PipXtreme Schematic.pdf   220.52K   22 downloads

Edited by RobCC, 05 August 2012 - 05:54 PM.

[Berkely]

Kenn, I've got all your gathered documentation in the config page linked in the GCS.

Brian, now that we're refactoring the GCS; I think it's the ideal moment to get rid of the unused features on the config page. I'm not sure if we should just delete them from the config gadget or just hide it for the time being.

Like I can see from this thread, we can safely remove/hide the following from the widget.
Frequency Calibration
Frequency (Hz):
Scan Spectrum:
AES Encryption: --> is this working?

Furthermore, update retries to USB/serial retries