Arduino (compatible) mechanism on board?

[chrizbo]

I am working on adding an Arduino (or compatible board that is super small) to control some actuators on an AR Drone for an art project. The total weight for the additional hardware should be about 50 grams so it seems like the base setup (maybe with a better/lighter battery) should work.

So far I have played around with Cylon (could use Artoo as well) from my laptop which seems to be great for controlling the drone, but then the issue of controlling the Arduino comes up. There is the ability to use something like a Spark (Arduino with wifi), but since I need to connect to the drone's wifi that is probably not an option, right?

It feels like there are a few options, but I would prefer if there was one way that I was communicating with the drone and the Arduino. Here are some options I may try:

1. Use an RC Arduino with RC transmitter from the computer - this would keep the drone via direct connection via wifi
2. Convert the drone to RC and use wifi to control the Spark
3. Plug the Arduino into the drone and control it via the wifi link somehow...
4. ???

Any thoughts or suggestions for things to look at for this?

[Jayson Hanes]

I'd suggest you research the "mirumod".. http://mirumod.tk

[chrizbo]

Jayson, looks good. It seems that there are probably a handful of pins left available after the RC mode for a few inputs and an output.

How do I get information down and signal up for the additional Adruino connected hardware through the RC?

For the case of the Arduino Pro Mini or Nano it looks like all of the RC receive ports are taken up:

http://mirumod.tk/hw/arduino_pro_mini/M ... ni_new.jpg
http://mirumod.tk/hw/arduino_nano/MIRUM ... SG_new.jpg

Is there something I am not understanding about the RC? I am pretty new to it...

Thanks for the help!

[chrizbo]

I found a way to connect the drone to another wifi hotspot:

https://gist.github.com/karlwestin/4051467

I'll just get a mini wifi hub to setup a local network to control the drone, Arduino (probably a Spark or Redblack or something) and computer. Then I can control both from code on the computer.

It will give me a range of about 20 meters if I don't boost it. That should be enough for now...

Probably don't need RC at this point... would love to understand the options though still. What do people recommend to control RC from USB on the computer?

[sallytech0103]

Hello,

I tried similarly concept in my project. I think, you should visit best arduino board once for the best solution.

[oldjarhead46]

You might look at this and see if you can use.
http://www.ardrone-flyers.com/forum/vie ... f=8&t=7185