The easiest APM deployment on Raspberry Pi with a deb package

Originally published at: http://www.emlid.com/the-easiest-apm-deployment-on-raspberry-pi-with-a-deb-package/

We’d like to present a Debian package that makes it even easier to get APM up and running. It includes all APM supported vehicles. The only thing needed to install it is to type these lines at the command prompt

wget http://emlid.com/files/apm.deb
sudo dpkg -i apm.deb

After installation is complete, you can launch one of the supported vehicles:

  • APMrover2
  • ArduPlane
  • ArduCopter-quad
  • ArduCopter-tri
  • ArduCopter-hexa
  • ArduCopter-y6
  • ArduCopter-octa
  • ArduCopter-octa-quad
  • ArduCopter-heli
  • ArduCopter-single

For example, if you want to run a quadcopter, the only thing you need to do is

sudo ArduCopter-quad -A <telemetry_source>

-A switch lets you choose the telemetry source.

The source might me /dev/ttyAMA0 if you use a UART-connected radio or udp:<GSC_IP>:<GSC_PORT> if you want to control your vehicle with Wi-Fi. To see another options launch APM with -h switch to see a help entry.

sudo ArduCopter-quad -h

It might produce something like this:

Usage: 
-A uartAPath -B uartBPath -C uartCPath
Options:
 -serial: -A /dev/ttyO4
 -B /dev/ttyS1
 -tcp: -C tcp:192.168.2.15:1243:wait
 -A tcp:11.0.0.2:5678</pre>

Happy flying!