Additional serials on navio

Navio / Edge Hardware
1

Hello, is there a way to have additional serials on navio board? Maybe some additional pins?

Corrado

2

You can always plug in USB to uart adapters.

3

How can APM use usb–>uart ports?

Corrado

4

UART and USB UART are same things fro Linux, so you just need to change the /dev/ttyXXX name when launching ArduPilot with the name that will be given to the adapter port.

sudo ArduCopter-quad -C /dev/ttyAMA0
5

What i mean is, if i want to add a serial sonar for example, how could i attach it?
Wich serial will apm map the usb<–>serial to?
Would an usb ftdi serial adapter be ok?

A practical example on attaching an external component would be very useful.

Corrado

6

Unfortunately, I don’t believe those are supported now.

I suggest taking a look at this thread. Feel free, to ask more questions in case of misunderstandings.

Yep, this is what @igor.vereninov was implying.

7

Ok, lets say i want to attach an SF11 (already working on the onboard serial) to an external usb<—>uart port.

Could you explain steps to make?

Probably it could help a lot of other people too.

Corrado

8

Sure, I’ll try my best. But please take into account that I don’t have an actual device to test the instructions with.

Firstly, take a look at this docs entry.

SERIAL4 is -E switch.

  1. Hook up an FTDI USB<->UART
  2. Run dmesg and verify that it got connected and given a name e.g. /dev/ttyUSB0
  3. sudo ArduCopter-quad -A udp:<ip>:<port> -E /dev/ttyUSB0
  4. Use the docs from above to setup lidar.
  5. Restart ArduCopter

This should be it.

9

One last thing, would it be possible to have a list of letters and serials?

we now know

serial_0 = uartA (always console)
serial_1 = uartC (normally telem1)
serial_2 = uartD (normally telem2)
serial_3 = uartB (normally first gps)
serial_4 = uartE (normally second gps)
serial_5 = uartF

(complete list for future reference)

(hope it is correct so far, would you mind fill in the one missing?)

When i start arducopter can i start it with more than 2 serials? i mean -A -C -E all together pointing at correct serials devices on linux

About baud rate, is it ok to set it into mission planner parameters or have to be set somewhere in linux too?

(lidar is already up, configured and working, i just used it as an example)

Corrado

10

Here is the post with the list in the thread I was crossreferincing above. We’ll update our docs as soon as we get a little time.

Yes, of course.

It’s okay to setup it in parameters. The only hazard I suspect may come up is setting wrong baudrate for a radio. That’s why people usually tend to use -C switch for radios. -C (SERIAL1) is configured on 57600 baudrate by default as 3DR radios.

This is awesome, Corrado! I believe you can search through our forum and you’ll find people that’d used this setup.

11

Thank you!!

Yes it would be great to have the reference of the serials on the Navio Docs.

Corrado