I’m building an autonomous rover with emphasis on long range of operation consisting of PixHawk 1 FCU and ArduRover 4.0 flight stack. I’m using Raspberry Pi 4 as a companion computer with an USB LTE (4G) dongle to provide internet connection. I use Mission Planner as a ground control software.
Questions:
Is it possible to use Emlid Reach M+ unit so that telemetry connection between FC and CGS is achieved via LTE, not radio link?
is it possible to connect Reach M+ to NTRIP service via Raspberry Pi’s internet connection (if I’m willing to avoid using Mission Planner)?
You can connect Reach M+ to the PixHawk 1 flight controller’s GPS port with a JST-GH to DF13 6p-6p cable to provide navigation. Reach M+ is also able to send location via TCP. To send telemetry or coordinates from M+ to GCS you need to set a network tunnel. This can be done either by getting a static IP by contacting your mobile Internet provider or by setting up a VPN, for instance.
Speaking of NTRIP, it is possible to set up correction distribution for Reach M+ via the Internet connection. You can check this guide on how to configure it.
Just two questions: do you use Raspberry on the drone along with PixHawk? And only as an access point?
First to answer your questions: Yes, Raspberry (as well as Reach M+ unit) is carried on with drone (RC-car ie. ground vehicle) and will be used as a connection to internet and to Mission Planner (via UDP or TCP connection and MavProxy). Raspberry is connected to Pixhawk from serial pins to Telem2 port as adviced in ArduPilot home page.
Right now there is no other use for Raspberry, but I plan to use for ROS applications in future.
But two more questions arise:
You say that Reach M+ should be connected to PixHawk GPS port. In documents it is said that port should be Serial4/5 and that Reach M+ should be used as a second GPS unit only. Can you please clarify your advice?
can NTRIP service be used without Mission Planner GPS inject function? Ie. is there actually any need for Mission Planner if Reach M+ can access NTRIP server directly via internet connection?
According to Pixhawk’s documentation, GPS port is used for the main GPS module and Serial 4/5 port is used for the secondary GPS module. This is applied for GPS blending.
Speaking of NTRIP, Reach M+ can work with NTRIP services directly via an Internet connection. You don’t need to inject corrections into Mission Planner packages. You can check our guide on how to setup NTRIP for Reach M+.
