Reach RS+ as Rover with Navio2

[beeeeee]

I have a Reach RS+ as a base station and a Reach M+ for one of my rovers. I am adding a few more rovers (Robots in my case) and I was thinking there would be some added benefit for me to have one of them use the Reach RS+ as the GNSS receiver rather than the Reach M+. The new Reach RS+ in rover mode would need to connect to my Navio2. I’m guessing I could configure this to communicate via usb but i’m not crazy about having the usb port in use as it will be exposed to the elements and I don’t think USB cables are good for this. I would rather use the bottom connector, bluetooth, or wifi. Is it possible to connect the Navio2 to Reach RS as a GNSS RTK receiver using one of these connections? If so, how?

Thanks!

[polina.buriak]

Hi @beeeeee,

Yes, you can definitely connect Reach RS+ rover to your Navio2 through the serial port. To do that, you will need to use one of our cables CBL101, CBL102, CBL103 to connect RS-232 port on Reach RS+ to UART port on Navio2.

Please note that you will need an adapter as these ports can’t be connected directly due to the difference in logic voltage levels.

Make sure that the TX line on Reach is connected to the RX line on Navio2 and vice versa. You will need to establish the GND connection as well.

[beeeeee]

Hi @polina.buriak ,

Thank you. Is it possible for navio to connect to reach RS via WiFi network? They are both part of the same network and accessible to each other. If is possible, do you know what the settings need to be for each device?

Thanks

[polina.buriak]

Hi @beeeeee,

It should be possible to configure the connection between Navio2 and Reach RS via the Wi-Fi. For that, you need to use the TCP option in the “Position output” tab in the RachView App. Check this guide to find out how to establish it.

On Navio2, you need to specify the -E port as TCP like that:

TELEM3 = "-E tcp:[ IP ]"

I’ll check this setup and write back to you

[polina.buriak]

Hi @beeeeee,

Sorry it took so long to get back to you!

Have you had a chance to test this configuration?

Now I can confirm that the position output from Reach RS+ to the Navio2 via TCP is possible if you identify Reach RS+ as a client and Navio2 as a server.

The output of the config file on Navio2 should look like this:

TELEM1="-A udp:[GCS IP]:14550"
TELEM2="-E tcp:0.0.0.0:[port]:wait"
ARDUPILOT_OPTS="$TELEM1 $TELEM2"   

In Mission Planner you need to set the parameters described in this guide. Remember to set SERIAL4_PROTOCOL as GPS (value = 5)

[beeeeee]

HI @polina.buriak,

I had to put the project on hold for a bit. I hope to pick it back up shortly. I really appreciate the follow-up. It’s my plan to go this route so i’ll be trying this out and I’ll report back.