Signals Board Overview

The signal board processes the data from all sensors on board the UAV.

Repo: https://github.com/tritonuas/signalsboard

Data collection

All the sensors feed information into an onboard Arduino, which accumulates all the data and manages the information.

WIP System Diagram (subject to change)

The data goes from: Sensors->Arduino->Pixhawk->Antenna->Receiver on Laptop->Ground Control Station Team’s server

Beyond receiving messages, there is also the ability to send messages and commands between Mission Planner and the Pixhawk, which is something we plan to experiment with to delegate more tasks to the flight controller and approach full autonomy.

The general procedure for getting data from any sensor is:

• Get the sensor to work with the Arduino and get accurate readings
  • The Sensor Software Specs document should be your starting point
• Wrap the sensor’s code with the MAVLink message library to relay that information to the PixHawk
  • Understand the MAVLink protocol before writing any code
  • The official MAVLink C library reference, however the information is scarce

Pixhawk

(Ignore colors in diagram) Our cable colors: Black: GND Brown: TX Yellow: RX Green: CTS Blue: RTS Red: 5V

Sensor package

The UAV needs a wide variety of sensors to gather data and telemetry during flight. * Thermistors gather temperature readings from vital aircraft components and subsystems to monitor overheating. * An exterior thermistor gathers air temperature. * Ammeters accurately measure and report current usage, allowing easy calculation of battery level. * Battery voltage is monitored to ensure health and help track power output. * Some system (TBD) may gather data on nearby aircraft to provide collision avoidance.

Data reporting

The Arduino encodes sensor data and sends it to the Pixhawk in the MAVlink package format. MAVLink is a serial communication protocol, and we will use its Arduino library implementation.