Gluonpilot

Hi,

I just switched from XBee "regular" aka series 1.0 to series 2.5. It no longer works "out of the box". A series 2.5 network needs 1 "coordinator.
So if you want to have a transparant serial XBee-link, one of your XBee modules will need to be set as the "coordinator".

For more info check http://t413.com/news/fast-2-way-xbee-series-2-data

Tom, where did you purchase those xbee modules?

Those 2 were XBee Pro 2.4 GHz Series 2 from Sparkfun (as I told you once per email )

In case any of you run into 10% duty cycle with xbee 868 here is a workaround:
http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/xbee-868-revived

Hehe, they just send a reset command every 6 minutes

I never ran into the 10% duty cycle issue. Apparently the gluonpilot's ASCII protocol is not that inefficient...

I implemented the "reset" hack for XBee modules to overcome the duty cycle.
My setup stopped TX'ing after about 27 minutes without this.

Now the gluonpilot will send a reset command every 5 minutes. To do this, you need to know the guard time for entering command mode of your XBee module (GUARD_TIME "+++" GUARD_TIME --> entering command mode). Use the digi config tool to read it out. Mine was 1000ms, which is long and accounts for a total of 2,5 seconds of no communication. Make it smaller if you intend to control your plane over XBee.

Code in communication_telemetry_task() in communication_csv.c:

Code: Select all

if (c % 6000 == 0)   // reset every 5 minutes
{
   uart1_puts("\r\nResetting XBEE...\r\n") ;
   vTaskDelay( ( ( portTickType ) 1001 / portTICK_RATE_MS ) ); // guard time wait 1000ms
   uart1_puts("+++");
   vTaskDelay( ( ( portTickType ) 1001 / portTICK_RATE_MS ) ); // guard time wait 1000ms
   uart1_puts("ATFR\r\n") ;
   vTaskDelay( ( ( portTickType ) 10 / portTICK_RATE_MS ) ); // wait 10ms
}


Been running correctly now for 1h20 minutes, so I'll commit the change to the SVN server!

Great job Tom!
I'm glad this implementation works.
I'll test this once I have xbee modules in my hand.

Tom, this week I should have sparkfun XBee Explorer Regulated board.
Can I power the xbee module directly from gluonpilot or you recommend separate power source?

Hi Lukasz,

This will depend on your power output level.
The module in my funjet has 25mW output power (configured). I guess it is no problem to use the gluon power source for this. If you use 500mW output power, I'd use a separate power source.
Myself I use a separate power source, just to be sure it doesn't have any influence on the performance. The upcoming extension board has a switched power supply on board, so in this case you could use this one.