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Permalink Reply by Chris Anderson on January 18, 2009 at 8:53am

Gil,

A two axis gyro will not give you pitch and roll for long. Gyros drift in a matter of seconds and unless you have a full IMU (gyros plus accelerometers) you can't correct them.

There are plenty of full IMUs out there, including on this site, but it's a bigger deal than just adding a sensor.

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Permalink Reply by Gil on January 18, 2009 at 9:07am

Hi Chris and thanks for reply...... i know the problem of implementing that but if anyone could do it then it would be selling it like peanuts, just imagine removing the thermopile and put a unit like this instead, on the FMA controller or on its own controller, i´ll put my name in the top of the list.

cheers

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Permalink Reply by OlivierD. on November 22, 2009 at 11:22am

You can replace the FMA sensors by combining these 2 items:

One of these:
http://www.ryanmechatronics.com/index_files/ProductDetailCHIMU.htm
and one of these to convert the IMU's digital outputs into analog outputs, emulating FMA sensors:
http://www.ryanmechatronics.com/index_files/AnalogNode.htm
Ardupilot will think it is getting feedback from FMA sensors when in reality it is a 9DOF IMU.
A bit pricey but very slick!

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Permalink Reply by Chris Anderson on November 22, 2009 at 11:31am

As mentioned, we're developing a "9DoF" version of ArduIMU as a Thermopile Replacement. Should be in in Q1. A non-trivial technical challenge, given that it doesn't have access to the GPS data, like the regular IMU (which is why we're adding the magnetometer)

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Permalink Reply by OlivierD. on November 22, 2009 at 3:27pm

Chris, that's the day I will brake the piggy bank with a sledge hammer and race to the DIYDrones store !!
Arduino Mega running DCM with a 9DOF IMU, Ublox GPS and Airspeed sensor, possibly with Barometric altitude added, Xbee, all neatly tucked away inside a fuselage! I think it's everyone's dream on this forum. It's nice to know we are getting close!

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Permalink Reply by Gil on December 28, 2009 at 3:14pm

For now...i´ll be ok, with the UAVDevBoard, for my newest UAV platform that i´m working on, but i still want to replace the thermophiles on my trainer UAV .
OlivierD, thanks for the links.

cheers

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