Using mixers on the IO side had a remote benefit of being able to
override all control surfaces with a radio remote on a fixed wing.
This ended up not being used that much and since the original design
10 years ago (2011) we have been able to convince ourselves that the
overall system stability is at a level where this marginal benefit,
which is not present on multicopters, is not worth the hazzle.
Co-authored-by: Beat Küng <beat-kueng@gmx.net>
Co-authored-by: Daniel Agar <daniel@agar.ca>
PX4 uses banks of 8 outputs as a logical structure. Boards that have
more outputs than 8 get multiple instances. This is an arbitrary choice
that helps with overall structure and enables the mixing of different
device classes (like FMU, IO or UAVCAN).
- generate PWM_MAIN 1-14
- generate PWM_AUX 1-8
- generate PWM_EXTRA 1-8
- px4io and pwm_out directly read configuration parameters
- only available and active physical outputs are actually shown for configuration
- overall saves flash despite adding many new parameters
- drivers/tone_alarm: move to ModuleBase and purge CDev (/dev/tone_alarm0)
- drivers/tone_alarm: only run on tune_control publication (or scheduled note) rather than continuously
- drivers/tone_alarm: use HRT to schedule tone stop (prevents potential disruption)
- msg/tune_control: add tune_id numbering
- systemcmds/tune_control: add "error" special case tune_id
- move all tune_control publication to new uORB::PublicationQueued<>
- start tone_alarm immediately after board defaults are loaded to fix potential startup issues
- for SITL (or other boards with no TONE output) print common messages (startup, error, etc)
rc.io is called from 2 places in rc.interface:
- if [ $OUTPUT_MODE = io -o $OUTPUT_MODE = uavcan_esc ]:
- 'set OUTPUT_MODE io' is only set within USE_IO=yes, so removing
the check in rc.io has no effect.
- in case of UAVCAN, we also want the IO for RC, now covered in the next
case.
- Further down ('Start IO for RC input if needed.').
This is intended to start IO for RC only, when fmu is already started.
However the previous check '$USE_IO = yes' in rc.io prevented that.
In addition we don't start rc_input in case of $USE_IO = no.
Fixes no RC on Pixhawk 2 with SYS_USE_IO=0.
When SYS_USE_IO was disabled, px4io would not start and thus there was no
RC. SYS_USE_IO=0 is interesting on Quads to avoid the IO and reduce output
latency.
Tested on Pixhawk 1 and Pixhawk 4
Flight tested: ekf2 w/ mag and compass by @nathantsoi: https://logs.px4.io/plot_app?log=79b81031-cf1e-41f0-890b-d6cd7d559766
NOTE: external I2C devices need a pullup. I have tested with a 3.3v 2.2k pullup.
Working:
- mpu6000, bench tested and verified via nsh
- fmu
- all 6 ch output bench tested w/ pwm and oneshot via nsh
- ppm input bench tested
- dsm input bench tested
- bmp280, bench tested and verified via nsh
- hmc5883, bench tested and verified via nsh, but requires an external i2c pullup
- gps on uart6
- startuplog, nsh, mavlink on uart4, but params are not sent for some reason. RSSI pin is TX, MOTOR 5 is RX (normal mode, 57600 baud)
- rgbled over i2c, bench tested and workingp
- sbus via the shared sbus/ppm pin (which includes an inverter to the mcu SBUS in pin), remove the solder bridge or jumper to the ppm pin before use
Not yet implemented:
- ADC
- OSD: passthrough video is untested, use at your own risk until a basic driver is implemented.
