MAVLink Telemetry | EON800 + ALTA X Connection
Establishing a MAVLink Connection Through a Tethered ALTA X
The Air Power Unit (APU) establishes a MAVLink connection through the ALTA X, which is then transmitted via the Tether Fiber Cable and into the Tether Ground Station (TGS). Telemetry connectivity serves multiple functions within the EON800 System.
MAVLink Telemetry Tether Functions
Tether Ground Station + MAVLink Telemetry
A computer running Alta Q Ground Control Software can be connected to the TGS, allowing access to full autopilot telemetry and control from the TGS LCD.
The TGS displays flight altitude on the screen.
The TGS uses "Landed State" in the Extended Sys Status MAVLink message to determine if the aircraft is in flight. This is important since the TGS limits power delivery to 10A while the aircraft is landed to limit battery charge current.
ALTA X MAVLink connection
On the Alta X, the MAVLink connection is provided by the "FRX Cable" which is located at the front of the aircraft inside the frame. This is a 6 pin JST-GH Cable. An adapter is fitted to the airframe which this cable plugs into, and then a patch cable connects this adapter to the APU.
The Alta X needs to be programmed to provide a MAVLink Connection over the TELEM1 port which is the FRX Cable. Freefly Systems recommend not to use Wi-Fi at the same time as another wired MAVLink connection (see this service bulletin), so Wifi will be disabled as part of this step.
Set FF_WIFI_ENABLE to 0
Set MAV_0_CONFIG to "TELEM1"
Set SER_TEL1_BAUD to 115200 8N1
Set MAV_0_FORWARD to Disabled
Set MAV_0_RATE to 20000
Set MAV_0_MODE to Normal
The settings above disable the Wifi, and reassign MAV_0 channel from the wifi module to the APU on the FRX port.
Accessing telemetry with a computer.
The TGS has an IP Address/Subnet of 192.168.2.20/24.
The TGS will stream a MAVLink connection to any device at 192.168.2.10/24 on port 14551.
Plug computer into the TGS with an ethernet cable
Configure the network connection of the Laptop with the manual ip address of 192.168.2.10 with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0.
In your ground control software, open a UDP connection with a local port of 14552. (Note that on some earlier EON800 Firmwares, the port was 14551, this has been changed to avoid conflict with default simulation ports)
Troubleshooting the telemetry connection
If there is no telemetry connection, the automatic checks of the TGS will fail with a message "No Heartbeat From FC". If the TGS is in the Ready state, then the Telemetry connection is working.
If you have no connection despite correct settings, try switching TX and RX in the telemetry cable.
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