Navigation and Control Module (for UAVs) based on ChibiOS

[nitin]

We would like to announce the launch of a micro navigation module (autopilot) for mobile robotics, based on ChibiOS RTOS. This module is intended for use by researchers and hobbyists. All the firmware and drivers are available in open-source to help users start building their applications.

NavStik is one of the smallest and lightest such modules available today.

Some of the salient features of this module are:

3-axis Accelerometer
3-axis Gyroscope
3-axis Magnetometer
Barometer (Static Pressure Sensor)
GPS
Temperature Sensors for Temperature Compensation of Sensor Data
Cortex M4 Based Microcontroller (STM32F4: 32 bit, 168 MHz)
Onboard SPI Flash with 16 Mb Memory
Connectors for Interface Board (required for power and interface to external world)
Connectors for Gumstix Overo® (optional - available from Gumstix; for power intensive applications)
Connector for GPS Antenna (optional; required for GPS applications)
Differential Pressure Sensor (optional; for air-speed estimation)
Power Regulators and Switches (for programatically controlling power to subsections)
LED Indicators for Status, Power, GPS

A suitable interface board may be selected based on the application. A debugging (JTAG) and ground-control-station board (with telemetry interface) is also available. For more details please checkout the community portal: http://www.navstik.org. Limited boards are now available and can be ordered from the NavStik store: http://www.navstik.com.

[Giovanni]

Hi,

Nice board, I haven't found any reference to ChibiOS anywhere on those pages.

Giovanni

[nitin]

Hello Giovanni,

Thank you so much for providing such an excellent RTOS for DIY enthusiasts, like us. I am a huge fan of your work. I hope other NavStik users will also be excited about building their application based on ChibiOS.

We are working on detailed documentation. We will certainly provide ChibiOS details (and acknowledge it) on the website, soon.


Best regards,
Nitin

[Giovanni]

Hi,

Cool, thank you, feel free to update us with news.

Giovanni

[noether]

Hello Nitin

Where can I check the code?
Are also the schematics / board files available?

pd: Also I have found several times references to an "opensource RTOS" but not for ChibiOS

[trunet]

did you have any news on how to get the board and where's the code?

[etmatrix]

For the source code you can see here

[nitin]

Hello noether, trunet,

As ematrix mentioned, the source code is available on github: https://github.com/navstik/navstik-base
The pricing and availability info will soon be put up on the website (www.navstik.org). In the mean time, if you plan to use NavStik for any research projects, pl feel free to contact us at [email protected].

Nitin

[wolf]

Hi all,

i've been informed that the Navstik hardware is available for sale this week.
The refreshed website shows it w/ options and pricing (http://www.navstik.org).
It starts @ $99 without GPS, but seems to need some eval-base to contact and play with.
It clearly is using ChibiOS. The code is open source and there is a link on the website (https://github.com/navstik/navstik-base).
I had a quick look into the SW, as I'm currently dealing w/ a similar setup professionally.
In the evaluation of the IMU (acceleration data) i found a simple arcsinf (filtered data) to transform acceleration (gravitation) into an inclination angle.
If the argument goes above 1.0f (as it will do 100%) you'll get a Not A Number (NAN) result - which might lead to severe damage (human, plane, rollbot ...)

Take care

wolf

[nitin]

Thanks for your comments, wolf. Pl feel free to contribute/share, once you have your implementation ready!

BTW, IIT Kanpur has been using NavStik for some time now. They recently flew their co-axial MAV, powered by NavStik:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2qsw3lwlqw

The code is, of course, based on ChibiOS!