Ardupilot and The Atmega328: Ben Mihevc, Scott Thompson

ArduPilot and the Atmega328
Ben Mihevc, Scott Thompson

Agenda
• ArduPilot Overview
• History of the Arduino
• Architecture Overview
o Atmega328
o AVR
• Peripherals
o GPS/IMU
• Comparisons
• Conclusions
• Questions
What is the ArduPilot?
• ArduPilot is an Arduino based autopilot
o A microcontroller to interpret and respond to a
number of sensors
• Want to make UAV?
o ArduPilot is an Open Source hardware and software
controller
• What is open source?
o An open source project is a project licensed under
the agreement that all uses of it will be fully
documented and free to use.
o No inaccessible black boxes.
[8]
History of Arduino
• Released in 2005 for students at a small school in Italy
• Massimo Banzi
o Frustrated with BASIC Stamp educational boards
Expensive
Lacking Computing Power arduino.cc
o Arduino took a more creative approach

Set a goal for $30 per board
Named after a bar in Ivrea, Italy
The “Bar di Re Arduino”
[10][15]
An Open Arduino
• Arduino is the largest Open Source Hardware project
o One of the first real 100% open source boards.
o Licenced under Creative Commons as a cultural product
• Exploded for DIY projects worldwide
• Not just a company selling boards
o Many other companies make products based off of the Arduino
o Using their open source licence.
[15]
The Arduino Autopilot
• Made by Sparkfun Electronics
o Based off the Arduino architectures
o An autopilot to control an unmanned vehicle
o Can interface with other computing devices
for input and output
[8]
Required Hardware
What do you need to use this board?
•The Board: ArduPilot
o $24.95
•A GPS Module: 50 Channel GP-635T GPS Receiver
o $39.95
•An Airspeed Sensor: MPXV7002DP
o $24.95
•An XYZ orientation sensor: ArduIMU+ V3
o $79.95
•Total: $169.80
o Not counting wires and airframes
[2][8][7][9]
ArduPilot System
Overview
GPS:
GP-635T
IMU:
ArduIMU+ V3
Airspeed:
MPXV7002DP
[19]
ATMega328
• 8 - bit AVR CPU
• 32 kB Flash Memory
• 2kB SRAM
• 1kB EEPROM
• 20 MHz
• 3 Timers
• Peripherals
o 23 I/O pins
o 8 ADC Channels (10 bit)
o 1 SPI
o 1 UART
[20]
AVR Core History
• Atmel, first 8-bit Flash microcontroller (1993)
o Eliminated ROM programming during fabrication
o Based on Intel 8051
• AVR architecture (1997)
o In-System-Programmable memory
• MegaAVR with self-programming Flash
o Write to program memory while running from
boot sector
o Increased security: lock bits and encryption
[12]
AVR Architecture
• 8 - bit AVR CPU
• Two buses (Harvard)
o Instruction (16bit)
o Data (8bit)
• 32 General Registers
• Status
• Control
• 64 GPIO Registers
• Watchdog Timer
[5] [20]
AVR Instruction Set
• “AVR Enhanced RISC”
o 16 bit instructions
o 131 instructions
o Single level pipelining
o 13 Addressing Modes
Flash (Program Memory)
Data Memory (SRAM, Register File, I/O Memory)
o 32 single byte registers
First 32 addresses mapped (0x0000 - 0x001F)
o 64 single byte I/O registers
Mapped to (0x0020 - 0x005F)
o 2048 bytes SRAM
Mapped to (0x0100 - 0x08FF)
[20]
GPS Receiver GP-635T
• Made by ADH Technologies
• USB, UART, DDC, SPI
• Uses U-blox 6 chipset
o 6.5 x 8 x 1.2mm
o World’s smallest standalone GPS Module
o 50 channels
• 35 x 8 x 6.5 mm
• Horizontal accuracy 2.5m
• Time to first fix (TTFF)
o Hot Start: 1s
o Cold Start: 27s [2][3]
Inertial Measurement Unit
• DIYDrones ArduIMU+ V3
o Inertial Measurement Unit [IMU]
o Used to determine 3 dimensional orientation to the
horizon.
XYZ Orientation
Gyroscopes and Accelerometers
o This is the most expensive unit involved in building
an autonomous vehicle.
o ArduIMU+ V3 costs $79.95
o Also utilizes the ATmega328
o Based off Arduino
o 38.1 x 25.4mm [9]
Comparisons
• 3DR Pixhawk
o $199.99 (IMU included)
o Relatively Heavy (38g)
• The Raspberry Pi
o $40 (~120 with IMU)
o Relatively Heavy (45g)
o Not a dedicated autopilot
• ArduPilot
o $24.95 (~$105 with IMU)
o extremely lightweight (<20g)
[16][17][20]
Conclusions
• Inexpensive solution to creating an autopilot
• Wealth of documentation and instructions
• No unnecessary hardware.
• Lightweight
• Note: To receive telemetry from an aircraft,
communication is needed
o Hard wire (not practical)
o Wireless (Xbee)
o Wait till the end of the flight.
References
[1] "3D Robotics Products," 3D Robotics, [Online]. Available: https://store.3drobotics.com/products. [Accessed 10 12 2013].
[2] "50 Channel GP-635T GPS Receiver," SparkFun Electronics, [Online]. Available: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11571. [Accessed
10 12 2013].
[3] "AMY-6M - u-blox 6 ROM-Based GPS Module," Alpha Micro Components, 25 10 2012. [Online]. Available:
http://www.alphamicro.net/franchises/u-blox/amy-6m.aspx. [Accessed 10 12 2013].
[4] "APM Multiplatform Autopilot," 3D Robotics, [Online]. Available: http://ardupilot.com/. [Accessed 10 12 2013].
[5] "ATmega48PA/88PA/168PA/328P Manual," 10 2009. [Online]. Available: http://www.atmel.com/Images/doc8161.pdf. [Accessed 10 12
2013].
[6] "ATmega328," Atmel, [Online]. Available: http://www.atmel.com/devices/atmega328.aspx. [Accessed 10 12 2013].
[7] "Airspeed Kit with MPXV7002DP," 3D Robotics, [Online]. Available: http://store.3drobotics.com/products/airspeed-kit-with-mpxv7002dp.
[Accessed 10 12 2013].
[8] "ArduPilot - Arduino Compatible UAV Controller w/ ATMega328," Sparkfun Electronics, [Online]. Available:
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/8785. [Accessed 10 12 2013].
[9] "ArduIMU+ V3 kit," 3D Robotics, [Online]. Available: http://store.3drobotics.com/products/arduimu-v3. [Accessed 10 12 2013].
[10] D. Kushner, "IEEE Spectrum," IEEE, 26 10 2011. [Online]. Available: http://spectrum.ieee.org/geek-life/hands-on/the-making-of-arduino.
[Accessed 10 12 2013].
[11] "ATMega328 - TQFP," Sparkfun Electronics, [Online]. Available: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9261. [Accessed 10 12 2013].
[12] O. J. Svendsli, "Atmel’s Self-Programming Flash Microcontrollers," 10 2003. [Online]. Available:
http://www.atmel.com/Images/doc2464.pdf. [Accessed 10 12 2013].
[13] "Using an Airspeed Sensor," DIY Drones, 23 03 2013. [Online]. Available: https://code.google.com/p/ardupilot-mega/wiki/Airspeed.
[Accessed 10 12 2013].
References Cont.
[14] J. Vasconcelos, "Brief Guide to the AVR Architecture," Johns Hopkins University, 22 06 2009. [Online].
Available: http://www.cs.jhu.edu/~jorgev/cs333/usbkey/guide.htm. [Accessed 10 12 2013].
[15] "Arduino Products," Arduino, [Online]. Available: http://arduino.cc/en/Main/Products. [Accessed 10 12 2013].
[16] "RASPBERRY PI MODEL B 700Mhz; 512Mb RAM," Amazon, [Online]. Available:
http://www.amazon.com/RASPBERRY-MODEL-700Mhz-512Mb-RAM/dp/B009SQQF9C. [Accessed 10 12 2013].
[17] "3DR Pixhawk," 3D Robotics, [Online]. Available: http://store.3drobotics.com/products/3dr-pixhawk. [Accessed
10 12 2013].
[18] "Raspberry Pi FAQ," Raspberry Pi Foundation, [Online]. Available: http://www.raspberrypi.org/faqs. [Accessed
10 12 2013].
[19] ArduPilot 2.x manual, 2009.
[20] "Atmel 8-bit Microcontroller with 4/8/16/32KBytes," 02 2013. [Online]. Available:
http://www.atmel.com/images/atmel-8271-8-bit-avr-microcontroller-atmega48a-48pa-88a-88pa-168a-168pa-328-
328p_datasheet.pdf. [Accessed 10 12 2013].
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ArduPilot and the Atmega328

Ben Mihevc, Scott Thompson

o Arduino took a more creative approach

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