Hi everyone,
I’m working on building an underwater ROV using Blue Robotics T200 thrusters (with ESCs), a FlySky i6 RC system, and a Pixhawk running a custom frame configuration. I intend to have the bot RC controlled with RC receiver being placed on a buoy on the water surface and and it being to the bot through tether .However, I’ve noticed that with ArduSub (in QGC )there isn’t a straightforward option for radio calibration—it appears to require joystick/MAVLink control via an Ethernet tether .
My questions are:
1. Is there a way to directly use RC control (i.e., from the FlySky i6) with ArduSub without having to convert everything to joystick/MAVLink commands?
2. Alternatively, I’m considering using a multi-rotor (tri-copter) firmware approach since my thruster configuration is somewhat similar to a tri-copter. My setup has a total of five thrusters:
◦ Three thrusters (for throttle and stabilization) would be controlled via the Pixhawk(which are in the same orientation as in a tri-copter).
◦ Two additional thrusters (for yaw and forward/backward motion) would be connected directly to separate PWM channels on the RC receiver, bypassing the Pixhawk.
In this configuration, the RC would be set to output PWM signals. I’d plan to split the signals so that three channels feed into a PWM-to-PPM converter (and then into the Pixhawk), while the other two channels are wired directly to the ESCs controlling those thrusters.
However the issue with this is that the thrusters are not even powering when connected the power supply , is it because the T200 are a bi-directional thrusters whereas the tri-copter firmware expects a uni-directional ones.
Could anyone advise on which approach would work best for an underwater application like mine, or suggest any alternative methods for integrating direct RC control with ArduSub?