Ping1D as a range finder, show value in Qgroundcontrol?

Blue Robotics Products Sensors
1

Continuing the discussion from Ping1D as a range finder, show value in Qgroundcontrol:

I also cannot see Ping1D Echosounder values in QGC.

I have:

  • Companion Computer Firmware v0.0.20
  • ArduSub v3.6.0 dev
  • QGC v.4.0.8

I can view Ping Echosounder measurements using Ping Viewer 2.1.0 just fine.

I have tried every option mentioned in this thread with no success, to view Ping Echosounder values on QGC.

Since there are multiple range finders (RNG defined RNGFNDR1-9 and RNGFNDRA, which one should I configure as MAVLink and which variable to select from QGC interface parameters?

Could you please share the parameter settings of ArduSub for displaying Ping Echosounder measurements in QGC v4.0.8?

Best Regards.

2

I have Uncommented a line in /companion/.companion.rc to enable Ping1D as a range finder, and depth values are shown in QGC in “Forward” parameter.

@jwalser Should I expect crazy behavior in depth hold? or is it fixed in ArduSub v3.6.0dev?

Best Regards.

3

Depth hold (depth being the distance from the surface to the ROV) relies on a barometer, I assume you’re referring to altitude hold (altitude being the distance from the ROV to the seafloor). I’m in the process of testing altitude hold with a Ping1D myself, but as I’ve understood from the reverted commit linked below, the behavior from the Ping1D locking onto reflections is a bit erratic. Depending on how susceptible your use situation is to reflections this may or may not be problematic.
Sub: Remove rangefinder support of control loops · ArduPilot/ardupilot@4b16271 · GitHub

4

Hi @FerdiCakmak,

Check the 0.0.21 companion update post. I advise you to use Ardusub 4.0 to get that working (the integration script doesn’t work with older versions to avoid the erroneous altitute-hold behavior).

5

Hi @williangalvani so is it possible to use the Ping1D to follow the terrain now? so Alt Hold instead of Depth Hold? if so what parameters need to be changed to turn this feature on? we get alot of requests for this feature.

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6

@williangalvani could you please help me out with this i need to test it with a client.

7

Hi Mate,

not sure if the Ping 1D would work for that since the beam is quite wide it picks up a lot of things and gives false reading. (from my experience)

I could easily modify the expanse software to use out6,7 to connect to the ping and get the data out to the OV-Rec overlay if this is of any value. let me know.

Cheers,
E.

8

Hi @SoSub, Etienne is right. This never worked as intended due to the characteristics of Ping1D.

It was enaabled in Sub 3.5.4. If you want to try it, flash 3.5.4 and make sure this line in companion is not commented.

9

Hello Willian,

does the ping1d value show up in the rest API?

I am sure there would be a lot of interest for a precise altimeter and auto-altitude function.

Being that you guys already went beyond this with ping1D it might be something simple to do?

Cheers,
E.

10

Yes, IIRC you can find it in the RANGEFINDER message.

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