Category Archives: Hardware

Hardware

Lisa/M next generation entry level Paparazzi Autopilot

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Lisa/M Bottom
Lisa/M Bottom

As promised, we want to talk about projects we are currently working on. One of them is Lisa/M.

Lisa/M will be the medium sized Autopilot based on the STM32 Cortex-M3 microcontroller. It is part of the Lisa series of Autopilots. It is very small (50mm x 25mm), about the size of an RC receiver. We want it to be as affordable as possible so that more people can join the autonomous aircraft revolution. The final cost still needs to be determined, as we are not done with the development yet.

Due to its large capabilities and small size, it can be used as a full Autopilot for fixed wing airplanes, multicopters and helicopters, as well as an IO extender/repeater (in which case the IMU can be left out, cutting the cost significantly).

One other interesting feature is that it can host the SMD mounted Aspirin IMU without adding size. The Aspirin IMU is the next generation small, flat, low part count and cheap IMU that will get an article by itself.

Lisa/M features a multitude of interfaces:

  • CAN serial
  • USB
  • SPI serial
  • I2C serial
  • 2 RS232 3V3 and 5V TTL level (UART)
  • 6 PWM servo outputs
  • 7 analog inputs
  • 3 general purpose digital in-/out-puts

Lisa/M with mounted IMU has the following sensors on board:

  • 3 Axis Gyroscope
  • 3 Axis Accelerometer
  • 3 Axis Magnetometer
  • Pressure sensor

The pressure sensor is mounted directly on Lisa/M as this sensor is not provided by Aspirin. Without a GPS unit you have all necessary sensors for full attitude and altitude stabilization in an extremely small package (if you know of a smaller one, let us know!). With an external GPS unit, it is a full fledged Autopilot.

Now you may ask when will it be available for prime time. We can’t give you a definite answer just yet. What we definitely can say is that it will be as soon as it is ready.  🙂

But now seriously. We are currently working on the second revision of our prototypes. Based on our experience it takes 3 to 4 revisions of a hardware design to get it right. That means in a few months if everything goes well.

Don’t lose faith though. The first design was already good enough to be able to fly an airplane. That means that there are no major mistakes in the design.

We will of course keep you up to date on this projects progress in future articles.

Cheers … your Paparazzi team.

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Hardware

Lisa STM32 Paparazzi Autopilot Overview Part 1.

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Many Paparazzi followers will be familiar with the popular TINY and TWOG fixed wing autopilot boards that have allowed so many UAV pilots their first taste of autonomous flight. A few will even have had the pleasure of using the Booz multicopter autopilot board. All three of these designs are based on the Phillips LPC2148 microcontroller, which has proven to be a solid performer in this role. Antoine Drouin, the genius behind the Booz board, has once again outdone himself with a completely new series of autopilot boards based on the STM32 ARM Cortex-M3 microcontroller, which has the umbrella name Lisa. The first available is the Lisa/L and it is this board that will be explored in coming articles.

In the case of Lisa/L the 64 pin STM32F103RE processor has 64k of RAM, 512k of FLASH and runs at 72Mhz. To ensure that future autopilot features are not restricted by board design, Antoine has ensured that all of the processor’s pins are exposed on Molex PicoBlade connectors. This allows access to all of the available peripherals, which include 3 USARTS, 2 SPI, 2 I2C, 1 CAN and 3 ADC channels and many more.

The board also provides an interface which is both electronically and mechanically compatible with that of the Gumstix Overo, providing the option of running autopilot code (and any other applcations) under Embedded Linux on an Overo with the STM32 acting as an I/O processor.

Lisa/L showing Gumstix Overo connector
Lisa/L showing Gumstix Overo connector

The board is equipped with a pair of pressure sensors, one absolute to measure altitude and one differential to measure airspeed. Additionally, Lisa/L is fully compatible with the BOOZ IMU module which can be conveniently mounted above the Lisa/L board.

The addition of further sensors and external peripherals like modems, servos, USB webcams or wifi sticks is facilitated through the inclusion of three different power supplies (5V for external peripherals, 3V3 for avionics and a linear supply to provide clean power to sensitive sensors).

For the first time in a Paparazzi autopilot board, a USB based JTAG interface to the STM32 has been incorporated. This high speed interface allows for both fast programming and run time debugging using GDB. Debugging doesn’t get any easier :). If the Gumstix module is mounted, this USB interface also provides the serial console.

Even from these few short paragraphs, it should be apparent that Lisa/L has been designed with power and flexibility in mind. This has already demonstrated with the flight of both quadrocopters, hexacopters and fixed wing aircraft utilising very different sensor suites (such as the Paparazzi Booz IMU and Paparazzi IR sensors ).

For those that can’t wait until next time the Lisa/L Gallery is a must see.

In the upcoming articles we will explore the features of Lisa/L further.

Until next time… Your Paparazzi Team

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Community, Hardware, Software

Code Refactor

OrganizedCodeAfter many years of development, so many new autopilot boards and aircraft types have been added that a sourcecode reorganization was needed. This undertaking is started and will simplify the continuous evolution of the project.

To benefit from these important changes, it only requires you to update your airframe configuration document once. After you have updated, you should not notice the significant reorganization that is going on behind the scenes. This change will benefit your aircrafts flying successfully for the years to come. The required changes are described on Update Your Airframe Configuration.

At this point several developments are blocked because of this. Therefor we kindly request you to upgrade your airframe configuration documents as soon as possible and thank you in advance for doing so.

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