Connection to Pixhawk autopilots TeraRanger Tower Evo

3.1 TOWER EVO WIRING CONNECTION - PIXHAWK 2.1

To connect the TeraRanger Tower Evo system to Pixhawk please make sure you have the following items:

1. DF13 (6 pin) to open-ended cable
2. TeraRanger Tower Evo
3. Pixhawk 2.1

Please use the open-ended cable and make your connection as described in the pinout table below. It is suggested to connect the UART cable to GPS2 port on Pixhawk 2.1 (serial 4). In case you need to connect to a different serial port (Telemetry 1/2, GPS 1 or Debug) please consult the Pixhawk 2 datasheet on the pinout of the desired port.

To connect a TeraRanger Tower Evo (TR-TW-EVO) system to Pixhawk please make sure you have the following items:

1. DF13 6P to open-ended cable (or Pixhawk telemetry cable)
2. TeraRanger Tower Evo
3. Pixhawk 1

This figure illustrates wiring connections from TeraRanger Tower Evo to Pixhawk 1. Red wire in the image represents Pin 1.

The default orientation for the TeraRanger Tower Evo is with the sensor numbered 1 pointing forward. All the consecutive sensor numbers are in a clockwise order.

Mounting orientation for TeraRanger Tower Evo on a drone:

5.1 ARDUCOPTER – QGROUNDCONTROL

Go to the Firmware tab on QGroundControl (reconnect autopilot in order to flash a new firmware). Select ArduPilot Flight Stack. In the dropdown menu select MultiRotor – APM:Copter.

The following section describes the steps for setting parameters on QGroundControl software.

STEP 1

Go to Settings -> Parameters and select “Serial” option. Make sure that “SERIAL4_PROTOCOL is set to “Lidar360” and SERIAL4_BAUD is set to “921600”.

STEP 2

Back in Parameters select the “PRX_TYPE” option, click on “Advanced settings”, “Manual entry” and set the type of proximity sensor connected to, “6”. Click “Save”.

In the above settings it is assumed that the Tower Evo is connected to SERIAL 4 port. In case you are using a different port on your autopilot board please make sure that you refer to the corresponding settings (e.g. SERIAL 5 settings).

STEP 3

After setting the parameters, please reboot the autopilot (unplug and plug the USB cable).

STEP 4

To verify that the TeraRanger Tower Evo is functional on your ground control station, go to “Widgets” (top task bar) and select “Analyze”. The message plotter will now open.

From the list on the left hand side select “M1:DISTANCE_SENSOR.current_distance” to visualize the distance values received from the TeraRanger Tower Evo, which is an indicator that the system is operating normally.

STEP 4 (ALTERNATIVE)

Another option to visualize distance values from the TeraRanger Tower Evo is to use Mission Planner’s proximity viewer. Navigate to Mission Planner Flight Data screen, press Ctrl-F and select the “Proximity” option.