Astro is designed to be compatible with a wide variety of payloads.
Astro utilizes the Smart Dovetail which is the reference design for the Pixhawk Payload Bus Standard
Want to see your payload listed here? Click here to tell us about it!
Want to learn about developing payloads for Astro? Check out the Interfaces section of this wiki!
Astro can fly both the Sentera 6X and 65R!
Both payloads are compatible with Astro using the Smart Dovetail connector, which sends power and capture commands to the cameras in flight.
Upgrade the payload software to a compatible version (3.7.0+). Follow the Sentera documentation found here.
Install the payload in the Smart Dovetail mount
Install the GPS mast and cabling securely
Make sure any cables are constrained and can't get caught in the propellers!
As of Astro firmware v1.5 or later, the 6X and 65R camera settings are selectable in the survey dropdown of the plan screen. Simply select the camera you are using and adjust the mission flight path as needed.
See Sentera's wiki for the recommended flight settings:
When planning a mission in AMC - Be sure to set the Camera Action field to 'Survey' and at the bottom of the settings page. This will set the camera to be triggered to take photos during the mission
Use 192.168.42.1 for the IP address
You MUST plug in the USB-C to pull data, data is not stored on the SD card on the Astro thumbdrive.
Turn off your computer wifi connection and ensure the wired network connection is showing connected to "Sentera 65R".
Sentera 65R (use this one) > "Data" folder > "snapshots" folder > select date of flight (folder)s
Sentera 65 SMB (don't use this one)
If you leave the Astro on or hotswap between missions, it'll save all the image in the same folder (annoying for post processing) so ensure you power cycle between missions to make processing easier (create seperate folders).
In Field Agent (sentera's processing software)
Create the field boundary
Then in the field menu select said field
Go to the map layers tab
press the + button in the right corner of the tab
Select individual photos from the upload map layer menu
Add the images to the upload section
Additional information can be found on Sentera's website:
The Gremsy Pixy PE is compatible with the Pixhawk Payload Bus standard and can be integrated with Astro to fly custom payloads. The dovetail mount of the Pixy PE fits into the dovetail mount on Astro and can communicate via Mavlink.
Gremsy gimbal setup documentation is linked here.
Astro's stock landing gear is a bit too short for the height of the gimbal, to extend the gear we recommend using standoffs between the aircraft chassis and the landing gear plastic mount. Note that one fastener on each landing gear is longer than the other two. The setup we have used is:
QTY 8 M3x50 SHCS
QTY 4 M3x55 SHCS
QTY 12 M3 40mm standoff
Blue loctite
Each leg needs 3 of the 40mm standoffs, 2 of the 50mm bolts and 1 of the 55mm bolts. The bolts mount to the same holes as the existing landing gear. We haven't extensively tested this configuration, so be gentle on landings to avoid torquing the threaded mounts inside the lower chassis plate.
Make sure to use the Freefly cable and Smart Dovetail mount. We have confirmed that mavlink control currently doesn't work with the Gremsy cable and dovetail mount.
On the latest Gremsy gimbal software (version v7.7.3), set the gimbal to Mavlink mode, make sure the baud rate of the gimbal is 912600, and confirm that it saves.
Recommended Gremsy software settings:
Baud Rate: 912600
Stiffness: Gyro filter to 1 or 2
Follow Controls > Pan > Airborne on
Settings > Mode Settings > Turn Reduce drift by drone > Pan Axis to the far right
The behavior of the gimbal pan changes when the aircraft is armed or disarmed, so if you need to change something be aware that you will likely need to fly the aircraft/gimbal to see how the change affects behavior.
We have had issues where the gimbal sometimes incorrectly reports a successful change of baud rate, so reboot the gimbal and check the settings to make sure it was changed correctly.
This will allow tilt control by using the wheel on the Herelink after rebooting the gimbal.
If tilt control is not working, check that the SER_EXT2_BAUD parameter is set correctly to 912600 baud rate. This can be found by going to Advanced mode --> Parameters
The 'Pan Window' setting in the current Pixy firmware does not appear to be working as intended. We have reached out to Gremsy about this issue.