Our Asctec UAVs are equipped with Asctec Mastermind onboard computers (Atom 1.66 GHz dual core CPU, 4 GB RAM), running Ubuntu 14.04 and ROS Jade.

OBC Frequenctly Asked Questions

Wifi keeps dropping out, what gives?

Each UAVs has an Intel 7260 Wifi adapter and there are a lot of complaints online about instability issues. Try adding to /etc/modprobe/iwlwifi.conf the following:

options iwlwifi 11n_disable=8

This should turn on link aggregation and has worked once in the past.

I'm connected to Wifi but I can't ping anything in the network

Check how you configured your network adapters. Clearpath sent us the UAVs with a static IP on the (always on) ethernet adapter. This allows ROS to work even when not connected to a network. If this IP is on the same subnet as the Wifi adapter, all your packets will go through your unplugged ethernet.

To get around this see our networking page on dealing with multiple interfaces on the same subnet.

  • Typing sudo vim /etc/network/interfaces in a terminal, then modify this file as follows
    auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

    auto em1    # LAN
iface em1 inet static
address YOUR_LAN_ADDRESS

    auto wlan0  # WIRELESS
iface wlan0 inet static
  wpa-ssid YOUR_SSID
  wpa-psk YOUR_PASSWORD
  wpa-proto WPA2
  wpa-key-mgmt WPA-PSK
  wpa-ap-scan 1
  wpa-pairwise CCMP
  wpa-group CCMP
  address YOUR_WLAN_ADDRESS
  netmask 255.255.255.0
  network YOUR_NETWORK
  gateway YOUR_GATEWAY
  dns-nameservers 8.8.8.8 8.8.4.4
  post-up /sbin/iwconfig wlan0 power off # make sure power management is off --> short ping time
  post-up /sbin/route add -net 192.168.1.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 dev wlan0
    Example: for Asctec Pelican, YOUR_LAN_ADDRESS is 192.168.1.31, YOUR_WLAN_ADDRESS is 192.168.1.32, YOUR_NETWORK is 192.168.1.0, YOUR_GATEWAY is 192.168.1.1, YOUR_SSID is "mrasl" and YOUR_PASSWORD is "saveapril".

  • Restart networks:

    sudo ifdown em1
sudo ifup em1
sudo ifdown wlan0
sudo ifup wlan0

    Verify new configurations using ifconfig. Aftersudo reboot, the LAN and WLAN IP address should be shown in the LCD screen of the UAV.

Notes: basic Vim syntax, Esc => go to command mode, :i => insert text, :w => write file, :q => quit

ROS and/or Ubuntu are broken. How do I recover the factory image and other configurations (from Clearpath Canada)?

  1. Recovery Image from Astec
  2. Reconfigure network adapters: see the previous question
  3. ROS dependencies: using recovery image from astec, only 'ros-jade-ros-base' is installed.
    sudo apt install catkin-tools
sudo apt install python-catkin-tools
sudo apt install python-trollius
sudo apt install g++
sudo apt install autoconf
sudo apt install ros-jade-cmake-modules ros-jade-roscpp ros-jade-message-generation
sudo apt install ros-jade-mav-msgs ros-jade-nav-msgs ros-jade-sensor-msgs ros-jade-trajectory-msgs ros-jade-std-msgs ros-jade-geometry-msgs
sudo apt install ros-jade-dynamic-reconfigure
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo reboot
    Note: from Ubuntu 14, apt-get is replaced by apt. Use apt-cache search for searching apt software packages, e.g. apt-cache search catkin => install python-catkin-tools.

How can I sent the individual motor speed commands (lowest command level) to the motor controllers?

  1. Install asctec_mav_framework and dependencies
    • Clone
      mkdir -p my_ws/src
cd my_ws
catkin build
cd my_ws/src
git clone https://github.com/MRASL/asctec_mav_framework
git clone https://github.com/ethz-asl/ethzasl_msf
git clone https://github.com/ethz-asl/glog_catkin
git clone https://github.com/catkin/catkin_simple
git clone https://github.com/ethz-asl/mav_comm
    • Create a local branch and checkout the remote branch origin/direct_motor_ctrl (our interface for working with direct individual motor control) then build
      cd asctec_mav_framework
git checkout -b direct_motor_ctrl origin/direct_motor_ctrl
catkin build
cd my_ws
source devel/setup.bash
      Note: use git branch --help and git branch --list for more information.
    • Change asctec_hl_interface configuration for faster communcation Downloads this file 09_config_serial
      cd Downloads
sudo cp 09_config_serial /etc/grub.d
sudo chmod +x /etc/grub.d/09_config_serial # make it executable
sudo update-grub # rebuild grub config
sudo reboot
      Adjusting the Maximum Baudrate:
      cd asctec_hl_interface/cfg
cat HLInterface
cd asctec_hl_interface/launch
vim fcu_parameters.yaml
      Change fcu/baudrate to 115200baud and fcu/packet_rate_imu to 1000Hz.
  2. Flashing the Higlevel Processor
    • Requirements
      • Install OpenOCD
        sudo apt install openocd
sudo apt install libncurse5-dev:i386
sudo apt install libx11-dev:i386
sudo apt install zlib1g:i386
      • Install arm-elf-gcc compiler
        cd asctec_hl_firmware
./install_arm7_gcc.h
export PATH=$PATH:~/Downloads/arm7-elf-gcc/usr/local/arm7/bin
        Note: cat install_arm_gcc.h to view contain of this file
    • Compiling
      cd asctec_hl_firmware
make
      If there are some errors, pls restart the system, make clean and make again.
    • Flashing
      • Connect OBC (Mastermind) to the Asctec Autopilot via AscTec JTAG Adapter
      • Turn on the Autopilot and check USB port
        lsusb
ls -la
ls -la /dev/ttyUSB*
ls /dev/ttyUSB0
      • First terminal: connect to the device via OpenOCD with the command
        sudo openocd -f lpc2xxx_asctecusbjtag05.cfg
        If there are some warnings or errors, please restart the system and try again.
      • Second terminal: open a telnet connection to OpenOCD
        telnet localhost 4444
        Then stop, flash and reset the device
        reset halt
flash write_image erase main.bin
reset run

  3. Test

    • Running fcu
      souce devel/setup.bash
roslaunch asctec_hl_interface fcu.launch
    • Sent motor command in range 1 to 200: make sure that the PROPELLERS ARE NOT MOUNTED
      rostopic pub -r 100 /fcu/command/direct_motor mav_msgs/Actuators "header:
 seq: 0
 stamp:
   sec: 0
   nsecs: 0
 frame_id: ''
 angles: -0
 angular_velocities: -0
 normalized: [100, 100, 100, 100, 100, 100]"
      Full experimental system architecture including Vicon system, Ground PC, UAV and networks: read ICUAS18_0164 article.

How can I use the Asctec OBC with a monitor, mouse and keyboard?

photo here

The Astec OBC is not working?

Check BIOS battery

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