Multi-point Telemetry

In this tutorial, the objective is to make the setup which allows to communicate with multiple telemetry modules using a single base telemetry module. The use case is a single telemetry module (e.g. 3DR or RFD900) is connected to ground station that runs QGroundControl that monitors/controls a fleet of drones. Each drone has a single telemetry module. So, it's one-to-many network.

We will need the SiK_Multipoint firmware.

Installation

Install required packages. On Mac,

brew install sdcc

On Ubuntu,

sudo apt update; sudo apt install sdcc

Clone the SiK package and switch to branch

cd ~
mkdir ~/src
cd ~/src
git clone https://github.com/RFDesign/SiK.git
cd SiK
git checkout SiK_Multipoint

Make and install,

cd SiK/Firmware
make install

Upload it to the radio (change the serial port name)

tools/uploader.py --port /dev/tty.usbserial-CHANGETHIS dst/radio~hm_trp.ihx

Start command mode,

screen /dev/tty.usbserial-CHANGETHIS 57600 8N1

then,

+++

Wait one second and then

ATI5

for listing the current paramters

Use ATS<parameternumber>=<value> to change the parameter value. Then make sure you save by typing AT&W

Notes

• Set MAVLINK=1
• Set NODECOUNT to the number of used telemetry modules
• There must be a base module with NODEID=0
• Put base node in broadcast mode by setting NODEDESTINATION=65535
• All other nodes should to talk to base only by setting NODEDESTINATION=0

References

• https://github.com/RFDesign/SiK/tree/SiK_Multipoint

• http://dev.px4.io/en/data_links/sik_radio.html