[Paparazzi-devel] Problems getting an overview of Paparazzi

[Christian Merfels]

Hello together,

I'm an engineering student from Lyon who got currently involved in a
project of building an UAV. We took over the project from another group,
which already put some work in this. Right now, some hardware was
already bought:
- a microcontroller (PIC16F876A, 20Mhz)
- a receiver/transmitter set (ARM-U8, frequence 868Mhz)
- a GPS chip (EM406A)
- a quartz (20Mhz)
- a gyroscope (IDG 500Dual)
- a batterie
- some cables

(As we think that the receiver/transmitter doesn't work with Paparazzi
(?), we are probably going to change them.)

Our goal is to buy a Twinstar II, build the necessairy card, wire
everything together and than control the drone from the ground via
Paparazzi.

Now as I have described the setting, do you guys think this is possible?
I'm not quite sure about the true function and work done by Paparazzi;
am I correct when I say:
* Paparazzi does all the aerodynamics calculation
* It than sends the current speed and direction orders to the plane
* The card on the plane needs to interpretate the orders and do the
actual adjustments of control signals / power levels
* The plane itself sends back GPS / gyroscop signals to Paparazzi

So our main work would come down to the above described interpretation
of orders. Is our microcontroller sufficient for this?

I'm sorry for this quite lengthly explanation, but I tried to keep it
short anyways :-). When reading the Paparazzi Wiki, talking to the old
group and our tutor, we got a lot of different infos about Paparazzi's
mode of operation + capabilities, so we thought it would be the best to
ask you guys directly.

Best regards,
Christian