[Paparazzi-devel] Paparazzi v.4.0 - Spektrum radio config issue

[Michal Podhradsky]

Hello guys,

I have a question about the radio config xml file (in /conf/radios).
We are using Spektrum DX7s as a transmitter and one Spektrum satellite receiver. And I had troubles assigning the channels to radio controls (MODE switch and KILL switch).

Our configuration is following:

In the airframe config:

  <firmware name="rotorcraft">
    <target name="ap" board="lia_1.1">
      <subsystem name="radio_control" type="spektrum"/>
...


And the Spektrum radio config file (spektrum is:
<!DOCTYPE radio SYSTEM "radio.dtd">
<radio name="Spektrum" data_min="900" data_max="2100" sync_min ="5000" sync_max ="15000" pulse_type="NEGATIVE">
 <channel ctl="left_stick_vert" function="THROTTLE"     max="2050" neutral="950" min="950" average="0"/>

 <channel ctl="right_stick_horiz" function="ROLL"    min="950" neutral="1500" max="2050" average="0"/>
 <channel ctl="right_stick_vert" function="PITCH"      min="2050" neutral="1500" max="950" average="0"/>

 <channel ctl="left_stick_horiz" function="YAW" min="950" neutral="1500" max="2050" average="0"/>
 <channel ctl="switch_c" function="UNUSED"    min="2050" neutral="1500" max="948" average="1"/>

 <channel ctl="switch_g" function="MODE"    min="2050" neutral="1500" max="950" average="1"/>
 <channel ctl="aux2" function="KILL_SWITCH"     min="2050" neutral="1496" max="948" average="1"/>

</radio>

So MODE should be channel 5 and KILL_SWITCH channel 6.

However, neither RADIO_KILL_SWITCH nor RADIO_MODE is defined. The RADIO_MODE is later defined in http://github.com/paparazzi/paparazzi/blob/v4.0/sw/airborne/arch/stm32/subsystems/radio_control/spektrum_arch.h/#L62 but the KILL_SWITCH remains undefined.

A workaround is to define both switched in the airframe config file, for example:
    <!--define name="RADIO_MODE" value="RADIO_GEAR"/-->
    <!--define name="RADIO_KILL_SWITCH" value="RADIO_AUX2"/-->
but it does not seem to be the best option.

There is a spectrum header file http://github.com/paparazzi/paparazzi/blob/v4.0/sw/airborne/subsystems/radio_control/spektrum_dx7se.h but it is not included in compilation.

Also, changing settings in the Spectrum config xml file does not make any difference in radio behavior (e.g. the channels and min/max values stays the same regardless of the config file). 



Is this a desired behavior (i.e. moving away from the radio config and define everything in the airframe config or within the code) or is it a problem with compilation settings? How would I assign radio channels to switches in the radio config?

Thanks a lot
Michal