Installation
Last updated
Last updated
WARNING!
1. Do not power on the board without GPS and wireless telemetry module antennas connected! 2. Do not disconnect antennas when the board is powered on!
Both of the above can void warranty on the device,
Mount your board on your copter airframe. It's highly recommended to mount the board as close to the geometrical centre of the copter as possible. Mounting should be done with four 3 mm nylon screws. Add rubber spacers to reduce motor vibration noise.
Note the "FWD" arrow during instillation - FWD = Forward
Connect the general peripherals as shown on the diagram below:
If you’re using external GNSS / Magnetometer module board, the connection should be as following:
The GNSS / Magnetometer cable goes to its dedicated GNSS / MAG port with 6 wires (GND, SDA, SCL, RX, TX, 5V).
The GPS cable (4 wires: GND, 5V, RX, TX) goes to its dedicated GPS port, whilst the magnetometer cable (I2C: SCL, SDA) goes to the dedicated magnetometer port as shown in the picture above.
Make sure to place the GPS module as far as possible from:
Main body of the airframe
RF emitting devices such as transmitters
High-current cables (ESC / motors power supply)
Connect the GPS antenna to its designated GPS antenna port. Note: this is only for versions with the integrated GNSS module.
After mounting the board you need to connect the cables from the RC receiver to SmartAP PPM / SBUS input.
You can also connect FrSky S.Port from FrSky receiver and get real-time telemetry on your FrSky transmitter (e.g. Taranis) screen. Simply connect the S.Port wire from the receiver to the Tel pin next to SBus input.
Channel assignments should normally be as follows:
Input channel 1 – Roll
Input channel 2 – Pitch
Input channel 3 – Throttle
Input channel 4 – Yaw
Input channel 5 – Mode selection
Input channel 6 – RTH Mode
Input channel 7 – Auto Mode
Modes can be remapped in the configuration software later.
If you want the flight controller to read the information about RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator) from RC receiver - simply connect the RSSI output and GND from your RC receiver to PWM I/0 #13 for the flight controller. RSSI information will appear in the GCS and also on the OSD screen.
Connect ESC inputs to SmartAP PWM outputs 1-12. The first motor is always front or front-right, its spinning direction is CCW.
Be sure NOT to mix up polarity! GND line (black) is near the edge, +5V line (red) in the middle, signal line (yellow) is on the upper row.
Connect the telemetry antenna to the telemetry antenna port. If you would like to use a external telemetry module, connect GND, 5V, RX, TX pins of the telemetry port to your external telemetry module. Later, you will need to disable the onboard telemetry module within SmartAP GCS configurator software.
SmartAP has a integrated OSD (On-Screen display) module. This means that you can connect your camera output to the autopilot (instead of directly connecting to the video transmitter) and then connect the video output from the flight controller to the video transmitter. In this case, the autopilot will relay the flight information (mode, altitude, speed, battery status, etc.) on the screen. Connect the video camera to the video IN port on the autopilot (GND, 12V, VIN). Connect the video transmitter to the video OUT port on the autopilot (GND, 12V, VOUT).
SmartAP OSD supports both PAL and NTSC video standards with automatic detection and configuration.
Check the voltage ratings for your video camera and video transmitter! SmartAP outputs 12V and normally camera and video TX require a 12V power supply, however, some of the cameras / transmitters need 5V or other specific voltage levels. Check this carefully and provide the required voltage level. Otherwise, it can damage your camera / video TX!
Connect your electromagnetic sounder to the BUZ port of SmartAP.
Connect the power supply cable from your main power distribution board on the UAV:
SmartAP PRO 0.1 and earlier: 10-36 V, 3S – 8S
SmartAP PRO 0.2 and later: 10-60 V, 3S – 14S
Buzzer: 12V, 0.2A (included in the kit) LED 1-4: 12V, 0.2A per each channel (enough to power an LED strip of 25cm in length)
The pressure sensor is highly sensitive to the air pressure noise generated by the props and sunlight. It’s highly recommended to add foam coverage on the pressure sensor to decrease the noise effect and improve measurements. This will result in more precise altitude hold positions. For example:
Dimensions of the board are 80x80mm. Diameter of mounting holes is 3mm, and distance between the centre of the mounting holes and board edges is 4.5 mm.
