Integration examples

Connection with Autopilot 1x via CAN

No configuration is necessary for MEX, the configuration for communication with Autopilot 1x is set by default.

The configuration required in 1x PDI Builder to communicate with MEX via CAN is explained in the Integration Examples section of the 1x PDI Builder manual, click here to access it.

CAN Configuration

CAN Reception IDs

First of all, users can setup the receiving CAN Ids for each one of the three possible Veronte Autopilots 1x in the Arbitration menu.

../_images/can_reception_arbitration_ids.png

Arbitration - CAN Ids of autopilots

Note

If arbitration is not enabled, and therefore only a 1x autopilot is being used, no CAN Ids need to be configured here.

CAN I/O Interconnections

Once CAN IDs are set, users shall configure:

  • Input Filters to be used (as communication with MEX has to be always through a Filter).

  • The connection between input filters and data Consumers.

../_images/can_io_interconnections.png

CAN I/O interconnections

For more information on CAN I/O configuration, see section CAN I/O of this manual.

Next step is to connect each of the desired data Producers to an Output Filter, and configure both the Producer and the Output Filter:

../_images/can_io_output_filter.png

CAN Output Filters

CAN Telemetry

In addition, MEX can send telemetry via CAN.

../_images/can_telemetry_diagram.png

Communication diagram 1x-MEX

The user must follow the steps below to enable this function and to configure an Autopilot 1x to read its telemetry:

MEX PDI Builder side

  1. Go to Input/Output menu \(\Rightarrow\) CAN I/O section \(\Rightarrow\) Configuration tab.

    Connect CAN Telemetry to a CAN Ouptut Filter as follows:

    ../_images/can_io_telemetry.png

    CAN I/O Custom Telemetry

  2. Go to the CAN Telemetry tab.

    Select the fields to send in the TX section, as it is a Producer. More information about the configuration of telemetry messages can be found in the CAN Telemetry section.

    ../_images/can_telemetry.png

    CAN Custom Telemetry

    For example, a telemetry messsage with a variable set to ID 90:

    ../_images/can_telemetry_example.png

    CAN Custom Telemetry example

1x PDI Builder side

  1. Go to UI menu \(\Rightarrow\) Variables section \(\Rightarrow\) Reals Vars tab.

    Rename a User Variable, that will be used to store the value received from MEX:

    ../_images/1x_builder_can_telemetry_user_variable.png

    1x PDI Builder - User Variable renamed

  2. Go to Input/Output menu \(\Rightarrow\) CAN Setup section \(\Rightarrow\) Mailboxes tab.

    Configure the mailbox to receive the message with ID 90 in 1x PDI Builder:

    ../_images/1x_builder_can_telemetry_mailboxes.png

    1x PDI Builder - Mailbox configuration

  3. Go to Input/Output menu \(\Rightarrow\) CAN Setup section \(\Rightarrow\) Configuration tab.

    Connect an Input filter with the right CAN ID to a Custom message consumer:

    ../_images/1x_builder_can_telemetry_input_filter.png

    1x PDI Builder - Input filter

    ../_images/1x_builder_can_telemetry_input_filter_configuration.png

    1x PDI Builder - Input filter configuration

  4. Go to Input/Output menu \(\Rightarrow\) CAN Setup section \(\Rightarrow\) Custom message 1 tab (as Custom Message 1 has been selected as consumer).

    Configure the reading of the message and store the received value in the user variable renamed above:

    ../_images/1x_builder_can_telemetry_custom_message.png

    1x PDI Builder - Custom Message configuration

Commanding/Reading PWMs

The appropriate PWM message format is described in Command PWMs -> CAN Bus protocol section of the MEX Software manual.

../_images/pwm_command.png

Communication diagram 1x-MEX

The following steps command PWM from Autopilot 1x to MEX:

1x PDI Builder side

  1. Go to Input/Output menu \(\Rightarrow\) CAN Setup section \(\Rightarrow\) Configuration tab.

    Connect a CAN custom message to an Output filter to send the message:

    ../_images/pwm_command_custom_message.png

    PWM Command - CAN Custom Message

  2. Go to Input/Output menu \(\Rightarrow\) CAN Setup section \(\Rightarrow\) Custom Message 2 tab (because Custom Message 2 has been selected as consumer).

    Build a CAN custom message using the PWM variable and the appropriate Message format. CAN ID is arbitrary, for this example we will use ID 100:

    ../_images/pwm_command_custom_message_configuration.png

    PWM Command - CAN Custom Message configuration

    Message format:

    • Matcher (2) [8 bits]

      • PWM 1 [12 bits]

      • PWM 2 [12 bits]

      • PWM 3 [12 bits]

      • PWM 4 [12 bits]

    • Matcher (3) [8 bits]

      • PWM 5 [12 bits]

      • PWM 6 [12 bits]

      • PWM 7 [12 bits]

      • PWM 8 [12 bits]

    • Each PWM variable has to be set using the following format:

      • Variable: PWM X

      • Compression: Compress - Bits Unsigned

      • Bits: 12

      • Encode: Min=0.0 / Max=1.0

      • Decode: Min=0 / Max=4095

MEX PDI Builder side

  1. Go to Input/Output menu \(\Rightarrow\) CAN Setup section.

    Create the mailbox to receive the new message (ID 100):

    ../_images/pwm_command_mailbox.png

    PWM Command- Mailbox configuration

  2. Go to Input/Output menu \(\Rightarrow\) CAN I/O section \(\Rightarrow\) Configuration tab.

    Connect an Input filter with the right CAN ID to the Application Processor consumer:

    ../_images/pwm_command_input_filter.png

    PWM Command - Input filter

    ../_images/pwm_command_input_filter_configuration.png

    PWM Command - Input filter configuration

  3. Go to Input/Output menu \(\Rightarrow\) PWM section \(\Rightarrow\) PWM 1 tab (as PWM 1 has been selected in 1x PDI Builder).

    Configure parameters for PWM 1:

    ../_images/pwm_command_pwm_configuration.png

    PWM Command - PWM configuration

  4. Go to Input/Output menu \(\Rightarrow\) GPIO section.

    Check that this PWM pin (PWM 1 in this case) has correctly switched from GPIO to PWM.

    It should look like this:

    ../_images/pwm_command_gpio.png

    PWM Command - GPIO configuration

    • IO: GPIO as output.

    • Function: Mux 1.

  5. Finally, export the configuration and save changes.

GPIO Command

The following are the steps to send a GPIO command from the Veronte Autopilot 1x, receive it at MEX and process it, so that MEX carries out the command.

GPIO Command is very similar to PWM command with a few differences.

1x PDI Builder side

  1. Go to Input/Output menu \(\Rightarrow\) CAN Setup section \(\Rightarrow\) Configuration tab.

    Connect, as Producer, a ‘CAN GPIO remote’ to an Output filter:

    ../_images/gpio_command_can.png

    GPIO Command - 1x CAN Setup

    CAN GPIO remote must be configured. For more information about its configuration, read CAN Setup section of 1x PDI Builder user manual.

    ../_images/gpio_command_can_configuration.png

    GPIO Command - 1x CAN Setup configuration

  2. Go to Automations menu.

    GPIO must be activated using an ‘Output action’:

    ../_images/gpio_command_automation.png

    GPIO Command - 1x Automation configuration

MEX PDI Builder side

  1. Go to Input/Output menu \(\Rightarrow\) CAN I/O section \(\Rightarrow\) Configuration tab.

    Finally, connect an Input filter to the CAN GPIO consumer:

    ../_images/gpio_command_can_cex.png

    GPIO Command - CAN I/O

    The Id must match the one configured in 1x PDI Builder Output filter:

    ../_images/gpio_command_can_cex_configuration.png

    GPIO Command - Input filter configuration

Jetibox

MEX is able to simulate a Jetibox to read telemetry from Legacy Jeti devices, the following steps need to be taken:

  1. Go to Devices menu \(\Rightarrow\) Jetibox section.

    Enable it and select a SCI Port, in this example SCI A is selected:

    ../_images/jetibox_devices.png

    Jeti box Devices configuration

  2. Go to Input/Output menu \(\Rightarrow\) SCI section.

    Configure the serial port (the one selected in step 1) as follows:

    • Baudrate: 9800

    • Length: 8

    • Stop: 2 stop bits

    • Parity: Odd

    • Use address mode: Enabled

    ../_images/jetibox_sci.png

    Jeti box SCI configuration

    Note

    The serial port will be totally reserved for this, so it will not be usable to other things and the I/O Setup affecting it wil be ignored.

  3. Go to Input/Output menu \(\Rightarrow\) I/O Setup section.

    Link the specific Jetibox I/O consumer to a port, that will be configured in step 4:

    ../_images/jetibox_consumer.png

    Jetibox Consumer

  4. Configure the Jetibox I/O consumer to retrieve the data. Click on the configuration button ( gears icon):

    ../_images/jetibox_consumer_configuration.png

    Jetibox Consumer configuration

Below is an example of the custom messages needed to read the Actual Voltage from a Jeti MasterSpin 220 (use Big endian in all messages):

../_images/jetibox_custom_message_all.png

JETI box example

  1. Expected text: “CONTROLLER TYPE MasterSpin 220~”

    • Command: Jeti box Down

      • Matcher(32) “CONT” 0x434F4E54 (1129270868)

      • Skip(24*8) 192

      • Matcher(32) “220~” 0x3232307E (842150014)

    ../_images/jetibox_custom_message.png

    JETI box custom message example

  2. Expected text: “MeasureOrSetting MEASURE ~”

    • Command: Jeti box Down

      • Matcher(32) “Meas” 0x4D656173 (1298489715)

  3. Expected text: “Max Temperature”…

    • Command: Jeti box Down

      • Matcher(32) “Max ” 0x4D617820 (1298233376)

  4. Expected text: “Min Temperature”…

    • Command: Jeti box Down

      • Matcher(32) “Min ” 0x4D696E20 (1298755104)

  5. Expected text: “Actual Temperature”…

    • Command: Jeti box Down

      • Matcher(32) “Actu” 0x41637475 (1097036917)

  6. Expected text: “MaxCurrent”…

    • Command: Jeti box Down

      • Matcher(32) “MaxC” 0x4D617843 (1298233411)

  7. Expected text: “MinCurrent”…

    • Command: Jeti box Down

      • Matcher(32) “MinC” 0x4D696E43 (1298755139)

  8. Expected text: “Max Voltage”…

    • Command: Jeti box Down

      • Matcher(32) “Max ” 0x4D617820 (1298233376)

  9. Expected text: “Min Voltage”…

    • Command: Jeti box Down

      • Matcher(32) “Min ” 0x4D696E20 (1298755104)

  10. Expected text: “Actual Voltage 11,86 V “

    • Command: Jeti box Nop

      • Matcher(32) “Actu” 0x41637475 (1097036917)

      • Skip(12*8) 96

      • Parse ascii: int(2), decimal(2), separartor(‘,’)

    ../_images/jetibox_last_message.png

    JETI box last custom message example

Reading Arbitration Messages

Note that those messages are generated only if arbitration and messages are enabled in MEX.

Arbiter will send its telemetry in little endian format, using its CAN-TX ID.

The appropriate arbitration message format is described in Arbitration -> CAN Bus protocol section of the MEX Software manual.

Reading/Sending RPMs

This section explains the steps to read RPMs.

MEX PDI Builder side

  1. Go to Input/Output menu \(\Rightarrow\) GPIO section.

    RPM can be read on the available digital inputs I/O 1-4. The chosen pin needs to be configured as “GPIO as input”. In the example shown here, I/O1 is chosen.

    ../_images/rpm_io_gpio.png

    Reading RPMs - GPIO configuration

  2. Go to Input/Output menu \(\Rightarrow\) Digital Input section.

    There are 4 possible producers: CAP 1-4. One needs to be chosen and linked to one of the RPMs consumers (RPM 1-4). For more information about Digital input configuration, read the Digital Input section of this manual.

    Then, select an edge detection option: “first rising edge” or “first falling edge”.

    ../_images/rpm_digital_input.png

    Reading RPMs - Digital Input

    ../_images/rpm_digital_input_configuration.png

    Reading RPMs - Digital Input configuration

  3. Go to Sensors menu \(\Rightarrow\) RPM section \(\Rightarrow\) RPM 1 tab (since RPM 1 has been selected in the Digital Input section).

    Here the expected pulse needs to be defined. For more information about RPM configuration, read section RPM of this manual.

    ../_images/rpm_configuration.png

    Reading RPMs - RPM configuration

  4. Go to Input/Output menu \(\Rightarrow\) CAN I/O section \(\Rightarrow\) Configuration tab.

    Connect CAN Telemetry to a CAN Ouptut Filter as follows (in this example, the RPM1 variable is sent over CAN B bus of the MEX):

    ../_images/rpm_custom_telemetry.png

    Reading RPMs - CAN Custom Telemetry

  5. Go to the CAN Telemetry tab.

    A new telemetry message needs to be created with its correspondent ID, endianness and period.

    • Can ID: 1200.

    • Endianness: Little.

    • Period: 0.01 s.

    In the telemetry message one of MEX variables needs to be selected. As RPM1 has been chosen as consumer in the Digital Input, the variable required to send is RPM1.

    ../_images/rpm_custom_telemetry_configuration.png

    Reading RPMs - CAN Custom Telemetry configuration

    More information on the configuration of Telemetry messages can be found in the CAN Telemetry section.

1x PDI Builder side

  1. Go to UI menu \(\Rightarrow\) Variables section \(\Rightarrow\) Reals Vars tab.

    Rename a Real User Variable (32 bits) that will be used to store the value received from MEX:

    ../_images/1x_builder_rpm_user_variable.png

    1x PDI Builder - User Variable renamed

  2. Go to Input/Output menu \(\Rightarrow\) CAN Setup section \(\Rightarrow\) Mailboxes tab.

    Configure some mailboxes to receive the message with ID 1200:

    ../_images/1x_builder_rpm_mailboxes.png

    1x PDI Builder - Mailbox configuration

  3. Go to Input/Output menu \(\Rightarrow\) CAN Setup section \(\Rightarrow\) Configuration tab.

    Connect an Input filter to a Custom message consumer. Both CAN buses of the autopilot 1x can be used, as well as normal IDs and extended IDs:

    ../_images/1x_builder_rpm_input_filter.png

    1x PDI Builder - Input filter

    ../_images/1x_builder_rpm_input_filter_configuration.png

    1x PDI Builder - Input filter configuration

  4. Go to Input/Output menu \(\Rightarrow\) CAN Setup section \(\Rightarrow\) Custom message 1 tab (as Custom Message 1 has been selected as consumer).

    Configure the message reading and store the received value in the user variable renamed above:

    ../_images/1x_builder_rpm_custom_message.png

    1x PDI Builder - Custom Message configuration

Scorpion

MEX is able to read telemetry from Tribunus ESCs by connecting it to one of its serial ports. The following steps configure MEX to read this telemetry:

  1. Go to Devices menu \(\Rightarrow\) Scorpion tribunus section

    Enable it and configure it as shown:

    ../_images/scorpion_devices.png

    Scorpion tribunus Devices configuration

  2. Go to Input/Output menu \(\Rightarrow\) I/O Setup section.

    Link the specific Tribunus ESC consumer to the desired port:

    ../_images/scorpion_consumer.png

    Scorpion Consumer

Serial

The user can send information through the serial ports of MEX. For this purpose, please read the following steps:

MEX PDI Builder side

  1. I/O Setup configuration

    • Reception of serial information on RS232-A (producer) is stored in Serial to CAN 2 (consumer).

    • Transmission of serial information is sent using the CAN to Serial 2 (producer) through RS232-A (consumer).

    (‘Serial to CAN’ and ‘CAN to Serial’ are explained in the I/O section of this manual, click here to access it)

    ../_images/uart_io.png

    Serial - I/O Setup

  2. CAN I/O configuration

    • The information that will be sent over serial port RS232-A is going to be received on the MEX over its CAN B port. A mask Id of 51 is added to the Input filter.

      The incoming information (from Veronte Autopilot 1x) is processed in ‘CAN to Serial 2’.

    • The information coming from port RS232-A and processed as ‘Serial to CAN 2’ is going to be linked to an Output filter.

      The information of ‘Serial to CAN 2’ is going to be sent over CAN B with a mask ID of 50 (to be read by Veronte Autopilot 1x).

    ../_images/uart_can_io.png

    Serial - CAN I/O

    ../_images/uart_can_io_input_filter.png

    Serial - Input filter configuration

    ../_images/uart_can_io_serial_can.png

    Serial - Serial to CAN configuration

  3. CAN Setup (mailboxes) configuration

    Mailboxes need to be defined for the reception of CAN messages. In the example above, mailboxes for ID 51 need to be added on CAN B port.

    ../_images/uart_mailbox.png

    Serial - CAN Setup configuration

1x PDI Builder side

  1. On the I/O Setup, link an ‘RS Custom Message’ to a ‘Serial to CAN’ with the serial data that autopilot is going to send to MEX.

    Then, link a ‘CAN to Serial’ to another ‘RS Custom Message’ with the expected serial messages that MEX will receive in the selected serial port.

    ../_images/1x_uart_io.png

    Serial - 1x I/O Setup configuration

  2. For the CAN I/O, the same IDs employed in MEX for the Input and Output filters are going to be employed on Veronte Autopilot 1x side, but they must be inverted.

    Therefore, the Input filter linked to the chosen ‘CAN to Serial’ needs to have ID 50. And the Output filter linked to the chosen ‘Serial to CAN’ will have ID 51.

    ../_images/1x_uart_can.png

    Serial - 1x CAN Seup

    ../_images/1x_uart_can_serial_can_configuration.png

    Serial - 1x Serial to CAN configuration

    ../_images/1x_uart_can_input_filter_configuration.png

    Serial - 1x Input filter configuration

  3. Some mailboxes with ID 50 have to be created on whichever chosen reception CAN bus.

    ../_images/1x_uart_mailboxes.png

    Serial - 1x Mailboxes configuration

Using MEX as external magnetometer Honeywell HMR2300 for Autopilot 1x

MEX has to be configured with MEX PDI Builder to send the magnetometer measurements by messages, in the same way as Honeywell HMR2300 does. Autopilot 1x also requires a configuration, which is made with 1x PDI Builder.

MEX PDI Builder side

  1. Go to Input/Output menu \(\Rightarrow\) I/O Setup section.

    Connect the Custom message producer 1 or 2 to the RS232-A, RS232-B or RS485-C port.

    ../_images/mex_external_magnetometer_io_setup_serial_can.png

    I/O Setup configuration

  2. Click on the gears button of the chosen Custom message producer and add a new message (clicking on plus), then configure it as Big endian and set a Period of 0.02 s.

    ../_images/mex_external_magnetometer_io_setup_custom_message.png

    I/O Setup - Custom message configuration

  3. Click on plus to add the 3 following Real variables: 313, 314 and 315. Then configure them according to the following table:

    Parameter

    Configuration

    Compression

    Compress - Bits Signed

    Bits

    16

    Encode

    Min: -2.1845334E-4 / Max: 2.1844667E-4

    Decode

    Min: -32768 / Max: 32767
    ../_images/mex_external_magnetometer_io_setup_custom_message_variables.png

    I/O Setup - Custom message Variables configuration

  4. Click on plus \(\Rightarrow\) Matcher to add a matcher to the message and configure it as follows:

    Parameter

    Configuration

    Value

    13

    Bits

    8
    ../_images/mex_external_magnetometer_io_setup_custom_message_matcher.png

    I/O Setup - Custom message Matcher configuration

Warning

The order of variables and matcher must be the same.

  1. Go to SCI menu.

    Configure SCI A tab as follows:

    Parameter

    Configuration

    Baudrate

    115200

    Length

    8

    Stop

    1

    Parity

    Disabled

    Use adress mode

    Disabled
    ../_images/mex_external_magnetometer_io_sci.png

    SCI configuration

  2. Once finished the configuration, click on save to write the configuration in MEX.

Matcher explanation

The matcher is a binary code employed to discard messages with errors.

The length and the number represented can be edited clicking on edit_list of the matcher. If the receiver does not receive the exact same matcher sequence, the entire message will be discarded, since it will be considered corrupted.

For more information about custom messages and matchers, read Custom Messages section of the 1x PDI Builder user manual.

1x PDI Builder side

The configuration for the Autopilot 1x is explained in MEX as Magnetometer Honeywell HMR2300 -> Integration examples section of the 1x PDI Builder user manual.

CAN Isolator

MEX can operate as a CAN bus isolator, since it manages both CAN buses as desired. The system has a built-in microcontroller; which manages CAN buses in real-time. Both buses are not electrically connected, in consequence, electrical signals that do not follow the CAN protocol will be isolated.

The functionalities of a CAN isolator are the following:

Filtered CAN subnet

With MEX it is possible to filter certain messages from one CAN line (Line A) and transmit specific information through the other one (Line B). This is a specific case of CAN input filter.

The following diagram summarizes an application example to filter a CAN subnet:

../_images/subcan.png

Sub CAN example diagram

In this example, only a certain range of CAN IDs will be allowed to cross from Line B to Line A. The allowed range will be from 0x550 to 0x55F.

  1. Create a new mailbox entry for Line B. Assign some of the mailboxes to it and set the ID to 0x550.

../_images/subnet1.png

  1. Set a Mask which will ignore the last 4 bits.

../_images/subnet2.png

  1. Configure CAN Input Filter 2 on CAN B, with the same settings as the Mailbox.

../_images/subnet3.png

Important

This menu only allows decimal numbers. For this example the Id 0x550, is represented as 0d1360.

  1. Bind CAN Output Filter 2 to CAN Input Filter 2, configured to CAN A.

../_images/subnet4.png

CAN tunnel

A CAN tunnel is a specific case of messages tunnel. The electrical diagram is very similar to Filtered CAN subnet.

In this example, a transparent tunnel will be created. So, any messages received on Interface A will be sent through Interface B. Optionally, the mailboxes can be equally distributed to support both standard and extended CAN IDs.

  1. Create a new mailbox entry for Interface A. Assign half of the mailboxes to it and set a Mask of 0.

../_images/tunel1.png

  1. Configure CAN Input Filter 2 on CAN A, with a Mask of 0 and Both types.

../_images/tunel2.png

  1. Bind CAN Output Filter 2 to CAN Input Filter 2, configured to CAN B.

../_images/tunel3.png