Walksnail Serial gimbal and headtracker support

[mmosca]

Support for Walksnail serial gimbal and headtracker.

Headtracker can be used with serial gimbal or in the mixer.

Saves a few pwm outputs in exchange for a UART.

Headtracker information can be read from VTX via UART and gimbal can be controlled via uart.

serial 5 67108864 115200 115200 0 115200

set gimbal_sensitivity = 0
set gimbal_pan_channel = 15
set gimbal_tilt_channel = 16
set gimbal_roll_channel = 0

set headtracker_type = SERIAL
set headtracker_pan_ratio =  1.000
set headtracker_tilt_ratio =  1.000
set headtracker_roll_ratio =  1.000

Configurator changes:
iNavFlight/inav-configurator#2106

Features for a follow up PR:

• trims for at least the pitch axis to allow "X degree up angle on camera", like quad pilots are used to.
• Implement headtracker_type = SERVO and refactor osd pan compensation to use headtracker common, instead of mixer channels.

Demo:
https://youtu.be/GDTD14OQr-c

[ltwin8]

hi, does this also support the HEQUAV G-Port gimbal?

[ltwin8]

are you aware of some headtracker to use with ELRS? afaik the ELRS Backpack can support headtrack only missing part is a sensor for googles

[mmosca]

hi, does this also support the HEQUAV G-Port gimbal?

The gimbal control over serial, probably not. The protocol is probably different.

I don't have a HEQ gimbal to test.

[mmosca]

are you aware of some headtracker to use with ELRS? afaik the ELRS Backpack can support headtrack only missing part is a sensor for googles

for INAV, that shows up as data on a rc channel. No need to do anything special

[ltwin8]

are you aware of some headtracker to use with ELRS? afaik the ELRS Backpack can support headtrack only missing part is a sensor for googles

for INAV, that shows up as data on a rc channel. No need to do anything special

I meant hardware to do headtracking? Like anything that communicates with the radio (wirelessly maybe) to mix it into the rc link

[elmerthecat]

Will this work on any gimbal with a UART? I would like to use this one.

[mmosca]

Will this work on any gimbal with a UART? I would like to use this one.

I have only tested the walksnail one. If it is is the same, it should work.

[elmerthecat]

Will this work on any gimbal with a UART? I would like to use this one.

I have only tested the walksnail one. If it is is the same, it should work.

Okay, thanks. Just out of curiosity and since I cant find this information elsewhere, how do the goggles transmit the head tracking data to the aircraft? I am assuming it is through the vtx? Can the vtx transmit the pwm signal to the FC so that you can just use pwm signal instead?

[Jonbuckles]

Will this work on any gimbal with a UART? I would like to use this one.

I have only tested the walksnail one. If it is is the same, it should work.

Okay, thanks. Just out of curiosity and since I cant find this information elsewhere, how do the goggles transmit the head tracking data to the aircraft? I am assuming it is through the vtx? Can the vtx transmit the pwm signal to the FC so that you can just use pwm signal instead?

The built in head tracking is sent from the goggles to the VTX, VTX has a cable that goes to the gimbal and the commands are passed. The goggles also have head tracking out via 3.5mm jack, that can be used like normal head tracking sent to the FC via radio link, and in return can be sent to the gimbal if you directly connect the pwm cables, bypassing the VTX option.

Adding the option for UART control instead of pwm would simplify the wiring as well as allow you to set parameters via CLI and a host of other possibilities.

[Jonbuckles]

Are you on firmware 3.2 for the GM3 gimbal? I’m curious if this has been tested since they released the new firmware. I’ve have this working on the old firmware but don’t know if upgrading will still work. There is a parameter settings file on the gimbal that may need backed up and restored after upgrading.

[mmosca]

Upgrading to 3.2 will break it. We are working with walksnail for a solution.

[mmosca]

@Jonbuckles if anyone comes across this, you can track progress of the fix here #10302

We expect this to be fixed by caddx, but we may eventually need to do small changes on INAV's side before 8.0 release.

[kasatka60]

XF C-20T FPV GIMBAL supports "Carrier AHRS Fusion". Is it possible to implement this on inav?