The 3DR Radio is the ideal way to setup a telemetry connection between your APM/Pixhawk and a ground station. Small, inexpensive and with great range, the 3DR radio uses an open source
"Sik" firmware which allows us to do things that cannot be done with other radios.
Download the USB driver for the Ground radio here: https://www.silabs.com/products/mcu/Pages/USBtoUARTBridgeVCPDrivers.aspx
Radio Features:
- Very small size
- Light weight (under 4 grams without antenna)
- Available in 900MHz or 433MHz variants
- Receiver sensitivity to -121 dBm
- Transmit power up to 20dBm (100mW)
- Transparent serial link
- Air data rates up to 250kbps (default 64kbps)
- Range of approx 1 mile
- MAVLink protocol framing and status reporting
- Larger, HIGH GAIN antenna (7 5/8in / 194mm overall length)
- Frequency hopping spread spectrum (FHSS)
- Adaptive time division multiplexing (TDM)
- Support for LBT and AFA
- Configurable duty cycle
- Built in error correcting code (can correct up to 25% data bit errors)
- Demonstrated range of several kilometers with a small omni antenna
- Can be used with a bi-directional amplifier for even more range
- Open source firmware
- AT commands for radio configuration
- RT commands for remote radio configuration
- Adaptive flow control when used with APM/Pixhawk
- Based on the HopeRF HM-TRP radio module, featuring an SiLabs Si1000 RF microcontroller.
Frequency regulations vary by country, so consult your local airspace authority to find out which frequency is legal in your area.
*Note: The reference to APM refers to the ArduPilot project, a family of open source autopilots based on the Arduino open source computing platform, developed by 3DR and the open source community. It consists of a choice of ArduPilot Mega (APM) electronics and a range of free software versions for different vehicles and is governed by an open source creative commons license.
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