Software
There are several communities developing software for the ArduPilot Mega platform. Currently, the communities supporting ArduPilot Mega are ArduCopter, ArduPirates and AeroQuad.
The Arducopter and ArduPirates share the same code base. The ArduPirates community has branched off and is developing the ArduCopter software for their own needs. I initially chose ArduPirates but recently switched to the ArduCopter code because the code is well commented, simpler and easier to understand. Both code bases work well, but I find Arducopter code easier to modify.
The only reason why I did not chose AeroQuad is because I could not get wireless communication with Scout working as I could with both ArduPirates and ArduCopter.
Wireless communication allows the freedom for on-the-fly tuning and reading sensor data from Scout without having to connect a USB cable to it. If I had GPS installed, wireless communication would also allow for real-time updating of the flight path without having to bring Scout back to the base station for programming.
Hi russ, just read this post and wondered when you mentioned the gps it sounded as though you was using your computer to control the craft? I plan to acheive this by coding my own program (mac based ftw) to communicate with my craft using an xbee network.
If you are controlling your craft with your pc how did you go about it?
I am currently using Mission Planner to control things like GPS navigation. Do don’t need to use a computer for GPS navigation when flying. You can also program the flight controller with waypoints ahead of time. You can then call the flight path by flicking a switch on your transmitter.