Teensy 3.x Using Mavlink and APM Planner 2

Using a Teensy 3.5 with Mavlink messaging you can communicate with APM Planner 2 Ground Station to display GPS position and Rover attitude. Other messages for data transfer can be added if desired.

The basic rover setup is a Axel Scropion RC Rock Crawler, with a Ublox M8N and a Adafruit BNO055 attitude sensor. A Teensy 3.5 is used as the controller to process Mavlink messages to and from APM Planner. A joystick is using to control the steering servo and ESC. Two batteries are used, one for the motor and one for the electronics. A set of 3dr Radios are used for communication between the base station and the rover.

A couple of things to note. The best way to get connected is to first connect APM Planner to the radio attached to the com port and then power up the Rover. You will see the connection established almost immediately. The next thing is to enable the joystick from the APM Planner menu. Then you will need to arm the system for the joystick messages to be sent.

One thing you will notice is that as the rover runs around my back yard mostly in circles for the test the GPS position is off. Its concentrated in the corner of the yard vs the center. This I probably because of the satellite positions and the fact the yard is surrounded by other buildings and trees.