CORVON CV08 / CV50 Lidar

The CORVON CV08 and CORVON CV50 are dToF lidar sensors with ranges of 8m and 50m respectively. Both communicate with the autopilot over UART using MAVLink.

../_images/corvon-cv08.png ../_images/corvon-cv50.png

Specifications

CV08

CV50

Range

2cm to 8m

5cm to 50m

Field of view

less than 3 degrees

less than 2 degrees

Accuracy

+/-3cm below 1m, +/-3% at 1m and above

+/-3cm below 2m, +/-2% at 2m and above

Update rate

up to 50Hz

up to 100Hz

Supply voltage

3.5V to 5.5V, 20mA maximum at 5V

3.5V to 5.5V, 60mA maximum at 5V

Size

13.0 x 16.0 x 9.25mm

28.5 x 13.6 x 21.4mm

Weight

0.6g

6.8g

See the CV08 datasheet and CV50 datasheet for full details.

Where to Buy

The sensors are available from CORVON.

Sensor Setup

  • Connect the sensor to a PC using an FTDI adapter (USB to serial)

  • Open the CORVON TOF Tool in Chrome or Edge and select the adapter’s serial port

  • Set the protocol to “MAVLink (APM)” and the mounting orientation to match how the sensor will be mounted on the vehicle

  • Save the settings to the sensor

Note

Use an output rate of at least 10Hz to allow margin for the autopilot’s 500ms rangefinder timeout.

Connection to Autopilot

Connect the sensor to any spare serial port on the autopilot. The sensor’s TX goes to the autopilot’s RX and the sensor’s RX to the autopilot’s TX.

CV08:

  • Pin 1: TX

  • Pin 2: RX

  • Pin 3: VCC (5V)

  • Pin 4: GND

../_images/corvon-cv08-pinout.png

CV50:

  • Pin 1: GND

  • Pin 2: VCC (5V)

  • Pin 3: RX

  • Pin 4: TX

../_images/corvon-cv50-pinout.png

Parameters

These settings assume a connection to Serial2. For another port, change the SERIAL2_ parameters to match.

  • Set SERIAL2_BAUD = 115

  • Set SERIAL2_PROTOCOL = 1 (MAVLink1)

  • Set RNGFND1_TYPE = 10 (MAVLink)

  • Reboot the autopilot to see the rangefinder parameters

  • Set RNGFND1_MAX = 8 for the CV08 or 50 for the CV50

  • Set RNGFND1_MIN = 0.02 for the CV08 or 0.05 for the CV50

  • Set RNGFND1_ORIENT = 25 (Downward) or 0 (Forward), matching the orientation saved with the CORVON TOF Tool. Distance messages with a different orientation are ignored

  • Set bit 1 (value 2) of the MAVx_OPTIONS of the sensor’s MAVLink channel (Don’t forward mavlink to/from) to keep its messages off the telemetry link. See MAVLink configuration for how the channels are numbered

  • Reboot the autopilot again to apply the MAVLink forwarding setting

Note

On 4.6 and earlier the forwarding option is bit 10 of SERIAL2_OPTIONS (value 1024) instead. Do not set that bit on 4.7 or later; it fails a pre-arm check.

Testing the sensor

Distances read by the sensor can be seen in the Mission Planner’s Flight Data screen’s Status tab. Look for “rangefinder1”.