Topotek Gimbals¶
Topotek provides a wide variety of camera gimbals which communicate with ArduPilot using a custom serial protocol.
Warning
Support for these gimbals is available in ArduPilot 4.6 (and higher)
Where to Buy¶
These gimbals can be purchased directly from Topotek
Connecting to the Autopilot¶
Connect the gimbal’s RX, TX and GND pins to one of the autopilot’s serial ports as shown above.
Connect with a ground station and set the following parameters. The params below assume the autopilot’s telem2 port is used and the Camera1 control instance,
SERIAL2_PROTOCOL to 8 (“Gimbal”)
SERIAL2_BAUD to “115” for 115200 bps
MNT1_TYPE to “12” (“Topotek”) and reboot the autopilot
MNT1_PITCH_MIN to -90
MNT1_PITCH_MAX to 45
MNT1_YAW_MIN to -180
MNT1_YAW_MAX to 180
MNT1_RC_RATE to 60 (deg/s) to control speed of gimbal when using RC targetting
CAM1_TYPE to 4 / “Mount” to allow control of the camera
RC6_OPTION = 213 (“Mount Pitch”) to control the gimbal’s pitch angle with RC channel 6
RC7_OPTION = 214 (“Mount Yaw”) to control the gimbal’s yaw angle with RC channel 7
RC8_OPTION = 163 (“Mount Lock”) to switch between “lock” and “follow” mode with RC channel 8
Optionally these auxiliary functions are also available
RC9_OPTION = 9 (“Camera Trigger”) to take a picture
RC9_OPTION = 166 (“Camera Record Video”) to start/stop recording of video
RC9_OPTION = 167 (“Camera Zoom”) to zoom in and out
RC9_OPTION = 168 (“Camera Manual Focus”) to adjust focus in and out
RC9_OPTION = 169 (“Camera Auto Focus”) to trigger auto focus
Configuring the Gimbal¶
The camera gimbal can be configured using the “GimbalControl” application which can be downloaded from the Topotek Download Resources page
Ethernet Connectivity¶
Instead of using a UART serial connection, an Ethernet connection may be used to both control the gimbal and display live video stream from the camera
An example setup of a networked ArduPilot vehicle system is detailed in Ethernet Connected Vehicle Example
Two video streams are available on different RTSP URLs
“rtsp://192.168.144.108:554/stream=0” provides a 1080p stream
“rtsp://192.168.144.108:554/stream=1” provides a 480p stream
If connected to a PC, VLC can be used to test the feed
Set the PC’s IP address so the first three octets match the camera’s IP address which, by default, is 192.168.144.108
Open VLC
Select “Media”, “Open Network Stream” and enter one of the RTSP URLS listed above
If using QGC, the live video can be configured from the “Application Settings”, “General” screen. Set “Source” to “RTSP Video Stream” and “RTSP URL” to one of the RTSP URLs listed above
Control and Testing¶
See Gimbal / Mount Controls and Camera Controls for details on how to control the camera and gimbal using RC, GCS or Auto mode mission commands