Disco
Introduction
The Parrot Disco is a Wifi controlled fixed-wing aircraft, originally designed for FPV flights. The hardware electronic components are very close the the Bebop quadrotor and the same principle can be applied to fly in full autonomous mode with Paparazzi.
Features
Here are some differences or addition compared to the Bebop hardware:
PWM
The Disco has 6 PWM outputs available with the following mapping:
- Internal mapping of the PWM with output index
- servo rail 1 <-> linux pwm_4
- servo rail 2 <-> linux pwm_5
- servo rail 3 <-> linux pwm_6
- servo rail 4 <-> linux pwm_1
- servo rail 5 <-> linux pwm_2
- servo rail 6 <-> linux pwm_3
Radio Control Input
A radio control input is available for RC based on serial protocols such as Spektrum serial or SBUS out. Since the SBUS protocol is using an inverted logic (serial idle low), the signal input pin is tight to two UARTs internally and can be accessed with the the following symbolic links:
- /dev/uart-sbus: the signal is inverted
- /dev/uart-sumd: the signal is not inverted
The RC input is recommended for the safety link instead of using the Wifi link to control the plane in manual or assisted mode.
GPS
The GPS used is a uBlox M8N.
Modifications
Exernal Receiver
A long range telemetry can be connected to the USB bus via e.g. a USBtoSerial board. One needs to install drivers for this on the disco. A complete page is on the Bebop part of the wiki.
4G connection
A 4G to the USB can be used for telemetry over cellular network
Satcom
A small iridium sat transeiver can be used.
RTK GPS
The GPS module can be desoldere and replaced with a M8P in case one wants to use RTK
Alternative servo
If your servo is broken one an use a Hitec Digital 5055MG as a direct fit replacement