How hard would multiple receivers be?

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27 Nov 2013 07:57 #15912 by mwm
I notice the new Taranis has an interesting capability - it can run two Tx's simultaneously. The builtin one, and one plugged into the back of the Tx. This makes me wonder how hard something like that would be to do with deviation. I think this is increasing order of difficulty (but what do I know):

1) Use both the builtin module & one of the add-on ones, mapping channels 1-N to one and N+1 - M to the other.

2) Use the builtin module to bind to two receivers, mapping channels between them as above.

3) As #2 above, but require the two Rx's to use the same protocol.

The transmitter for Devo/DSM*/JPro6 all have lots of channels available. If you've got an aircraft (an RTF or BNF one, for instance) without a spare servo channel, throwing in a second receiver for other things (like the HH 720P video camera) or FPV gear or would make this useful.

Do not ask me questions via PM. Ask in the forums, where I'll answer if I can.

My remotely piloted vehicle ("drone") is a yacht.

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27 Nov 2013 08:29 #15917 by FDR
Replied by FDR on topic How hard would multiple receivers be?
In general it would be a very useful feature, but it is quite hard to implement IMO...

I doubt the 7E could handle the #1 case, it can't load two modules to work with.

In any case you should guarantee, the two trnasmittion uses different channels.
You would have to provide (edit/store) two selectable protocols (with their options as well), two IDs, and two distinct bind buttons on the GUI.
Plus the channel mapping for the two...

My main concern however is about the timing.
Some protocols (like the DEVO for example) are quite dense, they can transmit in every few ms, and sometimes even receive telemetry data between them...
If you use one protocol for both transmittions, in theory they could be synchronized, but different protocols use different timing, so they will conflict each other...

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27 Nov 2013 14:38 #15925 by PhracturedBlue
Replied by PhracturedBlue on topic How hard would multiple receivers be?
This was discussed before. I think in regards with dsm2 (but maybe FlySky) which would have enough free bandwidth to transmit two independent sets of packets.
You would definitely lose telemetry capabilities.
Support for 2 different protocols is likely too difficult, each has different timings, so they would occasionally overlap, and the tx wouldn't be able to send both.
The biggest problem is figuring out how to do binding. You probably need fixed-id for at least one of the channels to make it work. Maybe bind it with fixed id as normal, and then afterwards assign the id to tehe upper channels.

Doing something like that wouldn't be too much work, however then we run into the question of whether the MCU has enough processing power. The protocol code keeps the MCU in interrupt mode for a long time (when it can't be doing anything else). Doubling the amount of time there might be too much. So again, it would depend on the protocol.

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27 Nov 2013 16:56 #15933 by victzh
Replied by victzh on topic How hard would multiple receivers be?
Do you mean that when the timer callback comes it is done in ISR?

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27 Nov 2013 17:44 - 27 Nov 2013 17:44 #15934 by PhracturedBlue
Replied by PhracturedBlue on topic How hard would multiple receivers be?
Not sure which 'it' you mean, but the entire protocol stack runs in interrupt context (medium priority). The only thing that interrupts it will be the rollover timer.
Last edit: 27 Nov 2013 17:44 by PhracturedBlue.

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27 Nov 2013 18:27 #15937 by victzh
Replied by victzh on topic How hard would multiple receivers be?
Yes, that's what I meant. I did not realize this, and that the protocol should be served as fast as possible.

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28 Nov 2013 03:38 - 28 Nov 2013 03:45 #15951 by RoGuE_StreaK
Replied by RoGuE_StreaK on topic How hard would multiple receivers be?
I raised the two DSM2 RXs about a month ago just on a passing thought, don't know if anything was ever discussed elsewhere. I personally think it would be fair to dump telemetry if using twin RXs, if you need telemetry then you can justify buying a more expensive higher channel-count RX. Ditto with fixed IDs; it would be a hack system, so expect trade-offs somewhere and be happy to get a 12channel RX for $12! ;)

That said, looooow on the priority list
Last edit: 28 Nov 2013 03:45 by RoGuE_StreaK. Reason: Hit return when inserting link, posted early

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