Altimeter for Drone Parachute

Sensors Environmental
1

Hello,

I am interested in building using altimeter sensor in conjunction with a servo to deploy a parachute on my drone for protection.

I have searched several forms and seems no one has really asked this question before OR I have not found the right forum.

Yet the deployment would have to activate the servo (re: parachute) on the back of my drone within milliseconds of detecting a severe drop in altitude and/or motor failure using the Pixhawk navigation module.

The other is the code to go along with it … Not good yet at writing code that I need but it would seem there has to be something already written for your set points.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Doug

2

Hi Doug,

We have several pressure/altimeters that could potentially work for this project. Here is a list of the three breakouts we have that might work:

  • - [[MPL3315A2 Breakout](https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11084)
  • - [[MS5803-14BA Breakout](https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12909)
  • - [[BME280 Breakout](https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13676)
    • [/list]

    All three of these might work with the right code on your Pixhawk but the update/refresh rate on them may be too slow for this system. The MPL3115A2 might be the best option here as you can select the output sample rate. We discuss this briefly in our [Hookup Guide but all the code is written for use with the Arduino IDE and not PX4. The [datasheet for the MPL3115A2 will have more information about that sample rate register.

    For help with adapting or writing your code to use one of these sensors with your Pixhawk, the [PX4 Development Guide and the [PX4 Discussion Board would be good places to start. That discussion board may also have some good recommendations for other altimeters to integrate into your parachute project.

    I hope this helps you find a suitable altimeter board or points you in the right direction to keep searching. Let us know if you have any other questions and we would be happy to help as much as we can.](https://discuss.px4.io/)](Library has been merged into the PX4 User Guide)](https://cdn.sparkfun.com/datasheets/Sensors/Pressure/MPL3115A2.pdf)](https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/mpl3115a2-pressure-sensor-hookup-guide#arduino-code)](https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13676)](https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12909)](https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11084)

    3

    Thanks Mark … I’ll look into it some more and look into the MPL3115A2 … Will report back when I find more information out on this … I think SparkFun is the starting point for my Parachute project … Doug