BlueRobotics Ping Underwater Sonar

The BlueRobotics Underwater Sonar is a single-beam encosounder with a maximum range of 30m, a beam width of 30deg and a maximum depth rating of 300m. More details can be found in the Technical Details section of the product page on BlueRobotics

Note

Support for this sensor is available in Rover-4.0.0 (and higher)

Where to Buy

• This sensor can be purchased directly from BlueRobotics
• Optionally the BLUART USB to Serial RS485 adapter allows connecting the sensor to a PC for testing

Connecting to the Flight Controller

For a serial connection you can use any spare Serial/UART port. The diagram below shows how to connect to SERIAL2.

If the SERIAL2 port on the flight controller is being used then the following parameters should be set:

• SERIAL2_PROTOCOL = 9 (Lidar)
• SERIAL2_BAUD = 115 (115200 baud)
• RNGFND1_TYPE = 23 (BlueRoboticsPing)
• RNGFND1_MIN_CM = 30
• RNGFND1_MAX_CM = 2600. This is the distance in centimeters that the rangefinder can reliably read.
• RNGFND1_ORIENT = 25 (down) if mounted on a boat

Testing the sensor

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