As we have been using ArduPilot as the control board of our drone, we need to use the APM Planner software for configuring our drone. Let's download APM Planner from here: http://firmware.ardupilot.org/, and download AMP Planner 2.0 or Mission Planner:
After successful installation, open the APM Planner or Mission Planner. The interface will look like this:
At the top left, you can see the following six menus:
- Flight data
- Flight plan
- Initial setup
- Config/tuning
- Graphs
- Donate
The option names are self-explanatory. At the top right, you can see a Connect button. Before the Connect button, you can find the MAV ID option, which allows you to select the right port for your ArduPilot connected to your computer by USB or by telemetry. In Windows, you can select Auto mode to find out the perfect port number, if you are not sure which is the COM port number. But on OSX, you need to figure out the perfect port.
For the first time, we need to connect our ArduPilot via USB to your computer. Remember to unplug the drone battery, if you are connecting via USB. You will see that the LEDs are blinking on the ArduPilot. This means your ArduPilot is getting powered. Now on your computer, open APM Planner or Mission Planner, select the MAV ID, and click on Connect. If you are not sure which is the correct MAV ID, then follow my lead:
- On OSX, you will see the Serial Port name, as shown in the following screenshot:
- Select cu.usbmodem1411. The last number may be changed for your computer. Select a baud rate of 115,200 for a higher speed and click on Connect.
- Once connected, you will see some messages under the Info View panel of the APM Planner.
On Linux, you will see almost the same but in Windows you will see the Port number on the top-right side. Carefully choose the port number before clicking the Connect button of the software. Or you can choose Auto on the Mission Planner version for Windows.