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Battery

Read battery_status uORB topic and obtain details about the battery's state

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Add-On Required: This feature requires the UAV Toolbox Support Package for PX4 Autopilots add-on.

  • Battery block

Libraries:
UAV Toolbox Support Package for PX4 Autopilots / PX4 Sensor Blocks

Description

The Battery block reads the battery_status uORB topic and outputs the details about the state of the battery connected to PX4 flight controller. The block also outputs the timestamp.

On each simulation step, the block checks if a new message is available on the battery_status topic. If a new message is available, the block retrieves the message and converts it to the output values. If a new message is not available, the outputs are based on the last received uORB message. If a message has not been received since the start of the simulation, the outputs are zeroes.

During Normal mode simulation, the block outputs zeroes.

During Connected I/O simulation, this block reads data from the peripherals of the hardware.

Ports

Output

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The Status output indicates if the battery_status uORB message was received during a previous time step or not. A value of 0 indicates that the uORB data at the outputs is the latest, and a value of 1 indicates that the uORB data was received during the previous time step.

This output can be used to trigger subsystems for processing new messages received in the uORB network.

Data Types: Boolean

The output voltage of battery, as read from the battery_status uORB topic.

Data Types: single

The output current, as read from the battery_status uORB topic.

Data Types: single

The percentage of battery life remaining, as read from the battery_status uORB topic.

Data Types: single

The battery warning status, as read from the battery_status uORB topic.

StatusDescription
0No battery low voltage warning active
1Warning of low voltage
2Critical voltage, return / abort immediately
3Immediate landing required
4The battery has failed completely

Data Types: uint8

The timestamp of the battery_status uORB topic read from the uORB network.

Data Types: double

Parameters

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Main tab

Enter the time interval at which the block reads values from the uORB network.

When you set this parameter to -1, Simulink® determines the best sample time for the block based on the block context within the model.

Advanced Tab

  • When you select this option, the read operation runs in Blocking Mode. The read operation is blocked while waiting for the requested data to be available. When waiting for the data, the Status port displays same values from the previous time step. When the data become available, the block outputs the selected values, and the Status port changes to 0.

    A task overrun occurs if the target hardware is still waiting for the data to be available when the next read operation is scheduled to begin.

    To fix overruns, increase the time step by using the Sample time parameter.

  • When you clear this option, the read operation runs in Non-Blocking Mode. In this mode, the block does not wait for the requested data to be available.

Specify the amount of time that the block waits for the data during each time step, if the Wait until data received parameter is selected. If timeout occurs, the read operation is aborted.

Dependencies

This parameter appears only when you select the Wait until data received parameter.

Version History

Introduced in R2018b