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[DarkSnow]

This may be the wrong forum, but it's not strictly Linux hardware support, anyway.

I'm planning to connect an old mobile phone (N95) to an Arduino over USB so I can use the hardware onboard the phone (accelerometer, GPS, Wifi) to build a Hexacopter without having to shell out for all the expensive bits.

My questions is simple enough, which Arduino board should I get?

I know there is only one with the built in USB host controller, the ADK board, but there are USB shields available. Is there any way I can use the existing USB, having the phone act as the host controller, to save money?

Essentially, I'll need to drive six motors and maybe three proximity sensors. Also, perhaps a movable payload for mounting a camera, but that's not essential at this stage.

Any thoughts from those more knowledgable than me?

Cheers.

[Larry]

Hi Dark Snow:

Since this is a start from scratch project, I think your first task is to measure just how much your little craft will lift. You can do this by attaching four strings to the corners of the craft. The other ends are attached to cheap spring scales fastened to the ground in a square pattern. Be generous with the size of the square. The bigger the square, the better will be your stability. Start your craft, and power the motors with maximum voltage. The force measured times the cosine of the angle where the string is attached to the craft and the perpendicular to the ground will give you the lifting force. Add up the resultant forces, and you have a value for the maximum payload that your craft can lift.

As a reasonable rule of thumb, your payload should only be half of the above force. Armed with this knowledge, you can determine if your craft can lift a cell phone and Arduino. If the answer is yes, then proceed with the usb development. If not, pick a lighter processor, as in a Microchip PIC series. There are several suppliers able to provide accelerometers that interface to a PIC.

Good Luck!

[DarkSnow]

Thanks for that.

While it's a useful suggestion, there's no craft to test at all at this stage. I intend to get six motors and blades with enough power to lift a remote camera for aerial video so a few grams of Arduino shouldn't make a difference.

Actually, the intention is to get a Bluetooth camera to connect to the phone, and write software on the phone to stream that over ethernet. It's a big big project

I was really just wondering if there are options, hopefully cheaper, for connecting an Arduino to a mobile phone over USB or do I need the ADK enabled Mega board?
http://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardADK

Thanks again for any advice.