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Stamp questions from a beginner

Posted by nolin jr. on April 13, 2008 at 11:17am
Hi all,I'm somewhat new to building UAVs. I've done some research at school on methods of control applied to UAVs so I'm not completely new however I've never actually tried to make one fly. I was just wondering why everyone uses BASIC Stamp processors. I've had some experience with the c8051 microcontroller and so I'm trying to figure out what to look for.I'm actually new to r/c planes in general so initially I just plan on getting an r/c plane and messing around with that to get the hang of how it flies and everything. I figured I should start looking into the hardware now though.Thanks,Nolin

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  • nolin jr. April 16, 2008 at 7:57pm
    here's the specs for a microcontroller that i'm familiar with. does this look like it'd be comparable to the others that you guys use?

    http://www.silabs.com/public/documents/tpub_doc/dsheet/Microcontrol...

    ~ nolin
  • Neal Clark April 13, 2008 at 8:25pm
    Hi, As i just mentioned in anther post I am a big fan of the Atmel at9usb development boards. They cost around $30 and come with a great ide and are programmed using the c programming language. IT doesn't have the power of the propeller chip but should be more that adequate for most uav projects.
  • 3D Robotics
    Chris Anderson April 13, 2008 at 7:05pm
    If you're already experienced with embedded processors I'd go with Arduino for relatively simple autopilots. Easy to learn, cheap and expanding quickly. For more advanced stuff Propeller is a great choice, but it takes a while to get your head around the object-oriented programming language and multiple cores.

    Never heard of the c8051 and I don't know of any autopilots that use it. It's sometimes best to use a more commonly-used microprocessor so you can reuse code that others have already developed.
  • nolin jr. April 13, 2008 at 3:01pm
    Got cha. So then do you recommend any micro-controllers that may be a better choice? I'm considering sticking with the c8051 as I'm already familiar with it and it seems to have all the capabilities I'd need.

    Also, how is the Ardunio platform? I like how they already have the board all set up in a somewhat compact design.
  • Simon Pan April 13, 2008 at 2:51pm
    BASIC Stamps are used for their user-friendliness and wide documentation, not because of their processing power and capabilities. In fact, they are extremely limited in that regard so if you are not new to microcontrollers I wouldn't suggest going that route.
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