About

Gender

Male


Location

London


About Me:

I'm the UK record-holder for I/C-powered R/C helicopter endurance and I'm one of the regular judges on the 3D flying competition circuit. I am also co-founder of UVX - the Unmanned Vehicle Expo.


Please tell us a bit about your UAV interest

I'm interested in lightweight autonomous flight control systems.


Hometown:

London


Blog Posts

Activity Feed

Nigel posted a discussion
MAJOR NEW UK DRONE EVENT - UVX 2014 - 26/27 July 2014
We are very pleased to announce the arrival of a major new event in the UK - UVX 2014 - which will take place on the weekend of 26/27 July 2014 at Moulton College in Northampton.  This site provides not only excellent exhibition and accommodation…
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Jan 11, 2014
Nigel commented on Martint BuildYourOwnDrone.co.uk's blog post UK UAV Drone Zone Meet June 2011
"Just to say that this event will still go ahead even if the (predicted) rain appears.  The venue is indoors.We now have a great raffle prize of a KK copter control system so someone is going to be lucky!"
Jun 10, 2011
Nigel left a comment on ArduCopter User Group
"Without wishing to start an argument over which system is best, I would always advise using Futaba over Spektrum or JR.  Clearly there will be people with other points of view but I have had a great deal of experience with 2.4, I own examples of all…"
Jun 10, 2011
Nigel posted a discussion
2.0.22
Just loaded and flown 2.0.22 on my standard quad.  Worked first time which is a relief - I couldn't get 2.0.20 to work. Can anyone suggest a reason why, when I flick into 'Loiter' the copter rapidly climbs into the air?  I am using sonar and waiting…
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Jun 3, 2011
Nigel replied to Vincent Mees's discussion flying 2.0.20.
"I don't understand.  I have loaded the 2.0.20 code from the planner many times and I just can't get it to work.  It just wants to tip over all the time.  I have loaded all the other versions with no problem so I can't imagine why this one is playing…"
Jun 1, 2011
Nigel left a comment on ArduCopter User Group
"Many thanks for the invitation to this group.  Of course any member who is in the UK is enthusiastically invited to our South of England 'Drone Zone' event which is happening on the 12th June.  This is an informal get together of drone enthusiasts…"
May 30, 2011
Nigel posted a discussion
2.0.17
I loaded 2.0.17 with the APM Planner and experienced something I've not seen before.  I flew for about 5 or 6 minutes, deliberately not touching the rudder to see if the quad would maintain its heading, which it did.  I then gave it a tiny amount of…
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May 28, 2011
Nigel replied to Steve Smetters's discussion 2.0.14
"I hate to say this but I've just tried 2.0.14 and I'm getting the old yaw 'unwinding' problem again.  Very strange, in the last release it had gone.
 
(I am running absolutely 'stock' everything - quad and code with sonar, compass and no adjustments…"
May 27, 2011
Nigel posted a discussion
2.0.13
Just loaded my standard '+' Quad with version 2.0.13 using the APM Planner. I didn't try 2.0.12 but since 2.0.11 I can tell there is a definite improvement in the yaw movement although I probably need to tweak the PIDs to get it really crisp.  I…
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May 26, 2011
Nigel posted a discussion
2.0.11
Just downloaded and installed the 2.0.11 release* from the APM Planner.  I'm still getting the same rudder effect. Jason, I (think) I have successfully made a log of the test flight which should show that I applied left rudder many times but the…
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May 24, 2011
Nigel posted a discussion
2.0.8
Just downloaded 2.0.8 from the planner.  The winds here in the UK are making a real nuisance of themselves at the moment but despite the weather I was able to do a brief test and it flew okay in Stable mode.  However, I see that the yaw 'unwinding'*…
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May 23, 2011
Nigel posted a discussion
Baud Rates - Why don't we use 115200 all the time?
A general question about baud rates... I have noticed that there doesn't seem to be any fixed standard for the 'best' baud rate for communicating between any particular device and the APM board.  Why don't we just stick to 115200?  What is the point…
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May 22, 2011
Nigel replied to Nigel's discussion 2.0.6
"Yes, the problem seems to be that if you set the system to be a '+' and then reboot, then the APM has 'forgotten' the setting.  If you have an 'x' quad then you should be okay :-)"
May 19, 2011
Nigel posted a discussion
2.0.6
I see that 2.0.6 has just gone up plus a new version of the APM Planner. BE CAREFUL!  Perhaps I made a mistake but this is what happened to me: 1.  Loaded new version of APM Planner.2.  Loaded new version of firmware (which has a new look).  At one…
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May 19, 2011
Nigel commented on Jani Hirvinen's photo
"Cool!"
May 19, 2011
Nigel posted a discussion
Definition of PID and other Variables
Everyone agrees that the project team are doing a fantastic job and really hate to ask for anything but would it be possible for someone to write a proper definition of all the variables over which we have control?  I have searched throughout the…
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May 16, 2011
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