modified GCS ready for its first outing.

Hi Morli, Sorry for late reply but I haven't been on in a couple of days. The system has flown a few times now but I'm having trouble trying to find somewhere suitable to really see what it can do and how accurate the instruments are. I've found the problem with this setup is that I can only fly in places where I can take my van with me as I need it for the power. The software for the PC side I wrote in visual basic using GMS activex controls. it very basic and simply receives cut down gps, accelerometer and voltage data from the Easystar via an Xbee 868. It then displays it and outputs a KML file for Google Earth. The easystar has a 1.2ghz video system, Xbee 868 wire module, two PIC microcontrollers, multiplexer , LS20031 gps receiver and finally a Spektrum DX7 complete with step son as a backup. One of the Pic controllers is programmed as a serial servo controller and the other one is used to collect GPS data, then strip out all the uneeded bits, add accelerometer and battery voltage and finally transmit it back to the GCS every 300ms or so wich is good enough for slow and easy flights. Both PIC's are prgrammed in using MikroC. I'm sorry I dont have any circuit or block diagrams but I put it together in stages. I'm still trying to find a way to integrate an Ardupilot I bought last year but the problem is I cannot find a way to put the Ardupilot into fail safe as the SSC will not drop its output in the event of a lose of signal with the GCS with the current programs.

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James Turner April 21, 2010 at 1:21pm

Hi Morli, Sorry for late reply but I haven't been on in a couple of days. The system has flown a few times now but I'm having trouble trying to find somewhere suitable to really see what it can do and how accurate the instruments are. I've found the problem with this setup is that I can only fly in places where I can take my van with me as I need it for the power. The software for the PC side I wrote in visual basic using GMS activex controls. it very basic and simply receives cut down gps, accelerometer and voltage data from the Easystar via an Xbee 868. It then displays it and outputs a KML file for Google Earth. The easystar has a 1.2ghz video system, Xbee 868 wire module, two PIC microcontrollers, multiplexer , LS20031 gps receiver and finally a Spektrum DX7 complete with step son as a backup. One of the Pic controllers is programmed as a serial servo controller and the other one is used to collect GPS data, then strip out all the uneeded bits, add accelerometer and battery voltage and finally transmit it back to the GCS every 300ms or so wich is good enough for slow and easy flights. Both PIC's are prgrammed in using MikroC. I'm sorry I dont have any circuit or block diagrams but I put it together in stages. I'm still trying to find a way to integrate an Ardupilot I bought last year but the problem is I cannot find a way to put the Ardupilot into fail safe as the SSC will not drop its output in the event of a lose of signal with the GCS with the current programs.
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Morli April 18, 2010 at 2:13pm

James, any updates on this ? details on complete setup and hardware used will be highly appreciated. thanks
James Turner February 22, 2010 at 3:25am

Thanks Morli, Its basically a re written version of a crude project I did last year. The software controls an SSC on the airframe and a UBW32 running FreeRTOS send's all the telemtry information back from the aiframe to the software via Xbee 868 modules. There is a a video link which appears on a seperate screen. what your seeing in this photo is a playback from a short flight a few days earlier. There is of course a standard rc controller should the computer blue screen for any reason.
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Morli February 21, 2010 at 4:20pm

Hi james,

nice setup :) , more detailed info pls. I like your throttle setup

This reply was deleted.