Developer

AttoPilot IR Sensors Now Available!

Attack! But please one unit per person! The demand is so high, be nice with others!To buy it click here please.[Copy/Paste Update]:Also note that FMA XY is $43, the Z sensor wasanother $25, and the cable wasn't included. So that was at least $75with cables. Also, we have to pay a royalty to FMA and don't buy partsat the same volume they do. Plus, of course, FMA doesn't make the Z atall anymore.You might also want to note that our sensors are less than thePaparazzi ones ($125:http://ppzuav.com/osc/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=13_5&products_id=66&osCsid=08841e8ba7cd41f6d279d30be5167e22)and the same price as AttoPilot. Or you can make your own, just buy the 6 thermophiles for about hundred dollars from Digikey (http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=MLX90247ESF-DSA-ND). So basically these are tied for thecheapest full XYZ sensor solution in the world.However, if people want to wait for FMA to bring the XYs back instock, people can always buy two of them and use one as a Z sensor andsave a few dollars. (just ignore one wire).
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  • Moderator
    This is one of the cool things about a community like we have here at DIYDrones... there are specialists in so many fields all contributing to a common project!

    Sure, electronic engineers, pilots, software programmers, and machinists are the obvious valued members, but as we can see, doctors and lawyers, etc, can be crucial as well.
  • I don't know much about UAV's (yet - still getting all of the pieces) but I do know about patents.

    The FMA patent: http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=H4IGAAAAEBAJ&dq=6181989

    looking at the claims, not sure if a reseller would infringe the claims unless the sensors are actually mounted on an airplane. thus, the direct infringer would be ... anyone that hot glues these things to an easystar. sellers would still have to be worried about contributory infringement under 35 usc 271(c).

    BTW I bought a pair of the sensors and to the extent that FMA has a valid patent more power to them and I am happy to pay their royalties and I am very happy that DIY Drones has gone through the trouble to make them available and pay the license fees.

    But ....

    If there are NASA documents that pre-date the FMA patent and the NASA documents disclose what FMA has patented (look at the patent claims), then the FMA patent can potentially be invalidated with a reexamination proceeding.

    Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reexamination
    MPEP: http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/documents/2200.htm
  • Developer
    Well my first accelerometer i've touched was the nunchuck. But the refresh rate is very slow. I was wondering if you can reach 50hz? At least (i guess) that the gyro and accel outputs are already filtered and ready to use.
  • Here is some code to interface the Wii nunchuck (3axis accel) to the Adruino chip. Can also interface Wii motion plus (3axis gyro).
    Any interest here ?
    Earl
    nunchuckAdrunioEC.pde
  • Jordi or Chris,
    Did you know that AN4 and AN5 are an i2c bus ? The Wal-Mart Wii 6DOF is interfaced via i2c!
    Earl
  • Developer
    Todd Berk,

    You can find all the schematics here:
    http://paparazzi.enac.fr/wiki/Infrared_Sensors

    Attopilot, FMA and paparazzi IR sensors are exactly the same diagram, just some resistors are different in values.
  • Are these sensor designs open source as with everything else? I would be interested to see the schematic of how they are designed. You say we can make our own, and provide a link to digikey, I would like to see the schematics if all possible. Also, which patent are you paying royalties on? I've just completed a graduate course on intellectual property and would be interested in looking at it.
    Cheers,
    -Todd
  • It could be done with three xy sensors...
  • They might be able to be on the same chip (sorry for the appendage) it would go well with a custom diydrones plane to have it built in.

    Sorry for the posthumos addon....
  • So, people talking about gyros got me thinking... Couldn't you have 2 sets of xyz sensors spaced at a known distance, same xyz orientation, and known positions, and yuse the average x/y/z to determine accel, and the difference to determine spin?

    Sorry if it's in an irrelevant
    thread, but this seemed the closest to the topic...
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