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Frsky Tarais spoken flight mode guide

Posted by Greg O on September 28, 2014 at 8:30pm

blogger-image-1990895090.jpg

I've been away from the diydrones scene for a while, but I'm still around. Here is something that I can contribute to the community.

My Original Blog post here

This is my tutorial on how I configure my FrSky Taranis to allow flight mode changes to be displayed on the Taranis screen as well as spoken out loud.

 
I use the following switch settings for my flight modes:
  • SB+ Manual Mode
  • SB FBWA
  • SB- AUTO MODES Selected by SA
  • SA+ LOITER
  • SA   AUTO TUNE
  • SA- AUTO
For this we will be using Logical Switches, Special Functions, Flight Modes and the Mixer. This setup allows me to select a normal flight mode (Either Manual or FBWA) and also announce which AUTO mode is armed.
 
Flight Mode setup:
First we need to define each of the 5 flight modes. Flight mode 0 is a default mode that is active when no other modes are, so we will skip it and start on flight mode 1.  The flight mode name is what is shown on your transmitter display. 
** YOU WILL ALSO WANT TO CHANGE FM2-5 TRIM SETTINGS TO READ 1, THIS WILL MAKE EACH FLIGHT MODE USE FM1 TRIM SETTINGS..

 Setup as listed
blogger-image-1990895090.jpg
Fm1
Name: Normal
Switch: SB+
 
Fm2
Name: F B W
Switch: SB
 
Fm3
Name: Loiter
Switch: SA+
 
Fm4
Name: AUTO TUNE
Switch: SA
 
Fm5
Name: Auto
Switch: SA-


 
Next configure the Logical Switches.  
Logical switches are used for secondary actions such as playing the voice for current / armed flight mode. This step depends on the Flight Modes being defined. L1-L5 are used to activate on Flight Mode selection, L6-L8 are used to activate AUTO Mode selection and announce when not in AUTO Mode (IE Arm AUTO, Arm AUTO TUNE).

 
Setup as listed
L1
Function: a=x
V1: SB
V2: -100
AND Switch: FM1
blogger-image-771660445.jpg
Logical Switches 1 - 7
Delay: .2
L2
Function: a=x
V1: SB
V2: 0
AND Switch: FM2
Delay: .2
L3
Function: a=x
V1: SB
V2: 100
AND Switch: FM3
Delay: .2
L4
Function: a=x
V1: SA
V2: 0
AND Switch: FM4
Delay: .2
L5
Function: a=x
V1: SA
V2: 100
AND Switch: FM5
Delay: .2

L6
Function: a=x
V1: SA
blogger-image-2137944261.jpg
Logical Switches 4-8
V2: -100
AND Switch: !SB- (NOTE THE !)
Delay: 1.0

 L7
Function: a=x
V1: SA
V2: 0
AND Switch: !SB- (NOTE THE !)
Delay: 1.0

 L8
Function: a=x
V1: SA
V2: 100
AND Switch: !SB-
Delay: 1.0

Special functions
This is where you define what to do with all those Logical Switches you just defined in the previous step, as before, you MUST setup the Logical Switches before doing this. I used the OpenTX Speaker program to define some additional voices as follows:

autotune (Auto Tune)
loiter (Loiter)
fbw (Fly By Wire)
armlo (Arm Loiter)
armauto (Arm Auto)
armat (Arm Auto Tune)


When using the OpenTX Speaker app, make sure the file names are under 8 characters, and with out spaces. The phrases can be spaced out how ever you like it to speak.


 SF1
Switch: L1
Function: Play Track
Value: normal
Repeat 1x

blogger-image-782816303.jpg
SF2
Switch: L2
Function: Play Track
Value: fbw
Repeat 1x
SF3
Switch: L3
Function: Play Track
Value: loiter
Repeat 1x
SF4
Switch: L4
Function: Play Track
Value: autotune
Repeat 1x
SF5
Switch: L5
Function: Play Track
Value: auto
Repeat 1x
blogger-image--548391837.jpg
SF6
Switch: L6
Function: Play Track
Value: armlo
Repeat 1x
SF7
Switch: L7
Function: Play Track
Value: armat
Repeat 1x
SF8
Switch: L8
Function: Play Track
Value: armauto
Repeat 1x


Your FrSky Taranis should now be talking and displaying flight modes on its display. Next it's time to setup the MIXER, which will control the output of your Flight Mode channel (I use CH5, but this could be any CH)


Mixer settings
The setup for the mixer takes the current Flight Mode and uses it to drive CH5 to a specific PWM value.


 First start out with CH5 MIX. Edit this and use the following:

 CH5 (FM1 MIX)
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Yes the names are all "nor", this is why COPY is dangerous
Name: FM1 MIX
Source: MAX
Weight: 100
Modes: 1 (MAKE SURE ONLY FM1)

 Then add one for FM2
CH5 (FM2 MIX)
Name: FM2 Mix
Source: MAX
Weight: 40
Modes: 2

 and FM3
CH5 (FM3 MIX)
Name: FM3 Mix
Source: Max
Weight: 10
Modes: 3

 FM4
CH5 (FM4 MIX)
Name: FM4 Mix
Source: MAX
Weight: -20
Modes: 4

 FM5
CH5 (FM5 MIX)
Name: FM5 Mix
Source: MAX
Weight: -40
Modes: 5


Final Steps are to open APM Mission Planner and setup each flight mode, if you use a different mode, dont forget to change the names in used in this guide, as well as the OpenTX Speaker files.

 
Tags: flight, frsky, guide, howto, modes, opentx, speaker, spoken, voice
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Comments

  • Developer
    Bill Bonney October 1, 2014 at 1:18pm

    You can download OpenTX Companion for installing the epee file from here http://www.open-tx.org/downloads.html

    Downloads
  • Greg O September 30, 2014 at 7:48pm

    I have added the settings to the posting

  • Greg Nuspel September 30, 2014 at 3:56am

    It is always a great idea to post your programming file.

  • Greg O September 29, 2014 at 10:36pm

    @Bill shhhh!! thats going to be coming up in a future post!! :D  the real secret sauce is to mix volume with your throttle channel.. :)

  • Developer
    Bill Bonney September 29, 2014 at 9:52pm

    Also you can set one of the pots for control volume in the Special Functions View ie.

    SF9 Switch = ON Action = Volume Parameter=S2 Enable=ON

  • Greg O September 29, 2014 at 9:37pm

    @Brian, Since the mixes are FM specific, both ways seem to work.. I do like the replace function better, if you had CH5 used somewhere else (Maybe RTL Switch?)..

    @Bill I noticed that. Ill fix those so all FM's use FM1 trim settings.. good catch..  My latest planes have been setup for "zero" trim. So I never touch them.. ;D

  • Brian Veenker September 29, 2014 at 9:19pm

    I was referring to your last picture, last section entitled "Mixer settings." Your picture shows you set up CH5 to switch depending on flight mode. Each of those weights is added to any other that happens to be active. It looks like it works in this case, but it would be better to use "replace" (denoted by ":=") rather than "add" (denoted by "+="). This is a good opportunity to teach people the difference, that's all.

  • Developer
    Bill Bonney September 29, 2014 at 8:07pm

    A word of caution. Each FlightMode is setup as default with it own trim values. This means if you trim stabilize or manual and then switch to another mode, the trims will be set at 0. It better to make sure FM1 to FM5 are set to use FM0 values.

  • Greg Nuspel September 29, 2014 at 8:01pm

    I didn't use any mixer, but instead in the special functions used Override for each of the logic switches. Just one more way to skin a cat.

  • Rana September 29, 2014 at 3:48pm

    Excellent !

This reply was deleted.