AerialRobotics EasyUAV Scenario 3 high-altitude video from Krzysztof Bosak on Vimeo.
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AerialRobotics EasyUAV Scenario 3 high-altitude video from Krzysztof Bosak on Vimeo.
You need to be a member of diydrones to add comments!
Comments
There are generic hardware specifications useful mostly for integrators.
The photos of the PCB are not recent for a good reason.
http://www.aerialrobotics.eu/flexipilot/flexipilot-brochure-en.pdf
BTW just for you:
http://www.aerialrobotics.eu/flexipilot/flexipilot-command-set-en.pdf
Installing FMA would theoretically shorten the time of recovery from DIVE, however will worsen everything else, namely the max achievable navigational dynamics and route following precision, decrease reliability (rain, fog), increase drag, increase control lag.
IMO FMA-based systems are good for recovery. however you are not supposed to do loops with camera onboard - because the wings became U-shaped. The autopilot know perfectly the roll even in a deep spiral - and it recovers from it. It also is preventing the spin as it commands the yawrate with 32Hz rate - but in easystar this is not usually a problem.] When the winds rise and the groundspeed is low, the IMU takes total control of the heading. This way the UAV survives to fight another... minute.
The autopilot uses tightly-coupled GPS and IMU and is good at reliable navigation. Adding random components around will worsen the reliability and performance for the task it has been tuned (aerial photography, heavily overloaded foamy glider-pusher). Note with different set of control laws you can achieve different autopilot applications. When I talk autopilot at the moment, I talk about the 'public' version for EasyUAV.
The autopilot supports the serial port input, online WPT change and collective feedback system reset, remote settings of all variables (require inflight reset) etc. HOWEVER you must connect directly at 921bps 8N1, order special version without Serial2USB converter onboard, and send the commands from your microcontroller which is the bridge between your modem/protocol and the autopilot.
Since the UAV should be officially flown at the line of sight and within RC range, there isn't much you could do with GS you couldnt do by yourself.
Second point, is that for telementry, it is not really useful as hard-realtime datalog guaranted to flush every 1/16s at 1/32s datarate max 9the reate is selectable). This is IMO superior to any telemetry since the data stored are at the order of 49kbps. This is overwhelming for most modems, at that datarate they choke later or sooner during heavy maneuvers.
Another story is why you want to put another strong TX and maybe its own supply in a limited airframe. I think the weight can be better used for putting a larger camera. As you see, I am very mission-oriented with this product, however the autopilot is general in its capabilities. I am willing to provide custom versions but preferably for research groups facing challenges, as they tend to look at the book at least once before contacting the vendor. There are some 'very secret' development projects based on this autopilot, but none available for public (price tag).
The autopilot supports the serial port input, online WPT change and collective feedback system reset, remote settings of all variables (require inflight reset) etc. HOWEVER you must connect directly at 921bps 8N1 and send the commands from your microcontroller which is the bridge between your modem/protocol and the autopilot.
Since the UAV should be officially flown at the line of sight and within RC range, there isn't much you could do with GS you couldnt do by yourself.
Second point, is that for telementry, it is not really useful as hard-realtime datalog guaranted to flush every 1/16s at 1/32s datarate max 9the reate is selectable). This is IMO superior to any telemetry since the data stored are at the order of 49kbps. This is overwhelming for most modems, at that datarate they choke later or sooner during heavy maneuvers.
Another story is why you want to put another strong TX and maybe its own supply in a limited airframe. I think the weight can be better used for putting a larger camera. As you see, I am very mission-oriented with this product, however the autopilot is general in its capabilities.
This foamy setup weights 800g and loses the fight with almost anything from general aviation (it is not overloaded with metal objects, except the motor and the camera).
I like it, thumbs up all round here
This sounds great, but how are you handling the regulatory aspects? The 1000m flight you show is illegal (without a COA) in the US and almost all of Europe, as far as I know. Are you going to limit which countries you're selling to? Obviously a fully-ready UAV is export controlled under ITAR. I know we would be unable to sell such a thing across national boarders here.
This specific version of autopilot is designed to fit rudder+elevator+throttle planes.
It uses GPS, barometric altitude, 6DOF IMU (3 axis gyro, 3 axis accelerometer) , has 2 output triggers for servos or TTL (camera shutter) and temperature sensor for compensation.
Uses 3 main servo inputs (rudd, elev, thr), 1 autopilot enable, 1 autopilot mode (forced return-home or tuning modes), up to 2 remote trigger inputs.
It has USB connectivity and 2 logs: one for events (trigger positions and low-rate logging, around 1000 positions) plus multi-file (flight) log storage for realtime black-box data (frequency 32Hz upwards, around 80 variables, up to 8MB of data, typically 53min at 8Hz).
All sensors, servo hardware override and servo pins fit on one sturdy, flat PCB that is mounted in the fuselage under the wing of planes like Multiplex EasyStar and similar.
The package includes simple mission simulator + IMU viewer, and RVOSD serial output (the OSD can be bought separately and is optional equipment).
The autopilot features 921kbps serial port via USB with user's console and accepts typed commands.
This way also altering the settings is possible.
The whole project has been tuned for specific platform and the first hundert examples will be sold installed and flight-tested in a classic EasyStar RC plane, hence the name EasyUAV.
The whole purpose of the project is to deliver a WORKING solution for those wanting to get an airborne photo from defined positions. Mission payload is 300...350g (this includes camera power!), endurance around 15-20min.
The autopilot provides all features from mature autopilot: relative or absolute waypoints, using dx/dy in km or dheading, distance, relative to takeoff point or to previous waypoint, advanced triggering (delayed position logging, independent active lenght and repetition rate, distance-flown-based waypoints), guaranteed no-loiter around waypoint navigation, variable (64-1024) number of waypoints (eats event log data space).
The EasyUAV is sold fully tuned and flies out of the box just after setting up and connecting your battery and RC receiver, but the additional intent is to provide stable and forgiving UAV tuning platform. The advanced user can modify all the tuning parameters bases on serious implementation of PIDs using integration limiters, range limiters, filtering options etc. There is nothing wrong with tearing the autopilot apart and installing it on any astable platform, but it is wise to learn the system first.
First batch of EasyUAV will be available for sale in mid-august. The price tag will be around twice the cost of a fully featured thermopile-based autopilots.
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