UAV Devboard users,
The UAV Devboard, version 3, is now available from SparkFun. It is the same as version 2, except it replaces the LISY gyros with Invensense 500 degree gyros, which are practically vibration proof. Also, now you can use higher rotation rates in your flights without saturating the gyros. The previous gyros had a maximum range of 300 degrees per second.
The board has been flight tested by the team. All firmware for the UDB2 will work on the UDB3 without changing any parameters except the board type.
In MatrixPilot, you should select RED_GREEN_BOARD (even though the board is entirely red!) as the board type. If you are using any of the heli firmware, the board type depends on what version you are running. In the latest heli firmware, set the board type to INVENSENSE_BOARD. In either case, the configuration file that should be pulled is "IXZ500.h"
The "bigger and better" version of the UDB is still in the design pipeline, and is expected to be available in the spring of 2011.
Best regards,
Bill
Comments
Thanks for the tips. Clever stuff, aside from waypoint accuracy, it sounds like the turns are also going to look great!
Fab
Regarding the stock Easy Star working out of the box with a stock UDB....
There is one modification that I made to my Easy Star, I attached a playing card to the rudder.
That said, the Easy Star is a very stable plane to begin with, the UDB makes it even more stable, so a stock Easy Star should work ok with a stock UDB.
The only thing you might have to do is set the switches for the servo reversers on the UDB, because they will be in random positions when you receive the board.
Also, as we speak, I am testing a MatrixPilot revision that will improve the smoothness of waypoint navigation. I have added a feedback term into the rudder deflection proportional to the amount of roll. It reduces the effective time constant of the steering, so you can increase the steering gain without inducing overshoot in the turns. So far, there is large improvement in the smoothness of the turns. I want to do more testing under various conditions, and plan to revise the firmware this weekend.
Best regards,
Bill
I've retracted my response, sorry was in a hurry and I shouldn't have responded with so much tosh!
I should have just said that I will look into the things you mention and that the new UDB board seems great.
Vibration seemed to be the only concern amongst UDB users and it is good to know that is resolved.
When I recieved my first UDB I found the installation instructions were easy to follow, the Pic3 worked like a dream. I was "up & running" in no time at all.
Can you please confirm that a stock Easy Star worked out of the box with a stock UDB?
Well done to the UDB dev crew
Regarding the sensors that we selected for the UDB, we deliberately chose only accelerometers, gyros, and GPS. We adopted a "minimalist" approach with the hardware to keep down the size, weight, and cost. We then took on the challenge of achieving as much performance as possible through clever algorithms.
For example, MatrixPilot uses a combination of a wind estimation algorithm and dead-reckoning computations to produce a high-bandwidth estimate of airspeed, without the need for an airflow sensor. The wind estimation algorithm computes the wind by comparing changes in the ground velocity vector with changes in aircraft orientation. Dead-reckoning computes 3D ground velocity from accelerometer and gyro signals, with GPS providing drift compensation. Then, the air velocity vector is computed by subtracting wind velocity from ground velocity.
We are quite satisfied with the performance of MatrixPilot firmware running on the UDB. Recently, both Rick Kuebler and myself achieved totally autonomous flights. Rick was using a FunJet with a top speed of 150 miles per hour. I flew both an EasyStar and a GentleLady. In the case of the EasyStar, I was using a stock UDB.
Also, Rick has made flights with an AcroMaster in which he used the UDB to stabilize his plane in rather unusual orientations, including inverted flight. I suggest you take a look at some of the Blog posts listed on Rick's page. His accomplishments are impressive.
Best regards,
Bill
All great points, I should have said that my concerns are minor and you both have great solutions.
I've been watching your recent push to standardize areas of ArduCopter, Mega and Ap with great interest and think it will be a benfit to all. Especially the telemetry side of things which will also benefit UDB.
I read your blog about your trip to Arduino with great interest. I think the Arduino debugger option will require a programmer? In any event it will be hampered by processing. One person described programing arduino via the IDE as being like "poking pins in their eyes" and I tend to agree but still love it :)
Good points. Arduino is designed to be easy to use for non-programmers, but is definitely lacking for experienced programmers. I know the Arduino team is planning on adding stuff like a debugger, but I fear Processing is here to stay ;-)
We definitely hear you on the desire for one-stop shopping. Right now it's a regulatory thing with ArduPilot (Sparkfun is willing to take legal risks with UDB that we're not prepared to take personally), but there will soon be third-party retailers outside the US that will sell all-in-one ArduPilot sets, already soldered up and ready to go.
The only other thing to remember about the choice between the two is that UDB also requires a PIC programmer (about $40, with the right cables). If you've already got one of those and are comfortable with the Microchip development environment, UDB is indeed an inexpensive and excellent choice.
ArduPilot seems to take us through more product renditions to get to a stable platform. I am pleased that AP is finally using the google system to manage bugs.
However the fact that the arduino ide is such a poor development system is a big mark against AP. I hope that arduino, will one day, break free of its processing prison! Processing is a terrible software product!
My point about UDB being one board is important to me. I don't really want the added expense of the connectors, or to solder or to pay double import handle fees/fines importing 1st from sparkfun for the AP and then from the drones store for the oil pans. The fines/costs are $14 + tax per delivery. Obviously the tax is okay but not the costs.
I would like to see a single combined board that has air speed, compass + existing sensors and I hope this is what the next release of UDB will be.
A single combined program for quad copter/heli/plane with less compiler switches would be great but maybe asking too much :)
Your conversation came at a particularly good time as Pete Hollands and I were just discussing the fact that this needed to be released earlier this week. I've just posted a copy of the UDB waypoint tool on the featured downloads of the gentlenav project page (http://gentlenav.googlecode.com/files/udb_waypoints.html). I also posted a brief write up on the uavdevboard Google group (http://groups.google.com/group/uavdevboard/t/22cfcc84192df736) and tried to make a blog post here as well, although it appears to be awaiting moderation.
This tool probably should have been released months ago, and my apologies for dragging my feet on doing so. I'd thrown the tool together back in April and just haven't had time to add all the new features I wanted to add. It does let users create a waypoint 'mission' graphically, using Google Maps, and then copy and paste the waypoints definitions once you are done. Remaining features include things like support for adding camera targeting points graphically, improving the user interface (it is currently rather rudimentary), and color coding the waypoints to indicate which options have been selected.
Regards,
Adam Barrow
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