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The SCORPID-500 a full IMU controlled OAT/VTOL UAV

Posted by Jean-Louis Naudin on November 24, 2010 at 1:00am

The SCORPID-500 is now fully stabilised and controlled by a 9 DOF IMU (ArduIMU+ v2, HMC5843, GPS with firmware TriStab v3.3 JLN). The SCORPID-500 VTOL UAV uses an innovative design based on Gary Gress concept from Gress Aero. The Oblique Active Tilting (OAT) at 45° of the twin engines allows a full pitch control by using the induced gyroscopic moment. Today, the SCORPID-500 UAV prototype has done its first successful flights full IMU stabilised. Its flight is very stable. The earlier prototype has used 4 gyroscopes on board and some addtionnal mixers.

Stay tuned on: http://diydrones.com/profile/JeanLouisNaudin

Tags: arduimu, drone, uas, uav, vtol, autopilot, multicopter
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Comments

  • Ted November 24, 2010 at 9:07am
    Are you going to make your code available, or is it closed source?
  • Developer
    Jean-Louis Naudin November 24, 2010 at 8:35am
    Hello Ted, my answer to your question is very simple, because I have already purschased and used successfully the some ArduIMU boards for my previous project... So, this why I wouldn't buy a new board...
    A Scorpid-500 flight video is posted in previous post of this blog, I shall soon prepare a full flight video when the weather will be less cold and less cloudy here in my country...
    You will find here a full video of the first flight of the Scorpid-...
    Regards, Jean-Louis
  • hamish November 24, 2010 at 8:18am
    video?
  • Ted November 24, 2010 at 5:07am
    Great project, would you have a more detailed breakdown of your 9 DOF IMU ? I am really interested in maybe trying to put one of these together, but would like to see some more specifics on the FC, also, any reason you chose to build the FC yourself as opposed to using something like this-

    http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9623

    Pardon me if these are silly questions, not all that electronics savvy.
  • Developer
    Jean-Louis Naudin November 23, 2010 at 10:12pm
    Hello, the SCORPID-500 is now fully stabilised with the ArduIMU, all the previous external gyro have been removed, Roll, Pitch, Yaw, Throttle are fully steered with my ArduIMU firmware v3.3... See the photos of the ArduIMU setup and its 1st test flight.

    Regards, Jean-Louis
  • Developer
    Jean-Louis Naudin November 22, 2010 at 11:11am
    Hello Randy, here some infos about the control of Scorpid-500 OAT/UAV:
    - The throttle control the flight level with the power,
    - The Pitch uses the OAT (Oblique Active Tilting), an innovative concept invented by Gary Gress: The spinning propellers acts as spinning gyroscope, when they are tilted on a horizontal axis set at 45° from the pitch axis, their gyroscopic moment induces a torque on the picth axis. This is a true active control with a called CMG (Control Moment Gyrsocope) and it is fully used in the space Hubble telescope...
    - The Yaw is controlled with a differential tilt of the motor,
    - The Roll is simply controlled with a differential speed of the motor.
    This seems in appearance easy but the OAT flight model is complex and the PIDs tuning, here, is a big challenge and I like it... ;-)
    I hope that I have answered to your question,
    Regards, Jean-Louis
  • Developer
    Jean-Louis Naudin November 22, 2010 at 10:37am
    Hello, you will below find the video of the 1st test flight of the SCORPID-500 OAT/UAV with the ArduIMU.

    Successful SCORPID-500 OAT/UAV flight with a 9DOF IMU from Jean-Louis Naudin on Vimeo.

    Regards, Jean-Louis
  • Developer
    Randy November 22, 2010 at 8:03am
    Are the flight dynamics of this a lot like a coaxial helicopter? I imagine they're similar in some ways but quite different in most. but for example, is a yaw turn accomplished by speeding up or slwoing down one engine? or is it all done with the servo's changing the direction of the engines?
  • Developer
    Jean-Louis Naudin November 22, 2010 at 7:02am
    Hello, the SCORPID-500 is now stabilised with a 9DOF IMU, and I have just done the 1st test flight successfully...
    The IMU setup used:
    - an ArduIMU+ V2 flat
    - a HMC5843 triple axis magnetometer,
    - my firmware AutoStab v3.0 with a special mixer setup for the OAT system...
    Below some photos of this first historical flight:

    Note: during this 1st test flight with the IMU, I have tested only the roll PID which is the most difficult part in this kind of device.
    Regards, Jean-Louis
  • Ron Jacobs November 22, 2010 at 6:41am
    Would the tail not also encounter a fair bit of Drag at forward flight?
This reply was deleted.