TrIMUpter: Full stabilisation and GPS position hold with an ArduIMU+ v2

TrIMUpter - GPS Position hold test with ArduIMU + GPS EM406 on Vimeo.

Hello, I have successfully tested the GPS position hold with my TrIMUpter (a VTOL tricopter).

The full stabilisation process is simply done with:
- an ArduIMU+ V2 flat,
- a triple axis magnetometer (HMC5843),
- a GPS EM406,
so this is a very cheap setup.

Below a photo of the setup used:

The TrIMUpter is stabilised by the firmware TriStab v2.1

Some features of the firmware v2.1:

- Full stabilisation process required for a multicopter,
- GPS position hold, tested with the GPS EM406, and compatible with Ublox, NMEA, and Mediatek MTK ,
- a true Heading Lock for the yaw with 2 modes: inertial heading lock or magnetic heading lock,
- self-calibration of the IMU sensors,
- self-test at the startup for valid datas from the HMC5843 triple axis magnetometer,
- the switch from the "stabilisation mode" to "the GPS position hold" is done with switch linked to the ch5,
- the Roll/Pitch PID gains can be easily tuned via the transmitter knob linked to the ch6,
- the main servo mixer is placed in one function "call_servomix()" and can be easily modified for multicopters
and also helicopters...

The firmware TriStab v2.1 can be downloaded here.

Have fun and happy dev,
Jean-Louis

Hello Kazuyuki Tanaki,

Wooww... My deepest Congratulations for your maiden flight !!!

I am glad that you have succed with my firmware. So, may be that your problem is due to the magnetometer offset calibration (hard iron), this must be done with the ArduIMU installed in the model.

You need also to adjust the local magnetic declination for your country in the "userparms.h", see below:

//Adjust this parameter for your lattitude
#define GEOG_CORRECTION_FACTOR 0.6578 // cos(lattitude) Paris=48.8666°

// Local magnetic declination
// I use this web : http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/geomagmodels/Declination.jsp
#define local_declination 1.85 // Magnetic declination in Paris (France)

To get the magnetic offset for the compass, I suggest you to load the "AP_Compas_test.pde" in the AP_Compass library

The frame that you have used is very nice, does it is a kit or a home made version ?

I hope this help you,

Regards, Jean-Louis

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Comments

Developer

Jean-Louis Naudin January 22, 2011 at 11:39pm

Hello Kazz,

I suggest you to use the latest version of the APM_Compass library, there are some important updates.

Good testing flights,

Regards, Jean-Louis
Developer

Jean-Louis Naudin January 19, 2011 at 6:22am

Hello Kazuyuki Tanaki,

Wooww... My deepest Congratulations for your maiden flight !!!

I am glad that you have succed with my firmware. So, may be that your problem is due to the magnetometer offset calibration (hard iron), this must be done with the ArduIMU installed in the model.

You need also to adjust the local magnetic declination for your country in the "userparms.h", see below:

//Adjust this parameter for your lattitude
#define GEOG_CORRECTION_FACTOR 0.6578 // cos(lattitude) Paris=48.8666°

// Local magnetic declination
// I use this web : http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/geomagmodels/Declination.jsp
#define local_declination 1.85 // Magnetic declination in Paris (France)

To get the magnetic offset for the compass, I suggest you to load the "AP_Compas_test.pde" in the AP_Compass library

The frame that you have used is very nice, does it is a kit or a home made version ?

I hope this help you,

Regards, Jean-Louis
Developer

Jean-Louis Naudin November 19, 2010 at 3:27am

Hello Magnus, Thanks for your comments.
I have used common ESC without any change:
- 3 ESC Hobbyking SS Series 8-10A
- 3 brushless motors Hextronik 1300 Kv, HXM2730-1300
They are connected directly to the PWM output of the ArduIMU, see how below:

Regards, Jean-Louis
Magnus Pettersson November 19, 2010 at 2:51am

Nice work Jean!
For the esc: s are you using them with standard firmware and/or are they modified in any way (like added i2c interface)?
Moderator

Gary Mortimer November 16, 2010 at 2:52am

Well I have seen the Falcon 8 flying with one motor out so that convinced me, I hear what your saying about payload.
Developer

Jean-Louis Naudin November 16, 2010 at 1:17am

Hello Gary, extra motors are not really better for redundancy in multicopters uav because if one of the motors fails, in most case the the multicopter will flip quickly and crash to the ground... I have built and tested myself a lot of multicopters uav (up to an octocopter) and the main advantage to use more motors is the payload capabilities. More the motors, greater will be the payload. Below a photo of one of my multicopter uav that I have built and tested myself for aerial recon purposes. It uses six motors and able to carry up to 1,5 kg of payload
...

Regards, Jean-Louis
Moderator

Gary Mortimer November 16, 2010 at 12:40am

Nice work Jean-Louis, I have just had my OpenPilot powered tri flying at altitude and heat here in South Africa, 5300' and +30 and to be honest I was amazed it flew ;-) They really are such cool platforms. I am a little lost as to why that extra motor version has become more popular ;-) They seem to handle the wind very well, not sure why. Perhaps you have an explanation. Obviously more motors is better for redundancy in the event of a failure but for a simple hovering platform tri's are hard to beat.
Developer

Jean-Louis Naudin November 15, 2010 at 11:39pm

Hello, here a new TrIMUpter test flight video fully stabilised with the TriStab v2.1 firmware:

TrIMUpter v2.1 flight fully stabilised by a 9 DOF IMU + GPS from Jean-Louis Naudin on Vimeo.

The TrIMUpter flight is very stable and cool...
Regards, Jean-Louis
Alex November 14, 2010 at 7:19pm

Truly amazing! Great job man.

I am doing one myself, hope to discuss with you more on the hardware/software settings.
Developer

Jean-Louis Naudin November 12, 2010 at 11:02pm

Hello SID, Its easy with an oscilloscope to find the serial PPM output on a PPM receiver, I have done this successfully with the Graupner R16Scan receiver.
You will find here a link to do it on a Futaba R607FF / R617FF (2.4Ghz). You need only to set in the TriStab source code the number of channels to 7. A friend of mine have done this successfully with my firmware.

If you don't have time or mean to do it, you may also use the 8 channel PPM Encorer from DIY Drones store that you may purschase here

I hope this will help you,
Regards,
Jean-Louis

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