Hello everybody! I would like to introduce EasyStar (with a few mods) UAV which uses PIC32 based autopilot that I've been working on for a few months (started a few weeks before Brian Wolfe showed his work on DIYDrones ;-)Right now it's build upon UBW32 board but in the future I plan to desing my own PCB and decrease the size of the autopilot. For attitude estimation I use FMA thermopiles. Xbee is used for telemetry (interestingly 2.4Ghz Pro module which is rated for 1.6km worked easily for me allowing for 4km distance between two transceivers). More details will follow soon.Below short autonomous flight (looping through four waypoints, windy day, gusts up to 20-25kph)
Awesome! I've been trying to work on a UBW32 based UAV too, but I've been really lazy and haven't touched it in a while.
But now I have something I can work towards, so thanks for the motivation! It looks awesome.
Good work. Thank you for your sharing with us. I am looking forward to see the close up photos of your UAV and its payload.
Can you tell us about the algorithm (Kalman filter or someting else) you have used in the your code to estimate the attidude (roll, yaw, pitch angles etc) of your UAV?
Thomas, I will upload some closeups as soon as I get back home.
Jhon, the camera used was flycamone2, recording directly to sd card, then the movie was downscaled do 320x240px.
Nice modifications, especially the cockpit/nose area. I might have to mod my second EZ* star with your cockpit/nose modification to make it easier to work on the Ardupilot.
I am building two EZ*s, one to learn with and one for the Ardupilot. Like you, I have mounted the ESC infront of the motor. However, I built a special motor mount so I can remove the motor if it is damaged or if I want to try a different motor.
Could you provide some closeup shots of the cockpit and the aft fuse area?
Brian, first I want to tell you that I'm impressed by your board and similar design is probably what I'm going to end up with sooner or later. Originally I also used gyros and accelerometers in my IMU but I wanted my thing to fly as soon as possible so I resorted to thermopiles leaving real IMU for future development (it was hard to obtain acceptable noise levels in my makeshift desing).
Now, on to your question - I only use elevator and rudder, no ailerons in my easystar. Actually - I have never flown before an RC model with ailerons but I'm seriously tempted to buy Cularis and give it a try.
UAVman,
Nice job. I'm installing the PicPilot in an Easy Star clone as we speak. Hope to be doing a walk around this weekend with flights shortly after.
I haven't seen the video yet, it's block by my works firewall. Did you do the aileron mod to the easy? The clone has ailerons, but I'm debating weather to use them right off or just go elevator/rudder.
The UBW32 is a nice board. I plan on making use of its USB bootloader code to alleviate the need to have a programmer for updates.
Thanks for sharing, I'll be watching how it progresses.
Brian
Thank you, David! Though it's pretty stable, a few things can be certainly improved, like PID gains for example - I've only flew it ten times or so. Groundside xbee module uses the same wire antenna as easystar uav, which I ordered by mistake instead of RPSMA version.
Comments
But now I have something I can work towards, so thanks for the motivation! It looks awesome.
Are you ever going to upload some closeups? Home must be a long way off?
Just a thought.
Regards,
TCIII
Can you tell us about the algorithm (Kalman filter or someting else) you have used in the your code to estimate the attidude (roll, yaw, pitch angles etc) of your UAV?
Is your code public?
Jhon, the camera used was flycamone2, recording directly to sd card, then the movie was downscaled do 320x240px.
and wich video recording hardware?
Nice modifications, especially the cockpit/nose area. I might have to mod my second EZ* star with your cockpit/nose modification to make it easier to work on the Ardupilot.
I am building two EZ*s, one to learn with and one for the Ardupilot. Like you, I have mounted the ESC infront of the motor. However, I built a special motor mount so I can remove the motor if it is damaged or if I want to try a different motor.
Could you provide some closeup shots of the cockpit and the aft fuse area?
Regards,
TCIII
Now, on to your question - I only use elevator and rudder, no ailerons in my easystar. Actually - I have never flown before an RC model with ailerons but I'm seriously tempted to buy Cularis and give it a try.
Wish you luck with your EasyStar clone!
Nice job. I'm installing the PicPilot in an Easy Star clone as we speak. Hope to be doing a walk around this weekend with flights shortly after.
I haven't seen the video yet, it's block by my works firewall. Did you do the aileron mod to the easy? The clone has ailerons, but I'm debating weather to use them right off or just go elevator/rudder.
The UBW32 is a nice board. I plan on making use of its USB bootloader code to alleviate the need to have a programmer for updates.
Thanks for sharing, I'll be watching how it progresses.
Brian
xbee 2.4 pro can achieve 4km with whip antenna...
looking forward to your future progress in this project :D
-
1
-
2
of 2 Next