Just a short video to share some difficult situation we are facing when flying mission in Highland area.
In this kinds of situation, you really need to use throttle to control the altitude and elevator to control air speed. The touch down point must be accurate to avoid overshoot which may cause damage to the air frame.
cockpit view of the landing, Gopro Hero 3 black in front of the nose
Hope you enjoy the video
After more than a year of VRBrain 4.5 development , thanks to the efforts of FOXTEAM and the VRI dev team, reached a level of maturity and very high reliability .
It ' was the first platform to support Arducopter 32-bit first through the use of a port of the old library AP_XXX then with new AP_HAL_VRBRAIN library , but without the use of an operating system, as is the case for APM 2.x and now instead of in the video you can see the first pre flight check and the first flight of VRBran 4.5 NuttX that mounts the operating system and the firmware Arducopter 3.1rc5 .
Thanks to PX4 Dev Team and all the other member of team that develop and support this new OS and new revision of Arducopter :)
Luca M. Emile C. for developing of device driver and porting of Arducopter and Marco Robustini for his support in beta testing and debug ...
Gregory Ntt for his fantastic OS :) The new toy for our Board :)
To use NuttX of VRBrain we simply add on the expansion port on the SD Card reader
In tests of performance using the mission planner , the cpu uses NuttX Arducopter with only 6% of the CPU resources , On APM 2.x need 70 % cpu.
Now are available 4 VRBrain 4.5 firmware and 2 OS Supported:
The first OS supported by VRBrain is FreeRTOS used inside the TauLab project , Stefan a member of dev team working on it :
https://github.com/scenkov/vrbrain
The new one OS is Nuttx integrated in PX4 enviroment and Arducopter32 the ap_hal use is PX4 instead of AP_HAL_VRBRAIN that we use without OS. Our work on NuttX was on device driver
An early revision of our code is available here :
You need to install standard PX4 dev enviroment and import our workspace for build the code ... in the next weeks we prepare a ready to use dfu that will be available in VRbrain wiki page.
Arducopter32 rev 3.1.5 (stable version) :
tested for more than a month with a deep debug coordinated by Marco Robustini and supported by me and Emile and other users of the devteam.
http://vrbrain.wordpress.com/version-3-0/
VRBrain 4.5 is the only platform that supports Arducopter 32 with and without the operating system. It has the same reliability of an APM 2.x from the first use and guarantees the use of future developments based operating system NuttX.
It is also the basis for the future development of a European project called GinSec whose purpose is to develop an innovative and revolutionize gps inertial for the specific application in the world of UAVs ... but we'll talk about this thing in the coming months :)
Original blog post here : http://www.virtualrobotix.com/profiles/blogs/vrbrain-4-5-last-updates-first-fligt-with-arducopter32-3-1rc5-on-
for more info about status of the project and future development contact : r.navoni@virtualrobotix.com
The VRBrain 4.5 is available on our webstore at :
http://www.virtualrobotix.it/index.php/167-2/componenti-elettronici/vrbrain-4-5-detail
If you have some problem on it in your country contact info@virtualrobotix.com
Ive been wanting to build a Hanging Pendulum robot for the last 30 years
Technology (and inexpensive consumer parts) finally conspired to let me try and realize my dream.
Inexpensive 500 watt 48 volt 26" Chinese brushless bicycle wheels form the basis of my bot.
And the chassis is constructed from T6 aluminum plate and extrusions with stainless steel side forks and hardware.
The 2 intermediate plates are 3/16" black ABS.
The Bottom shelf is for 4 12 volt wheel chair batteries that total 92 lbs in weight and wil be series wired for 48 volts.
The intermediate bay will hold 2 Kelley reversible 48 volt 500 watt bicycle wheel controllers, a DC to DC 5 volt and 12 volt converter, an APM (later Pixhawk), a receiver, Telemetry and some assorted interface electronics for the Bicycle wheels hall devices and throttle.
The top shelf will support my HP Envy Laptop for Kinect and Laser Scanner interpretation.
A brushless gimbal stabilizing (and scannable) platform will be on top with a Kinect, laser scanner and FPV camera.
As it is, the chassis has worked out very well so far, I didn't manage to build myself into any corners I couldn't get out of and its is as robust as it looks.
Fabrication took more work than I had initially envisaged and most of the layout was simple manual markup.
As it is now, the wheels and bare chassis weighs 63.0 pounds and the battery pack will weigh 92 lb.
There should be about an additional 20 pounds of stuff in the first pass (Vision system but no stabilizers or arms), so it will weigh about 175 pounds.
This is not a light robot and you definitely would not want to get hit by it.
The 1000 watts worth of motors are definitely overkill, but I wanted the extra torque for operating at low speeds and the wheels I have chosen are very efficient when operating in the 20 to 50 percent power range.
Please feel free to comment and as I continue to make this operational I will post more about this either here or on subsequent Blogs.
Best Regards,
Gary
I seen info about this on a KAP forum.
apm single1210312 from billking on Vimeo.
You can download the programme from https://github.com/ssq870424/arduvtol and enjoy it.
The singlecopter is a kind of VTOL aerial vehicle such as Honeywell T-hawk.
Figure 1: general wiring diagram for an 8 motors
& APM drone
Practical build blog: powering your APM drone (or don’t brownout an APM like the US gov would):
Hi,
1. Foreword & Introduction:
I would like to introduce a build blog on a critical aspect of a drone’s assembly: how to power your drone & APM. The objective of such a build blog is to be practical. Wherever possible in this blog links will be provided to get the described components. This blog is merely a synthesis of gathered advices I received from many helpful people within this drone community (particular thanks to Randy, Bill, Forrest and many others who taught me lots and are still teaching me lots of stuff)
As a topic I chose “Powering the APM” as it is in my opinion one of the most critical aspect you should care for in assembling your drone. I’d probably be not too far from the truth if I said a majority of drone incidents & crashes are related to power issues or bad wiring/testing (brownouts, wiring mistakes, ground loops, wrong voltage/amps dimensioning, etc.).
Experienced members in this community will find this blog obvious. The blog does target people at early stages of drone build’s learning, like the state I was in a few months ago. It was very hard to find all bits and pieces of information to get a global detailed picture. Let’s hope this blog can help others in their build.
This blog will be written in successive posts as it is a fairly long subject and my time is quite limited. It will also allow others to interact and add complementary input between my posts; to be enriched progressively.
2. Powering an APM Drone: Objectives and Constraints?
Cf. figure 1 above illustrates a general wiring diagram for powering a typical drone. It illustrates 8 motors and ESCs but would remain applicable for fewer motors (battery voltage would probably go down to 3S or 4S for quad motors).
First, what are the objectives ?
-As illustrated in figure 1, a first objective is to power ESCs and associated motors with a high power source in terms of amps/volts, able to sustain the maximum throttle consumption and voltage required by the motors and propellers configuration (with a margin is even better). A good way to dimension this for your own setup is to either measure real values on a test bench (not so practical because it implies you would already know what to do and what pieces to buy), or more practically to use an online tool which is not so bad to give rough estimates here : http://www.ecalc.ch/xcoptercalc.htm?ecalc&lang=en
Another good information source about motor testing is an excel sheet with test bench measurements done by Forrest. Forrest, if your read this, could you post your excel sheet please ? Thx.
The eCalc tool asks you to enter your number of motors, the all up weight of your model, the battery type, the ESC capacity in amps, the motor’s brand and model, propeller’s type and model. You then click on calculate and the tool displays at the bottom 5 results columns. The most interesting columns for our exercise are “Motor@maximum” and “Motor@Hover”, because it will give you the consumed amps at maximum and at hover, the voltage and throttle % to hover (ideally should be at 50%). If you are under dimensioned or over dimensioned (under optimized), the tool will display some warning messages. The tool allows you thus to check that all the parts are dimensioned correctly to function together. For example, assume the tool tells you that your hover power consumption is X. However your motor’s maximum power specification is Y. Verify that X < Y. If not change the motors or use smaller props or lower pitch props (same verifications to do with max amps, max volts, max RPM, etc).
I have used this tool to produce a table for a particular motor brand, RC tiger motors here: http://www.diydrones.com/group/arducopterusergroup/forum/topics/tiger-motors-propellers-combinations-for-an-heavy-lift-octocopter?xg_source=activity
-A second objective is to power all other components that are not part of the high power gear, namely APM and all other bits and pieces around it: a receiver, a telemetry unit, a GPS/compass module, etc. Optional servos that are require to power for gimbals for example ARE NOT low powered items; they CANNOT be powered through APM but must be powered directly from the high power source (via UBECs). As far as electronics is concerned, the objective is to feed a very stable and reliable power source at 5 volts (there may be other specific FPV/OSD components that require other voltages such as 12v or 7v but I exclude these components from this blog for now). This second objective seems apparently easy to reach but it is actually a very sensitive and tricky one as we will see in more details later.
Second, what are the constraints ?
We want to reach above described objectives within constraints:
-The power chains must be reliable and as light as possible (typically if we can use the main battery for everything, it will be lighter than if you need a separate battery for every component).
-There is better one main battery as the power source for everything (which avoids different ground references, avoids potential ground loops, makes your build lighter). So we have a constraint to split the power chains to different voltages/amps (main voltage for ESCs and motors, and 5V for APM and associated electronics). These LIPOs are power monsters people should be aware of: they are capable of delivering very high amperage (e.g.: more than 100 amps in my X8 drone application) at a set voltage between 3S (11.1V) and 6S (22.2V) for most drones. If you make the math, we speak here of order of magnitudes of between 1 to a few kilowatts of power!
There is a link you may consult about batteries common brands discussion here: http://www.diydrones.com/group/arducopterusergroup/forum/topics/6s-battery-comparison-on-some-most-common-brands-turnigy-zippy?xg_source=activity
-The main power source must feed high amps and high voltage to the ESCs+motors. We have a constraint to measure both amps and voltage fed to the whole drone as it is a critical piece of information you want to check continuously on your GCS (or goggles) while flying. It would be insane to fly without such real time information, as you do not want to let your copter fall out of the sky once your battery becomes empty.
An assembly constraint is thus to wire every bits and pieces in such a manner that your current and voltage sensors measure the TOTAL (SUM) of all amps consumption. If you use two batteries , do obviously not connect your sensors after one of the two batteries. Another classical mistake is to connect items pumping current and voltage from the sensors wires!
Avoid connecting items in such a way you create ground loops. Connect everything in a STAR topology, with the center of the star connected right after the current/voltage sensor on the high power leads/wires. As it is difficult to visualize your wiring in the practice, make a wiring diagram of your connections and check it out (like I did on figure 1 for example)!
As you will notice on figure 1, I kept a ground loop with the ground wire of the Attopilot module, but it is impossible to connect otherwise. It is one of the weak point of Attopilot sensor usage, unfortunately. Some posts have been done about this here : http://www.diydrones.com/forum/topics/attopilot-volt-current-sensor-significant-parasitic-ground
-At the same time the main power source must be derived to feed a set of sensitive electronics at 5 volts. APM has a constraint to be fed at a voltage between 4.6V minimum and 5.25V maximum. If you are below the minimum voltage, your APM will brownout. If you are above you will fry APM. However it is not so easy to get a stable 5V source as the load varies. Take a look at the picture below that illustrates how unstable an APM 5V power source could be (and there is even worse):
Figure 2 : Bad Vcc illustration
Figure 2 shows a 5V power source from a switching BEC regulator. The measured voltage on this BEC was 5.14V unconnected. We observe from this log picture that once connected the voltage immediately drops down to 4.9V which is not good. Further a strong variability of the voltage between 4.6V and 4.9V is observed. This brings the voltage close to the power limit of APM’s power requirements with a risk of brownout. We will see later in this blog how this problem was solved.
3. Tested solutions to fulfill powering objectives and constraints:
3.1-Battery solution:
For the main battery, I chose a dual battery setup to reduce total cost of ownership (and increase max amp capacity). In an objective to increase flight duration to the maximum I looked initially at high capacity batteries such as maxamp 12.000 mah or equivalent from other brands. In a 6S voltage these batteries are awfully expensive (sometimes more expensive than a complete 3DR RTF kit!). Therefore, I found best for me to use two smaller 6000mah batteries. It weighs the same or even less than a 12.000 mah battery, it costs a third or a fourth of the price if you get a turnigy nanotech or zippy brand. There comes a physical challenge to install multiple batteries on a drone without ruining your possibilities to attach a camera gimbal underneath, and without ruining your possibility to use a protective dome for electronics on top. So for my octoquad, I’ve custom cut a dual battery holder CF plate that screws on the center plate, providing two side platforms left/right to fix the two batteries (thx VulcanUAV for their help!):
It looks like this once assembled on the drone’s frame:
After choosing the battery , we need to think about how to wirre in a STAR TOPOLOGY.
I found the easiest way to do this was to use a power distribution board, like this:
I personally chose to use a 250 amps capacity power distribution board from VulcanUAV here : http://www.vulcanuav.com/accessories.html
It is much better and safer than using cable solutions, for example like this:
3.2-Power distribution board
I will now start to detail this power distribution board, based on figure3:
Figure 3 : Power distribution board placement assembly
More to follow (digest this first:)...
UPDATE Oct 28th : Parts 2 and 3 were added on page 1 and 2 of this blog.
We have been skipping the ArduPilot Camera Gimbal page for a while, so finally we are back to revisit this feature. ArduCopter can stabilize a gimbal with up to three axis of motion using any of the free output channels. This really mades APM one of the best flight controller around.
Video Recap: dronemission.com/fpv-taranis-apm-camera-gimbal-pirates-cove.htm
As recommended, we did not connect the servo’s power (red) and ground (black) wires to the RC10 (A10) or (A11), as it may cause the APM to brownout when the servos move. Instead we rerouted the wires to power the servos from an external BEC from the APM’s rear power rail (Output 7) with the JP1 jumper removed. For this DJI Opto ESC, we needed a UBEC, we therefore used a 3A/5V on Output 8.
Once you have your wiring done, you will use Mission Planner to setup your gimbal. If you plan to assign your Input Ch to RC6, please remember to complete a radio calibration with the dial you have assigned to RC6, if not you may see your gimbal behaving erratically.
We test it out on a new quad with default 3.0.1 PID, with an analog servo. A keychain camera was tied to the gimbal, with no tuning or prop balancing yet, to see how everything performs. Above are some images from our video log and a flight test.
Hi all,
I would like to present my latest project, a scratch-built quadcopter with a special autopilot: an Android smartphone !
The phone is onboard (under the battery), and actually computes how to stabilize the drone. Of course, a phone cannot be connected directly to the ESCs, so an Arduino ADK bridges the two.
The idea came from the fact that smartphones now feature a lot of nice components useful for a drone. For example, the Nexus 4 used in this project has:
-sensors: accelerometer, gyrometer, magnetometer, barometer, GPS.
-wireless communication: Wi-Fi, 3G.
-2 cameras.
-a powerful quad-core processor, with a GPU.
For the moment, I can fly it manually from a laptop, with a XBox gamepad. I am currently implementing the vertical stabilization, using the barometer. The next step is the GPS. I am also thinking about implementing an optic flow algorithm, for indoor stabilization.
All the source code can be found on Google Code, in case someone is interested.
I would love feedback!
Ning 3.0 is going to revolutionize the way we all use DiyDrones.com with all the new features (New Chat Room Feature!!!!) and the updated features that Ning 2.0 currently offers. Below is a list of things that Ning 3.0 is going to bring to the DiyDrones.com Table!:
Groups (now available)
The Groups feature is now live on all Ning 3.0 networks! Read the announcement and check out how Creators are using Groups on Ning 3.0.
The Groups feature has been completely redesigned for Ning 3.0. Think: all the power and flexibility of a Ning Network within your main network. You can add multiple instances of each feature including Blog, Forum, Photos, and Custom Pages to your Groups. You can move content from the Group Forum to the main network Forum and vice versa. Members can be automatically signed-up for a Group based on profile questions, and we've done away with the concept of Group Ownership to allow for greater management and control by Network Creators.
Threaded Comments (now available)
We've added a nine-level threaded commenting system (like the one used here on Creators) and a two-level threaded commenting system. In total, you have three native commenting systems to choose from. Read the announcement.
Ning 2.0 to 3.0 Upgrade Process
This toolset will make it possible for Ning 2.0 Networks to import members and content over to Ning 3.0. Details on the upgrade process can be found here.
Messaging
The messaging feature will allow you to send and receive messages through the network. New to Messaging in Ning 3.0 will be the option for the Network Creator to select whether the ability to send a private message is available between any community member or just friends.
Search
Search your discussions and blog posts by title, keyword or content. Search members by name or profile questions.
APIs
APIs with read/write/edit functions for all Ning features. Member creation will be possible via an API with read/write functionality.
Chat
The Chat feature encourages for real-time conversation on your network. It's a fun and easy way for members to participate in your community.
Ning 3.0 Features Still to Come:
Events, video feature for embeds, Language Editor, updated activity feeds, and more.
Hey guys,
Looking for some advice here. I have been approached by a local newspaper photographer who wants to do a story on me and my "hobby" aerial photography. I'm looking for POSITIVE suggestions on subject matter I can share to steer away from some of the negative stories we have been hearing about.
They want to do a Q & A and then shoot some pics of me flying and the gear I use. They're lead photographer saw my latest YouTube video (posted above) and wants to learn more about the technology.
Again, any info you want to share would be appreciated.
Could be fun to see and control fpv screen and apm screen and other input at the same time ?
A Taiwan-based nonprofit R&D organization announced Wednesday a virtual display that allows users to control virtual keyboards and touchscreens that float out in front of users.
The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) said its new technology uses special glasses and DDDR (defined distance with defined range) camera technology to allow users to see and interact with virtual data, images and devices with finger strokes. Full article here: Floating Display
Paul @ Wavetechrc
Here's a fresh change, an example of UAV's used for good!
cividrones has been in the air with a quadcopter within the area of Lithgow, New South Wales (Australia) during our current fire season highlighting the extensive damage done to property as well as ongoing preventative measures in use by 'firies' to control these fires. The footage is surreal and clip well put together
(FYI, a live-fire exercise by the Australian Air Force has been confirmed as the cause of the State Mine fire shown in this video)
Noted without comment from PETA's website:
The drones are being sold in our catalog, and PETA aims to see a fleet of Air Angels patrolling the skies this fall, capturing footage of hunters engaging in cruel and/or illegal activities—such as shooting deer from the side of the road, baiting fields for ducks or geese, or using dogs to chase turkeys. The footage can be streamed live via the Internet, uploaded to the Air Angels page on PETA.org, and delivered to game wardens in order to apprehend and prosecute offenders.
Research shows that 60 percent of animals who are shot by hunters flee into the woods to die slowly and in pain. For every animal killed by a bowhunter, another escapes injured. Wounded animals can suffer for days or even weeks before dying. In addition, when a mother is shot, her offspring are often left behind to starve to death or be killed by predators.
Wildlife watchers outnumber wildlife killers five to one—and if even a fraction of these kind people use Air Angels, they'll go a long way toward exposing hunters' dirty secrets. With PETA's drones soaring overhead, we hope wildlife scofflaws will think twice before heeding the call of the vile.
A DIY drone seeding platform:
When bees are threatened of extinguished, GMOs sterile crops are everywhere in the world, who is gonna pollinate our local seeds?
Here goes a tutorial of an alternative: Seeding drones, that can seed freedom anywhere in the world.
WARNING: use only local seeds that can not harm the environment.
For more information about the freedom of the local seeds, check seedfreedom.in
I wanted to share a video of my new Hubsan H107C HD micro HD camera quadcopter flying in some fairly heavy winds. I specifically shot this piece of video because it showed the flag waving, and gave some video evidence of flying conditions. It handles surprisingly well given the conditions, and I would be willing to put it up against non-gimble shot video from bigger systems in similar conditions.
Hubsan, the company who made the quad I fly in the video, has now come out with a micro FPV RTF quad for around $200, and I spoke with one of their representatives recently who offhandedly mentioned micro GPS units. He changed subject when I tried to pursue that thought further. It will be interesting to see if a Hubsan x4 with GPS will be coming in the not so distant future.
I have spoken of these micro quads for awhile now, and most recently spoke of the above quad here. In short, I think we will see more of these smaller aircraft coming along. Earlier this year, the British military started fielding micro-drones from Prox Dynamics, a company working on building smaller UAS for various applications. Larger aircraft will always have their place and purpose, but I will make my prediction now; micro UAS will become big business. I also think smaller, "friendlier," drones will become very commonplace and perhaps, even in most homes. Imagine being able to do a basic roof inspection after a storm without having to climb a ladder, or (in more northern climates) more directly observe the amount of snow accumulated on a roof to determine if a collapse is imminent following a blizzard.
If the DJI Phantom is to UAS what the home PC is to computers, micro-drones will be the smartphones.
ADDED THOUGHT: There are projects to interface a PC or smartphone with this quad as seen here. I have a question for the community at large, what is the smallest, lightest GPS board with telemetry which could send a signal back to be used by a PC? I might like to try building a feedback system to allow a computer to navigate this quad remotely. I love tinkering, and have wanted to do a project like this for awhile. Thanks!
This is the third update about my attempts to build an autonomous sailboat with the goal to have it sail by itself next spring.
My first plan for simulation and hardware in the loop simulation was to use the Sail simulator game.You can read more about that in my last blog post. This solution works but the setup with two computers and a number of small programs working together was not a solution to use when you do most of your test on the subway to and from work (Yes with small children you need to use all free time).
The solution was to write a simple sailboat simulator myself. I am using processing for the task. One reason is it's portability between operation systems and another is the similarities to Arduino.
The simulator also act as a network server sending NMEA data and receiving boat control commands from my autopilot application also written in processing. When my algorithms are robust enough i will implement them in the APM and use the simulator for HIL simulations. the screen shot shows the boat beating to reach the waypoint. distance between waypoints is about 70 meters.
The simulator
The simulator implements a really simple model for simulating a sailboat. The target speed for the boat is generated from a simple polar chart. the boat will accelerate to the giver target speed and if the wind disagrees or the boat points into the wind it will slow down until it stops. The simulator uses google maps for backdrop.
The wind is always blowing at the same speed but varies a little in direction over time.
It is really simple but it works for my purposes.
The autopilot
The boat is controlled by an autopilot program that actually manages to sail the boat between waypoints even if it requires beating against the wind. there is much work to be done in optimizing the navigation and sometimes it shows almost scary behaviors i really can't explain. Not AI, but more likely bugs in the navigation algorithms...
The autopilot receives SOG, COG, position, boat heading, apparent wind speed (AWS) and apparent wind angle (AWA) from the simulator. this is the same sensor data i get from my RC-boat.
This is still early stages but it is quite amazing to see the boat tack to get to the next mark...
/Magnus
Hello everyone,
I have finally completed the build of my UAV platform. I'm talking just the plane here; the autopilot issue is a very different one and I'm still experimenting on it.
I always like to give back to DIYDrones, which conveys very valuable information to me daily, so here you have it.
Here is photo gallery. If anyone needs a parts list I'll be happy to provide one.
Side View
Under-Side PaintJob
Direct USB Connection Port
GPS and Receiver Installation
Battery and Differential Pressure Sensor Placement
USB Port Hatch
The Carrying Case
Made out of PVC tubing
Inside its Belly
Thanks for watching!
Chris Anderson, the former Editor-in-Chief of Wired and now CEO of 3-D Robotics, talks with The Atlantic's James Fallows about the role of drones for civilian uses. This program is part of The Atlantic Meets the Pacific 2013 conference presented by The Atlantic and UC San Diego. (#25784)
To the Diy Drones Community from Joshua Johnson:
Which proposed improvements do you like? Which ones do you dislike? Do you have your own ideas on improvements that would put Diy Drones ahead of Rc Groups and add more resources for the community? Please share and collaborate this is a perfect time for the community to help shape and evolve this community in something even better!!!!
My List of Proposed Improvements for DiyDrones.com:
