Now camera has pitch and roll stabilizer. In some shots camera looks plane. Camera can tilt 90 degrees to one direction and 45 to other, you can see the limits in sharp turns. It was windy day, 4 - 8 m/s or 14 - 29 km/h or 8 - 16 knots.
Program codes are in this blog
Flew something for the 1st time since the PCS order. She didn't
oscillate, but didn't have enough power. That design had no coning
angle. Back to wing designs.
That had tons of lift, but no control. The issue with flexible wings
pinching the takeoff pin was solved. Got a pretty high coning angle.
Also saw very faint LED flickering. Pitch oscillation was in full
attendance. The optimum wing diameter for this motor is pretty long.
The lift relative to the balance beam inertia seemed too high.
Tried stiffer wings, but still got a coning angle. Small weights on the
balance beam & wings didn't do anything. RPM appeared too low for
stability.
Then, there was eliminating the coning angle. With this design, we
noticed 1 wing always flew higher than the other, more dramatically than
any other design. Every spin copter with a double wing was suffering
from blade tracking errors. Blade tracking seemed to negate any
reduction in coning.
There's probably no way to completely fix blade tracking with such light weight,
home made wings. It would take very precise angle of attack adjustment
on both wings. It would have to be readjusted often.
A monocopter & all its inefficiency seems to be the only thing you can
make, without sophisticated mechanics.
We did finally discover CA glue desolver is really common acetone, for a
lot more money. Wish we knew that, 10 years ago.
TaigaCam and Ardupilot tries to look home position all the time. Camera can turn about 100 degrees. In Ardupilot there is no compass, and therefore it calculates flight direction once per second according to gps. That's why camera turns slowly.
This pan-system needs only one line of code to Ardupilot. In plane there is also roll stabilizer, and it needs also only one line code.
If I should build a pan/tilt camera, I would first build a platform, that is always in level. Then I would install the pan/tilt camera on it. This system needs only 4 lines code to Ardupilot, and all free servo channels... In the main program there is fast_loop. To the end of this subroutine, just above }, I should add these lines. (I have not tested the last line = tilt)
APM_RC.OutputCh(CH_5, constrain(g.rc_6.radio_in - (dcm.roll_sensor / 10),900,2100));
APM_RC.OutputCh(CH_6, constrain(g.rc_7.radio_in + (dcm.pitch_sensor / 10),900,2100));
APM_RC.OutputCh(CH_7, constrain((wrap_360(get_bearing(¤t_loc, &home) - g_gps->ground_course) / 10) + 500,900,2100));
APM_RC.OutputCh(CH_8, constrain(atan(((float)get_alt_distance(¤t_loc, &home) / 100) / (float)get_distance(¤t_loc, &home)) * 573 + 1000,900,2100));
Here is a quick vid of my final project I'm building in electrical engineering. It's a tricopter UAV with thrust vectoring. As of now I have implemented roll, pitch stabilization, yaw and height are controlled by the aircraft. I just control the x and y movement.
All the control algorithms use fuzzy logic. Why? To be different... and to overcome a lot of the limitations associated with PID's and nonlinear processes.
The craft has 3 motors, and 5 servos. The front two motors can pitch forward and backward as well as tilt side to side. The rear motor can only tilt side to side. This allows the aircraft to gimbal around with out having to have translational movement (in theory). The goal is to have the platform as stable as possible for photography so the servos are needed to thrust vector. (It may have been easer to have a floating camera mount...)
I use two dsPIC33s for the computer and a XBee Pro for data transfer. Both chips are running at 80MHz, one handles all the low level control while the other is for higher level control/communications. Eventually it will be used for path planning/ object avoidance etc. But now it just mainly handles communications and reading the GPS data.
More videos of it during the development stage are also on my youtube page.
Enjoy
How to setup the mode switch for APM/AC2
This tutorial was created using the Futaba 12fg, but keep reading and it may give you some ideas on your radio. If you already have your particular radio figured out, write a tute like this and maybe we can get a collection of them added to the APM/AC2 wiki's.
You will need two spare switches, a 2 position and a 3 position to be able to get all six flight modes for the APM/AC2. We are aiming to get pulse widths of 1165, 1295, 1425, 1555, 1685, and 1815.
If you have a device which can measure pulse width, it is much more convenient than watching numbers scroll on the cli. The pulse-width readout is now conveniently located on the Radio Calibration page of the Planner. Some servo testers can measure what is coming out of the receiver.
1. Start with end points at 100 and subtrim 0 on the gear ch.
2. Go to the AFR screen #2 and set the function to Gear.
3. Put Gear switch in middle the position. Now backup to AFR screen #1 and set the offset to get a pulse of 1490. This is not the normal centre pulse width but is right in the middle of the range we are trying to setup. This could be done with subtrim on other radios.
4. Go to the Prog Mixes screen, pick a mix and set it to Offset, then activate it to get to the next step.
5. You should now be in the setting screens for your chosen mix. Go to screen #5 to assign a switch to use as your secondary mode switch and remember to activate it. I chose SF as it was a 2 position switch.
6. Go to Mix screen #1 and set the function to Gear.
7. Set the secondary mode switch to the rear and Gear switch to centre and adjust Offset Off for a 1425 pulse.
8. Set the secondary mode switch forward and adjust Offset On for a 1555 pulse.
9. Go back to AFR screen #1 and make sure you are still in the Gear function. Put both switches to the rear and adjust Rate B for an 1165 pulse. This can be done with gear endpoints on other radios.
10. Flick both switches all the way forward and adjust Rate A for an 1815 pulse.
11. That’s it. If you flick through all 6 combinations, it should be pretty close to what the APM/AC2 expects to see. I ended up with 1165, 1296, 1426, 1555, 1684 and 1814.
Here is the file for my complete model. I would suggest using it as a guide only because my switch assignments may not suit you.
As part of my plane to create a simple, solid Arducopter frame, I have had a number of parts laser cut in 2mm 6082 aluminium from the original Arducopter frame design by the DIYD team.
The parts have come back a little more "bashed up" than I expected, but apparently that's normal, they just need a clean-up with something abbrasive.
I had trouble opening the DXF files in the SVN. In the end I opened them in Microsoft Visio, saved them as Autocad files and then exported them back into DXF files from within Autocad after I tweaked the legs etc not to need the dome. The laser cutters seemed to need the DXF files in the 2004 format attached.
I can't verify anything fits (they've just arrived and I'm in the office), but for those feeling brave the DXF files I used are attached for anyone that wants them.
Cheers!
A Swiss airplane, powered by solar energy has left the Swiss village Payerne for it's first international flight to Brussels in Belgium. The trip will take around 12 hours. You can follow flight control here.
The Solar Impulse combines the wingspan of a commercial airliner with the weight of a car. The wings are covered with solar cells that provide the electric motors with power. The inventors of the Solar Impulse wrote history last year when they circled for 24 hours over Switzerland, by only using solar energy. The team has planned to fly around the world within 2 years.
This is just a quickie before I go to bed.
Those with a Futaba 6EX will know the toggle don't always feel right when you are flying a plane well as I use both my extra channels for mode switching I figured enough was enough and put them together. I took off the back and traced the wires back to a PCB point. Unsoldered, swapped over and resoldered them, 5 minutes and done.
Some quick measuring and my Tesco A4 label sheets were put into action on the top so everything is labelled properly still. The picture below shows the two points which connect to the switch marked above.
Disclaimer: Neither I or DIYdrones take NO responsibility for any damage you cause to your equipment try to do this or something like it to your own equipment. You break it, its your fault.
I hinted that the DIY Drones team had been working with Google on an Android-compatible RC interface board. Now that I/O is over, I can give the details. We're calling it the "PhoneDrone board for Android", and it's a way to connect any Android device (2.3.4 or higher) to the world of RC and UAVs.The board has 8 channels of RC in and out, with PWM-to-PPM conversion and multiplexing between RC and Android control. You just plug the Android's phone USB connector into the board and you have two-way communications with RC gear and any other board, such as APM.
That means that you can switch between RC control and Android control or mix the two. An example would be "fly/drive by wire". You steer your vehicle via RC, but an Android phone does the actual control using its onboard IMU. On a car, that would allow every turn to be a high-speed controlled drift, for instance (we may show something like that at Maker Faire).
Or, with a UAV, you might have the Android phone doing high-level image processing and object tracking, sending mission commands to an autopilot board such as APM. You might also want to use the phone's long-distance wireless instead of an Xbee for two-way telemetry.
This can either replace APM if you've got equivalent code running on Android, or compliment it with the Android device doing image processing or long-distance wireless comms.
Note that the pictures here are of an early prototype and some branding has been photoshopped out, pending final silkscreen approval.
Specs:
Mike Strasser, West Point Public Affairs
WEST POINT, N.Y., May 11, 2011 — Soldiers sometimes operate in remote locations where maps are either outdated, or lack adequate resolution. Mission success could weigh heavily on whether a unit relies on low-quality resources or waits indefinitely for higher-quality imagery.
A team of West Point cadets worked on this problem and developed a senior capstone design project which garnered three awards in recent weeks. Class of 2011 Cadets Mike Weigand, Anthony Rodriguez, John Rollinson and James Raub built STITCH, or “Supplying Tactical Imagery to Command Headquarters,” a low-cost, lightweight, fully autonomous unmanned aerial system.
http://www.suasnews.com/2011/05/5497/tactical-uav-design-earns-cadet-team-multiple-awards/
All hand flown
mwc hexa - fun flying no2 from warthox on Vimeo.
'UAS 2020: Looking to the Future'
The Red River Valley Research Corridor is holding its 5th
Annual Unmanned Aviation Systems Action Summit at the
Alerus Center, Grand Forks, North Dakota, on June 2-3, 2011.
It will focus on developing and strengthening the Nation’s
burgeoning unmanned systems industry and advancing
the call to develop responses to some of the pressing
issues, challenges, and threats.
This diagram shows the difference between bearing, relative bearing and heading.......all in degrees magnetic.
Heading is not always the direction an aircraft is moving. That is called 'course'. Heading is the direction the aircraft is pointing. The aircraft may be drifting a little or a lot due to a crosswind.
Bearing is the angle in degrees (clockwise) between North and the direction to the destination or nav aid.
Relative bearing is the angle in degrees (clockwise) between the heading of the aircraft and the destination or nav aid.
Here's a link showing an aircraft on a heading of 350° with a relative bearing to the station of 145°.
The station's bearing is 135° from North based on where the aircraft is, but since the aircraft is heading 10° left or West of North, that angle must be added to 135°.
The aircraft would have to turn 145° to the right to be pointing at the station.
http://www.rvs.uni-bielefeld.de/publications/Reports/rose.gif
Details here: http://eastbay-rc.blogspot.com/2011/05/idea-ardupilot-differential-gps.html
DGPS background: http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/CORS
More coolness from the Vicon motion capture room at ETH Zurich:
From IEEE Spectrum:
The quadrotor is not doing everything by itself. It's getting help from the environment, an enclosed space called the Flying Machine Arena, which is equipped with multiple motion capture cameras. The researchers devised algorithms to transform the vision data from the cameras into control commands for the quadrotor. The machine can hover in place or it can follow pre-programmed trajectories. Manual control is also possible using a "set point tracking" device.
Hehn and D'Andrea, an IEEE Fellow and co-founder of Kiva Systems, which develops warehouse automation robots (disclosure: he's also a member of IEEE Spectrum's editorial advisory board), describe the project in a paper, "A Flying Inverted Pendulum," presented today at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), in Shanghai.
Exceptional students majoring in computer science, electrical engineering or similar are invited to apply for an internship at the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) UAS Program. Interns participating in this program will work closely with members of the research staff on a fast paced research project. One paid internship of up to six months is available. Please submit resume to: cuasinternship@parc.com
Responsibilities:
-Influence the development of a novel UAS platform
-Participate in the project from planning to field testing
-Explore publication or patent potential
Requirements:
-Graduate student in CS, EE or similar field preferred; qualified undergraduates will be considered
-Strong C++ experience
-OpenCV computer vision experience or similar
Here is the blog created by mine team member Anugrah along with me for our final year project "SURYAAN".Infact we were not able to complete the AUTONOMUS part with in the specified time of approx 10 month but we had completed UAV...a aeromodel along with CAMERA and GPS installed on it giving its location via Xbee to HK GCS.we are very helpfull to HK for providing us the guidence and DIY drones who help me to make up my basics which were so poor earlier.
well we will continuogspe working on the autonomus part but without guidence it is quite tough when you are making your own auto-pilot kit with your full programming.
wish me luck.
