Pontoon Style (maybe?)
Long legs for aerial photography?
6-32 thread & lock nut to hold PVC to tail booms
Pontoon Style (maybe?)
Long legs for aerial photography?
6-32 thread & lock nut to hold PVC to tail booms
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Pontoon Style (maybe?)
Long legs for aerial photography?
6-32 thread & lock nut to hold PVC to tail booms
NOTE I wasn't able to clearly understand how calibration is made. However the compass works fine even without calibration; google "zcc210n datasheet" for further info.
Note2: you have to input your local magnetic declination and deviation angles in the respective tabs for true north correction.
Bon apetit.
The only problem is that one might desire a higher than 4800 output rate. Argh, I am a very newbie to arduino and I am still searching for the solution.
UPDATE!
So, with the help of Hopslink, I finally got it all working.
This made my arduIMU connect with the so-hatred EM406 module without using the NMEA protocol.
If you make arduPilot communicate with arduIMU @ 38400 bps you're really done. That's it.
From BotJunkie:
"Quadrotors are getting smarter and more talented, but besides surveillance, their usefulness is a bit limited due to their size. Where one little helicopter fails, however, an assemblage of little helicopters might be able to succeed. The Distributed Flight Array is a project from the Institute of Dynamic Systems and Control at ETH Zurich that aims to combine a bunch of different little autonomous helicopters into a big glob of autonomous helicopters. Each helicopter unit has its own motor, computer, and sensors, and can wirelessly communicate with all the other units. In addition to flying, they also have little motorized wheels underneath to let them crawl around the ground.
There are all kinds of ways in which a distributed flight array could be useful. One of the most obvious is heavy lifting… Got something heavy? Call in a bunch of robots to combine and lift it. Got something heavier? Call in a bunch more. If one robot breaks, it’s not a big deal, since you can just swap in another one. The robots are even able to adapt on the fly to keep the entire array stable, so adding and removing individual robots is relatively straightforward. Still, getting the robots to reliably dock with each other in mid air is probably easier said than done… We’ll definite be looking forward to seeing some video of that in action."
[ DFA ]
Another bit of quad goodness from BotJunkie:
"You can do some pretty incredible things with quadrotors in a precision motion capture environment. Angela Schöllig, Federico Augugliaro, and Raffaello D’Andrea from the Institute for Dynamic Systems and Control at ETH Zürich in Switzerland have taught a pair of robot helicopters to dance in sync with a techno remix of the theme from Pirates of the Caribbean. Why? Well, why not? I imagine, though, that this demonstration is part of a larger research path towards enabling cooperative (or swarm, if you will) behaviors.
The environment that these quadrotors are dancing in is a 10m square box with netting on the sides and padding at the bottom, which allows for crazy moves with minimal risk to either the robots or nearby humans. At the top of the box are eight high speed cameras that are able to provide localization information with millimeter level of accuracy at a frequency of 200hz or greater. This means that you’re not likely to witness moves like this outside of a controlled and besensored space… At least, not until vision sensors and inertial measurement units get accurate enough, small enough, and cheap enough to put on the copters themselves.
[ IDSC ]"
Hi Guys,
I just released an Ultra Reliable Switch for RC.
Maybe you know, i'm designing FPV electronics but this product not for FPV :)
We are sharing same flight field with gliders,glow and electric planes and most important problems was switches for everyone.
This is why we designed this small circuits
Standard slider type switches are the most important crash reason on glow planes/gliders and they can affect from vibration, dust, oil and moisture.
Ultra Reliable Switch works when only slider switch mechanical off, and you are forcing to close it when switch on. This electronic design uses high power MOSFET for opening the switch and current limit is extremely higher than all mechanical switches.
We are using 20Ah MOSFETs for this small switches and they can handle 100Ah peak currents on hard conditions.
You can use it with your Gliders, Glow planes or Small EP planes.
Features
- Low Quiescent Current (50uA on 5Volt)
- Very Low Internal Resistance (0.006 Ohm on 5V)
- Wide Operation Voltage (2-30Volt)
- Very High Current Resistance (20A Continuous, 100A Pulsed)
- Onboard LED indicator
- Large Soldering Pads
Usages
- Receiver battery switching for Glow and Gliders
- Ignition system switch for Fuel Engines
- LiPO switch for small EP planes (20A Max)
- Safe Switch for other hobby electronics
The ArduCopter quad team is making tremendous progress--lightspeed stuff. Here is the latest render of one potential design, from Sandro Benigno.
Search for ArduCopter here for other work from this team. It's stunning...
Flench reports that the Gaui 330X quadcopter is now shipping. It's advertised for $349. Specs from the product's home page here:
"330X was designed based on UAV , which emphasizes
the advantages are:
- Flight Efficiency: Standard Battery
(2S2000mAh) time of flight for more than 12min, with a high-capacity battery,
the flight time will be more than 20 min or more
(available spreadsheet calculation) - Excellent wind resistance: the efficiency and load of propeller are perfectly optimized,
so the wind resistance will be better than general electric aircraft High stability:
contains GU344 (three-axis stabilizing system)for the beginner or the FPV flying,
it is a very stable Vehicle. - Additional payload capabilities: payload up
to 700g (including battery), can freely install
cameras and video recorder, and other general
system. - System Extensibility: can be used with GPS
positioning system and navigation system on
330X without any change - Operation mode and flight characteristics with
the same helicopter, but no complex transmission - Collapsible body design, greatly reduce the damage rate,Which can be repaired
easily without adjustment."
Art-tech, a Chinese maker of very cheap RC aircraft, has launched a UAV division and has some new products that could be interesting.
Below are the specs of the fixed wing autopilot shown above. No pricing or availability is given (I've emailed asking for more info) and the website is a terrible broken mess of missing pages and non-working sections, so I assume the product is not out yet. My own experience with Art-Tech is that its products are pretty low quality, but perhaps this new division is aiming higher. We'll see...
Specs:
Integrate GPS receiver, three-axis MEMS gyro, three-axis
accelerometers, pressure altimeter, inertial strapdown
attitude algorithm
Adopt UBLOX 5th generation GPS receiver, 4Hz output, 35 seconds fast positioning
time and accuracy of 2.5 meters CEP
50HZ inner attitude control, 4HZ outer navigation control.
high-precision attitude through to use
32 ARM7microprocessors
Three Modes Options:
Manual remote control, /Auto balance remote control /Automatic navigation control.
Two modes for Ground Control Station:
Flight Course navigation mode / Mouse pointing flight Real-time Control mode.
Waypoints setting through Ground Control Station
Auto-return protection after communication interruption
Distance Automatic photography
The ground station software contains electronic map that can change the
route and tasks online,real-time
semi-autonomous remote control, and can real-time record flight data and
play back off-line.
Contains the autopilot power supply voltage monitoring, electric aircraft power
voltage monitoring, GPS accuracy of detection
and autopilot temperature detection.
SpaceX launched its brand new Falcon 9 rocket on Friday and the flight was a complete success! SpaceFlightNow has a great rundown of the whole sequence of events and some awesome pictures to go along with it (including the one above).
You can watch the official video on the SpaceX Website - listen for everyone cheering in the background whenever the announcer speaks. I was lucky enough to watch this launch live from the SpaceX headquarters and it was one of the most exciting and electric things I've ever seen. When there's this much fuel and power involved there's little room for error so seeing it fly away without a hitch was truly exhilarating!
Later when it flew over Australia many mistook it for a UFO : )
[I've just updated our site guidelines. Here's the new text]
DIY Drones is community site focused on amateur aerial robotics. Our aim is be a place where people can learn, teach, exchange and participate in projects and events. We aim to be as welcoming to those just starting as we are useful to experts. Our culture thrives on collegiality, sharing and openness.
We have many volunteer moderators who have admin rights to ban members, delete posts and otherwise do their best to maintain civil discourse and a high signal-to-noise ratio here. They will also encourage good behavior and guide people to get the most out of the site. Here are our policies, which the moderators are charged with enforcing:
1) Civility is paramount. Treat others with respect, kindness and generosity. Some of our most expert members are people who were once total n00bz but were helped and encouraged by others, and are now repaying the favor with the next generation. Remember the Golden Rule.
2) No discussion of politics or religion. This is not the place to discuss your views on the wisdom of military use of UAVs, any nation's foreign policy, your feelings about war, or anything else that is inclined to turn into a political debate. It is our experience that the rules for good dinner party conversation--no discussion of politics and religion--apply to online communities, too. DIY Drones aims to bring people together, and we find that discussions of politics and religion tend to polarize and drive people apart. There are plenty of other places to discuss those topics online, just not here.
3) Ask questions in the discussion forum; inform others in blog posts. Submitted blog posts that are just questions and should have been posted in the discussion forum will not be approved. The moderators may or may not message you with the text so you can repost in the right area. To avoid losing your post, put it in the right place from the start.
4) Blog posts are for informative topics of broad interest to the community. They should typically start with a picture or video, so that appears on the front page on the site and gives a sense of the topic as well as inviting people to click in for more. Videos should be embedded (paste the embed code in the HTML tab, not the Rich Text tab). The post should also include links where appropriate. Don't make people do a Google search for what you're talking about if you can provide a link.
5) The Discussion Forum is for questions and tech support. We prefer to do all tech support in public, so that others can follow along. If you have a problem, please describe your particular system setup completely, ideally with a photograph, and pick the right forum tags so that others can find the thread later.
6) No discussion of military applications of UAVs. This site is just about amateur and civilian use.
7) Do not type in ALL CAPS. It's considered SHOUTING. Posts in all caps will be deleted by the moderators.
8) Absolutely no personal attacks. It's fine to disagree, but never okay to criticize another member personally.
9) Share. Although we are not limited to open source projects, the ones that tend to get the most participation tend to be open source. Don't wait until your code or design is "finished"--post it as it is, and you may find that others will help you finish it faster. The best way to contribute is with your creativity--we love data, code, aircraft designs, photos of UAV projects, videos of flights and build logs. Post early and often!
1. FMA 4-Channel Co-Pilot Flight StabilizationSystem - US$ 136.50
2. FMA Co-Pilot 2-Channel Flight Stabilization System - US$ 37.05
Details for these stabilization systems are on the website of Hobbyking.
HappyKillmore has been doing some tremendous work on solving tricky ArduPilot problems, from integrating the Remzibi OSD to his latest tutorial, unbricking a corrupted ArduPilot.
ArduPilot is meant to be programmed via the Arduino IDE, and comes with a preloaded "bootloader" that allows it to communicate with that software. Meanwhile, the failsafe processor (an Attiny45) is not meant to be programmed by regular users at all (it also comes with the code loaded at the factory).
But sometimes things can go wrong, corrupting either that bootloader or the failsafe code (causes can range from power glitches to cosmic rays!). When that happens, you need a different process to reload this low-level code, and that requires an AVR programmer such as the AVR ISP 2.
HappyK's tutorial is an excellent step-by-step illustrated guide on how to use that with ArduPilot. Highly recommended!
First test of the new version, significantly increased the efficiency!
Waiting for a good cameraman and telemetry ...
Italian Multi Pilot Group support officialy ArduCopter Project.
FoxTeam initially
supported the project development of Aeroquad, introducing in its branches
to support:
- I2C - Brushless Controller.
- Mixertable to support Multicopter +4 X4 X6 X8 configuration.
- Variable Pitch Quad HG3 project.
- And finally, the hybrid mid air support aircraft and half quadricotteri.
http://code.google.com/p/lnmultipilot10/
The blog of Alessandor a Inventor of FOX Hybrid : http://www.virtualrobotix.com/video/fox-hybrid-v2avi?xg_source=activity
Here are some videos:
HexaFox:
HG3 Variable Pitch Quad :
Fox Hybrid : similar of Buzz (paparazzi concept) but using our firmware and frame !!
So found out the reason for the sudden flip during NAPA flight #1. Noticed on NAPA flight #4 the grip tape was slipping & managed to save her to see the grip tape completely loose on the ground. Unfortunately an attempt to reinforce it with duct tape failed & she crashed hard on NAPA flight #5 with the propellers having slipped forward & with the pilot assuming they were slipped aft, ramming Her into the ground at full power.
Fortunately the new camera mount had enough give to break before the
camera.
The grip tape binding round CF rods to the fuselage loosened in warm
weather & the only warm weather we flew in was NAPA. There was no way
to detect this problem without already knowing temperature could be a
factor. So grip tape is no good. There's a lot of torque on those CF
rods. Double sided mounting tape is the only thing that works, as
stretchy as it is.
ABOVE NAPA
Before the crash, finally snagged the flight which ended in failure previously.
Need another trip for video.
Some final mane shots before it's cut off. If Major Marcy was just a stranger, we weren't similar ages, & saying we look damn old didn't evoke eternal damnation, fire & brimstone for all time so help us God because of the negativity over Her age, we would say we look damn old, but we didn't say that.
The camera was shooting video this time & got some of the breakup. Unfortunately a few frames were still in the cache when the power was cut. She missed a water tank by only a few feet.
On to what must be her 10th fuselage.
3 batteries of hover testing.
This golf course is under Air Force control.
Made a 1st attempt at photographing Marcy 1 in flight. Best results
were using F: 2.8 shutter speed: 1s ISO: 400 Flash: 1/16 Focus: 3m
Air Force logo doesn't come out very well.
There is a way to smile, but it requires looking at something which
makes you fall in love.
"If you're building an autonomous vehicle or a hand-held GPS (or any other device where direction might be important), a digital compass (sometimes called a magnetometer) is a great little sensor to add to your design. However, if you haven't played around with them much, you might not know which type of compass is good for your specific project (for example, do you need tilt-compensation?)."
We also sell one optimized for UAV/ArduPilot use here.
In between school and work tonight, I decided to try out the Google Earth flight simulator mode. It looks like the joystick issue I remember it as always having has been fixed in the most recent version, or at least, for the Saitek Cyborg Evo series.
I decided to try modifying the .acf file that configures the "aircraft". This file is located in (Root Programs Folder)\Google\Google Earth\client\res\flightsim\aircraft . I modified the F-16 file to approximate the flight dynamics I usually get when doing my FPV flying wing.
Probably not too useful for autonomous UAV research, but it provides a fair approximation of what flying from the front seat is like without having to actually go flying FPV. Fun for practicing for FPV as well.
The file I modified is this: f16.acf
Just replace the current existing F-16 file of the same name in the folder path mentioned above.
http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/03/cheap-tiny-camera-for-rc-planes-captures-video-proof-when-you-b/
- I just looked at the whole thing..it just records and stores, has a USB output on the back. Might not be too bad as a pylon or external mounted recording option...records VGA at 25fps on to 2GB of internal storage.
Current design will have two center plates like most of multirotors have, it also have carrier boards to carry electronics like APM, APM shield and Receiver. Another carrier board will be mounted under main frame to be as a battery holder it also creates supporting base for future landing gear addon.
It's been planned to have a power distribution board above center plates.
Square center plate having X setup, it also holds + setup on this board
Center plate with carrier board. Carrier and also power board (not shown) can be rotated with 45° steps on all designs. Power board will have 10 mm spacers and carrier 20 mm.
Square frame with carrier (rotated +45°) and power board.
And last but not least round Quad/Hexa center board. Quad power distribution included. Both carrier and power boards can be mounted either above or below center plates. They also fit on both square Quad plates and round Quad/Hexa plates.
We are closing finishing line so not any major changes should happen. Tho this is still preview on what we have been working behind the scenes.
First frames are being build as we speak..
I will post more pictures on development wiki https://code.google.com/p/arducopter/ during new couple of days.
Cheers,
--jp
