Blogs

This week I started building my MTP or Modular Test Platform that will help me someday build a full/partial UAV that will cross all 3,000 miles of the U.S.*

I constructed the modular tail section that will be able to separate from the fuselage, nestled the servos in really good to reduce drag, and placed the control horns as closely to the pivot point to increase control surface range.

I tested my electronics: I took the Servo's, Tx and Rx from a crashed Wild Hawk RTF, and new 2200 mAh 20c batteries, 1,400 kv motor, 30amp Mystery ESC, and a 8x4 apc prop (all from Hobby King) and hooked it all up, then powered them up to see if all was well. And it wasn't!

My ESC/Motor set up was non-functional. I'm not sure which or if both are not functioning, and as this is my first brushless set up, I don't have other electronics to test it with. I checked all the connections to make sure everything was set up correctly, and made other efforts, but couldn't get them to function. I went ahead and ordered new parts to replace both, just in case, while I complete the airplane construction to stay on schedule.

I plan on completing it next week, maybe even making the maiden!

To see what I I did, check out the episode on YouTube above

*visit www.MyGeekShow.com for the full details of my 3,000 mile flight goal

Hey guys!  A friend and I developed a speedometer app for iOS and Android.  It is a simple to use app that allows your mobile device to "listen" for RC aircraft passes and announce the pass speed.  Furthermore, the app also can log and export all of your pass data via email so that you can review it later.  This works great if you want to analyze how modifying a feature of your aircraft has on its speed.  

Right now, the app works best with hi-RPM, hi-blade count propulsion systems (EDFs, pylon racers, pusher jets, and similar airplanes).  However, we are actively working on updating the app to "detect" more aircraft, as well as brainstorming some additional features.  

We would love some feedback from the community on features you would like to see in future builds, or any suggestions that you may have!

We also have a free computer version of the app on our website.  We are updating it constantly with new features, so check our site for updates!

www.rcspeedo.info

Thanks!

Some general information on the app:

Turn your mobile device into an RC airplane speedometer!

Listen and fly!  RCSpeedo will relay airplane pass speeds vocally after each pass.

Fully featured pass logging and email export!

RC Speedo is a speedometer app for EDF's, pylon racers, pushers, and other hi-speed electric radio-controlled airplanes. The application works by performing doppler analysis on the sound of an RC airplane passing in front of the mobile device’s microphone. This method of finding an RC aircraft's speed was pioneered by RC enthusiasts over the past couple of years to accurately calculate the speed of a radio-controlled airplane with nothing but a clean sound clip of the airplane making a speed run past the pilot.

With RC Speedo the process is greatly simplified: just bring your phone to the field and hit "listen". As you make passes with your favorite airplane, the app will report your speeds back to you in real time!

The iOS RC Speedo App runs on iPhone 3, iPhone4 and iPod Touch Gen 4.  RCSpeedo requires the device to have a built in microphone in order to operate.

The RC Speedo App works best with electric RC aircraft that have hi-RPM, hi-blade count propulsion systems. This includes EDFs, pylon racers, pusher jets, and similar airplanes. RC Speedo currently will NOT work on planes that are extremely quiet, operate at low RPM's, turbines, most nitro planes, and obviously planes with no propulsion system at all. It also cannot detect anything moving slower than 25 MPH. Future versions may support some of these aircraft types so keep checking back!

By popular demand, those cool t-shirts and hoodies that the DIY Drones team wore to Maker Faire are now available in the store. They're black, but we'll be offering other colors in the future.

The t-shirt ($14.99) says 3DRobotics.com on the back, and "DIY Drones" on the front:

The hoodie ($29.99) also says 3DRobotics.com on the back.

It has a drone on the front and says "DIY Drones" on one sleeve;

The AMA responds to an article in Smithsonian Air and Space Magazine.

Note that the AMA claims it is "The national body for aeromodeling operations".

Wow! FAA step aside, the AMA is running the show now !

In March, 2011 there was UAV Exhibition in Moscow which is called UVS-Tech 2011. The exposition was pretty good, however a lot of visitors opine that the number of represented companies reduced comparing with the last year. I visited this exhibition and it seemed for me that there were too few foreign companies.

Here is a short photo report:

Successful 3.5 Km autonomous flight of the MAJA drone with a GoPro HD

The MAJA drone has done a successful 3.5 Km autonomous mission under flight plan on May 2011.

The FPL is composed of 5 waypoints and the MAJA drone autopilot runs the FPL during 2 loops. The full flight have been recorded with a GoPro HD wide camera. The MAJA drone is fully steered with an ArduPilotMega (APM v1.4) autopilot with a 9D0F IMU and the firmware v2.2f (JLN modified version).

The weather conditions was a bit windy and gusty: Wind 13 Km/h from ENE, gusting 20 Km/h with strong thermal lifts.

The MAJA drone setup:

Avionic setup:
 - ArduPilotMega APM v1.4 (Atmega 1280 @16 MHz), 32 Mips
 - Full 9DOF IMU,
 - Built-in 16 MB Data Logger,
 - Airspeed and absolute pressure sensors (Bosh),
 - triple axis magnetometer HMC5843,
 - 10Hz Mediatek GPS MTK v1.6,
 - Full high speed telemetry with MavLink protocol,
 - Low speed telemetry with M-Link,
 - PC Laptop ground station (APM planner),
 - Hand-held groundstation (Ardustation),
 - XBeePro 900 for High Speed Telemetry (Mavlink).
 
Firmware: APM v2.2f (modified version by JLN)
Camera: GoPro HD Wide

 - Brushless motor: Spitz 30 (BMI) 360 Watts (Max 480W),
 - propeller thin APC-E 12x6,
 - ESC: BMI #85505 C-45 (45-55A),
 - 4 servos Corona CS-929 MG (1.8 kg.cm, 12.5g),
 - Propulsion battery: Lipo 3S Turnigy Nanotech 3300mAh 11.1V,
 - Avionic battery: Lipo 3S Turnigy Nanotech 2200 mAh 11.1V,
 - UBec 5A, 5V for the Avionics (ArduPilotMega + Receiver),
 - Receiver: Multiplex RX9 DR with M-Link telemetry.
 
Payload: Up to 1.5 Kg (Lipo battery included)
Flight time: Up to 1 hour (depends on the Lipo capacity)

More infos at: http://diydrones.com/profile/JeanLouisNaudin

Holy crap. DARPA has just announced a project to use the DIY Drones model for the future of military UAVs. Called UAVForge, which is already up and running (although it crashes Firefox on my machine), it is described in the official request for proposals like this:

This initiative aims to produce a small, affordable, and easy to operate unmanned air vehicle capable of persistent perch and stare surveillance. The successful offeror will empower a diverse community of innovators and emergent design teams by providing manufacturing capabilities and assessments and producing up to 15 units of the winning design. The UAVForge initiative will employ a collaboration website and a fly-off competition, both developed and administered for DARPA/TTO by the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, Atlantic (SSC Atlantic), Charleston, SC.

 

Here's a conceptual video:

Many more details are in the full pdf description here. It's a $2 million project, with $100,000 going to the winning designer.

Some excerpts:

Small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) have proven important in modern military operations and
show promise for civil applications. Portable UAVs are used by the military for reconnaissance
missions and have been used commercially for tasks such as monitoring oil and gas pipelines,
and tracking wildfires. However, the effective use of state-of-the-art systems is constrained by
cost and performance as well as high logistic support and operator skill and workload demands,
compared to more routinely employed portable military equipment, like GPS and night vision
devices.

The UAVForge initiative will use a collaboration/competition crowdsource approach to produce
a small, affordable, and easy to operate UAV capable of persistent perch and stare surveillance.
Novel manufacturing concepts and resources will empower a diverse community of innovators
and emergent teams to deliver a superior UAV system solution relative to state-of-the-art
systems. The overall objective of UAVForge is to develop an aircraft that costs $10,000 or less
per unit, can be carried in a rucksack by an individual, can fly to and perch in useful locations at
several kilometers range for periods of several hours, and provide continuous, real-time
surveillance without dedicated or specialized operators.

 

In this solicitation, DARPA is seeking innovative manufacturing services to facilitate the
UAVForge initiative. The selected manufacturer will support collaboration and produce the
winning design from the UAVForge competition.

 

UAVForge is a DARPA/TTO initiative supported by the Space and Naval Warfare Systems
Center, Atlantic (SSC Atlantic), Charleston, South Carolina, to leverage the unique potential of
crowdsourcing. SSC Atlantic will develop and maintain the www.UAVForge.net website, which
provides participants with the virtual environment and tools necessary to organize and
collaborate independent of geographic location, education, profession, or experience. The virtual
environment features collaboration tools including shared and private information spaces,
message boards, mailing lists, and other features that enable effective collaboration.

 

Collaboration will focus on an objective list of small UAV capabilities (Appendix 1). A series of
multimedia-based milestones (Appendix 2) will encourage the formation of ad-hoc teams around
promising solutions. These teams will develop functional design prototypes. DARPA will select,
based on published criteria and crowd/manufacturer input, the top ten designs to participate in a
fly-off competition hosted by SSC Atlantic (Appendix 3). DARPA will select one winning
design based on the results of the competition and crowd/manufacturer input. The winning team
will receive a $100,000 prize and an invitation to participate in an exclusive overseas military
demonstration exercise.

 

The selected manufacturer from this solicitation will provide the winning team with a subcontract to produce an initial lot of up to 15 UAVs for government experimentation. The selected manufacturer will play an integral role in the evolution and execution of the UAVForge initiative. For planning purposes, award of the manufacturing services contract will occur four months after the start of UAVForge collaboration and four months before the fly-off competition.

Good clear explanation of the power side of a brushless motor control and how to build one here. Stay tuned there for a second post on the processor/code side.

Hackaday's description:

He constructs everything on protoboard from components he acquired at RadioShack in order to demonstrate the ease of sourcing parts and building a brushless motor driver.

While he skips most of the theory behind brushless motor control itself, he does touch on the signaling these motors require for movement as well as how motor position is determined. Specifically, he expands on how half-bridges can be used to create the sine wave signaling required by a single motor input, as well as how three of these can be combined to drive a brushless motor.

The APM WIKI has a good page to describe the setup of the Radio for switching the Mode with the RC toggle switches.

However, there was no help on how to setup the T8FG. It's not rocket science, but took a bit of try and error to set it up.

I thought I document this here so it can be linked into the WIKI along with the other Radio guides for the benefit of my own short term memory deficiencies as well as to make this easier for anybody else with the same radio.

Here a quick guide for that Radio to save yourself the time to play around with something more exciting:

We will use two toggle switches. In my case I used "SE" as the main switch which also controls the radio channel 5.

This switch has three positions. To be able to select 6 positions we need a second switch. I used "SF", which is a two position toggle. so 3 x 2 will allow you to set all 6 modes.

1. To get the right min/max PWM output we first need to set the Endpoint of channel 5 "SE":
   Linkage Menu (LNK) > END POINT > Move to Channel 5 and adjust to have a low of 67 and 72 for your channel.
   Your display will show: "5 AUX1 135 67 72 135"
2. To be able to add in the second switch "SF" we need to add a Program Mix which will influence the first channel "SE".
   Model menu (MDL) > PROG. MIX > Choose any, I choose 1 as it was empty.
   On the first page change the x and y Offsets (OFFS) to +25 each.
   Continue scrolling to the second page and set ACT to ON. In the next field, set your second switch. "SF" in my case.
   Set the "MASTER" to SF and the "SLAVE" to "AUX1" or whatever your Channel 5 is called (Default of the radio would be "GEAR"). You can ignore the LINK setting which should not be selectable anyway.
   So the whole page reads:
   #1   ACT OFF   SF
   MASTER  SF
   SLAVE     AUX  OFF

That's it!You now can control all 6 modes with your T8FG.

You can test the settings in the ACM/APM setup and test menu:

In CLI Mode: setup > modes

Flight modes
----------------------------------------
Pos 0: LOITER
Pos 1: RTL
Pos 2: ALT_HOLD
Pos 3: AUTO
Pos 4: STABILIZE
Pos 5: SIMPLE

Enjoy,

Ollie.

Arduino compatible shield simplifies the programming required to get GPS data while improving speed and flexibility. From Hack a Day

Wall Street Journal spotlights high end (and high price) Recreational Aircraft and FAA regulations.

I wonder if this will hurt or help us.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304066504576341780810193932.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_RIGHTTopCarousel_1

I have been playing with my Arducopter for a while now. Really cool stuff! It's time for a little contribution myself.

But first a really a big thank you to everybody working on this project and especially Jason for all the cool (and very stable) code he has been contributing!

I had hooked up the Battery Monitoring as described in the WIKI. Works like a charm, however beyond a message in the GCS it was hard to notice when the Voltage (or current, if that is hooked up) reached a critical level.

RTL sounds great, but in most cases it'll be good to get an audible signal when the batteries run low. In fact, I killed one LiPO just having my copter sitting on the desk and forgetting to disconnect the battery. The ACM draws quite a bit of current and low-discharged the LiPO... 20 more bucks down the drain.

So I had a look around in my electronic shop and found a little Piezo buzzer. It runs on 3-6V and only draws about 30mA which is not too much to be driven straight from one of the ACM port pins. It's a YMD1205. It only costs 30 cents - much cheaper than a new LiPO :)

After looking at the schematics of the IMU a usable port was quickly found. The IMU has two "Expansion Ports". As I did not plan to use either for other stuff, they are perfect as the buzzer fits neatly between one of the "gnd" pins and the hole marked "AN6". It looks like it actually belongs there, doesn't it :)

Code was written very quickly as well in case you would like to integrate that into your project.

I wanted it to be configurable via the APM_Config.h file. Also I integrated a quickly audible beep on start-up to know if the Piezo Buzzer is working.

I tested the whole thing and it works like a charm. The nice side effect is, that the buzzer can be used from anywhere in the code for other audible signals via the piezo_on() and piezo_off() functions.

Let's see maybe I can get it to play a song before it takes off :)

APM_Config.h:

// Enables the Piezo buzzer code
#define PIEZO                                         ENABLED
// Required if PIEZO is "ENABLED"
#define PIEZO_PIN                                 AN6
// Optional to enable low Voltage alarm
#define PIEZO_LOW_VOLTAGE             ENABLED

system.pde:void init_ardupilot():

        #if PIEZO == 1
          pinMode(PIEZO_PIN,OUTPUT);
          piezo_beep();
        #endif

sensors.pde:
    #if BATTERY_EVENT == 1
        if ( (battery_voltage < LOW_VOLTAGE) || (g.battery_monitoring == 4 && current_total > g.pack_capacity) ) {
                        low_battery_event();
                        #if PIEZO_LOW_VOLTAGE == 1
                        // Only Activate if a battery is connected to avoid alarm on USB only
                        if (battery_voltage1 > 1){
                          piezo_on();
                        }
                        else {
                          piezo_off();
                        }
                         
                        #endif
                }
                else {
                        #if PIEZO_LOW_VOLTAGE == 1
                        piezo_off();
                        #endif
                }      
        #endif

events.pde:
#if PIEZO == 1
void piezo_on()
{
        digitalWrite(PIEZO_PIN,HIGH);
}

void piezo_off()
{
        digitalWrite(PIEZO_PIN,LOW);
}

void piezo_beep()
{
        // Note: This command should not be used in time sensitive loops
        piezo_on();
        delay(100);
        piezo_off();
}
#endif

Only one small annoyance. It does beep if the ACM is powered by USB cable only. I am wondering if there is a way to detect the presence of the USB cable plugged in, in code, which would allow me to disable the buzzer in that condition. Any hints would be appreciated.

Have fun !

Ollie.

Maker Faire was awesome. More than 100,000 people attended over two days, and it felt like almost all of them came by the DIY Drones booth! We had 12 team members manning the booth, and it took all of us to handle the crowds, which were usually two or three deep. Our cool t-shirts and hoodies were as popular as our electronics. Thanks to all who came to say hi!

Highlights included hanging out with the Google Cloud Robotics team (who worked with us on the PhoneDrone board) and Arduino co-founder Massimo Banzi coming by to meet with the team to coordinate our work with the Arduino roadmap (I can't say much more about it, but you're going to be blown away by what Arduino is capable of. Look for news later this summer, but the short form is if pro-level hardware and development tools are what you want, you won't be disappointed. The DIY Drones team is going to be a big part of it).

Shown above: Banzi with some of the DIY Drones and Udrones teams. From left; Jeff Taylor, me, Massimo Banzi, Jordi Munoz, Guillermo Romero, Sam Kelly, Lorenzo Lopez.

We did tons of demos, including one with Miles O'Brien from PBS's Newshour, where we filmed the newscast from the air while they were filming ArduCopter from below.

Here's a demo at the main stage, with Massimo and live GCS:

And towards the end, when Gigio was feeling really brave, he even did demos in the booth!

I picked up a Turnigy 9X at the DIY Drones booth at Maker Faire yesterday.  The ones for sale were set up for mode 1 operation, so I went over to iFixit to borrow a screwdriver...and ended up with a full set of photos taken by Miro of iFixit.  I know there are already a few other guides out there, but now there's one more with pretty pictures :)

http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/Turnigy-9X-Mode-1-to-Mode-2-conversion/5832/1

Dear Friends,

this month we have a lot of news and update on MP32 board and project :

http://www.virtualrobotix.com/page/multipilot32-1

This is a fly of Ardupirates32 NG for Gaui 300XS : frame , esc motors and propellers.

1) VRIDE 0.0.4 is available : http://code.google.com/p/multipilot32/downloads/list

the new feature available are :

- i2c lib at 400 khz.

- new bootloader available with security feature when you are in flight , jumper for activate bootloader.

- update firmware using usb .

- update APM_ADC for support VRIMU.

- update APM_RC for support PPM SUM reciver as Jeti duplex 2.4 ghz.

- update APM_RC for support i2c ESC.

2) Ardupirates 32 NG on mp32 work fine , main loop is limit to 800 hz i have tested :

- acro mode.

- stable mode.

- magnetometer , gps and barometer.

- GPS hold work fine .

- Altitude hold could be better.

3) VRIMU is available : http://www.virtualrobotix.com/page/vr-imu-10

- Sensor board with two option : inversense and analog device gyro , accelerometer and magnetometer.

- Navi Board with gps , barometer and differential pressure sensor (Option) , analog and digital input output available.

4) First Revision of Arducopter 2.0 available as starting point for checking functionality :

http://code.google.com/p/multipilot32/downloads/detail?name=ArmCopter32_vride0045_20110513.rar&can=2&q=#makechanges

- All Low level library ported to new MP32 in pre alpha revision.

- Firs revision of code compile .

- The ide is available on repo as VRIMU 0.0.4.5 ready for start to test it.

5) RTF firmware for Gaui 330XS available. contact me at : lasernav@gmail.com for more info.

6) A lot of people start to fly with mp32 ... some video ...

Original post  (Virtualrobotix) : http://www.virtualrobotix.com/profiles/blogs/multipilot32-ap32-monthly

I joined DIY Drones in August last year, and have been one of the Moderators since December. The Moderators are members of the site who approve new joiners, Blog posts, etc and generally keep an eye on the site content in accordance with the published guidelines:

http://www.diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/updated-site-policies

With a few months experience under my belt, I thought I would publish a few points about the mistakes people tend to make. This is meant as nothing more than a guide, and is written with the sole intention of saving you time and effort.

Why didn’t you approve my membership application?

Spammers will attempt to join the site in an effort to Spam the forums and blog posts. Sometimes, filtering the real applicants from the Spammers is very tricky. The spammers will use acronyms such as UAV in their application, but as soon as they are approved they are leaving comments all over the place. If you do not fill the application questions clearly, this can cause a problem. Sometimes we see responses such as “etc, etc” which could be anything. If you are recommending someone join, please ask them to answer the questions accurately, they are reviewed by a human.

Why didn’t you approve my blog post?

There are a few reasons that this happens, almost always one of the following:

1. No picture, video, or anything else to visually describe the nature of the Blog post. All blog posts should, as far as possible, have something visual to describe what it’s about.
2. Military content: This site is dedicated to civilian/hobby use of UAS technology. Generally, postings relating to military use will not be approved.
3. Questions as blogs: It can be frustrating when we have a question in the forum that isn’t being answered. But the forum is for questions, and the blog is for news. Consider rewriting your forum question, posting to a more appropriate forum area, or better explaining the issue. I have personally modified my forum questions a number of times and got much better responses.
4. Lack of detail: You may wish to post a video of your latest creation doing its stuff, that’s great, but please include details. What is it? How did you create it? What is its objective? What makes it different?
5. Lack of newsworthiness. This is by far the one I struggle with the most. Blog posts are meant to be newsworthy. That’s a difficult call. I crashed my Arducopter last Tuesday (my bad), but with 15,000 members, I would imagine lots of people did the same. Please consider if what you are posting will be for the good of the site, and is genuinely informative.

Luckily for me, my job as a Moderator is a pleasure. And I honestly thank you for the civility and consideration that the members show their peers.

August 3-5, 2011 • San Diego, California
WaveForum Developers Conference 
Join them in  San Diego in August for the sixth annual WaveForum developers conference. The three-day event will feature over 25 different technical sessions covering a variety of technical topics.

http://www.digi.com/waveforum/