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nVader 600 3 S 6000mah 12X6 prop from Jerry Kutra on Vimeo.

nVader 600 Compilation of Test Flights from Jerry Kutra on Vimeo.

nVader 600 Camera Test II from Jerry Kutra on Vimeo.

I received my airspeed shield today along with the pitot tube kit and thermopile cable.  So that meant that I had all the bits I needed to get this thing in a flying condition.  I also found an old motor, prop and ESC so I've installed that too.

I discovered that the reset problem I was having (mentioned in my first post) turned out to be due to a misconfiguration in the control channel of my transmitter.  It turns out that the pulse width it was sending corresponded to the threshold level between Position 2 and Position 3 in the ATTiny45 fail-safe code.  This resulted in rapid switching between the two and when this happens, the ATTiny45 sends a reset pulse to the ATMega328 chip.  I changed my transmitter setup and problem solved.  This was a bit of a gotcha because I didn't realise that the ATTiny45 could reset the main chip and I'd been hunting a power problem. 

I'm running the Ardupilot 2_7.1 code and I've included my updated config file is here.  I'm running the EM406 GPS and a XBee Pro 900 XSC for telemetry.   Note that I had to change the serial interface speed of the XBee to 57600 baud to match the GPS.  The radio link rate is only 9600 baud on these, however running the default telemetry seems to be OK so far. 

A quick test outside showed that the autopilot appeared to be operating in the correct sense.  So now all that's left is to start test flying.  The only big question I have left is the orientation of the XY sensor - as it sits, one of the thermopiles is pointing towards the motor (which gets hot!).  It would be better to position it so the thermopiles were in their normal (i.e longitudinal and lateral ) positions, however to do this, I think I need to modify the code since it doesn't seem to be a configuration option. 

The latest US purchase of Raven UAVs was announced:

"AeroVironment, Inc. (AV) (NASDAQ:AVAV) announced today that it received an order valued at $46,226,984 under an existing contract with the U.S. Army. The order comprises 123 new digital Raven small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and initial spares packages as well as 186 digital retrofit kits for the U.S. Marine Corps. The order also includes 339 digital retrofit kits for the U.S. Army."

Assuming that those "digital retrofits" are just switching out the video transmitters to encrypt the signal, which is not a big deal, this sounds like ~$300,000 per plane, which is about the same price as the similarly-sized Wasp. 

I know that a Raven clone, APM and some decent video equipment is not quite milspec, but given that it costs about 1/1,000th as much and does more or less the same thing, why aren't the military considering cheaper alternatives?

(Yes, I'm aware the real Raven is much more robust, the onboard optics are much better, the Raven kits include ground stations and all that other stuff. But still: are they one thousand times better?)

Here is the video of the JPO -AMA webinar on FAA sUAS rulemaking.

The Q&A portion of the webinar was not made available.

I have successfully built and tested in flight the Micro Multicopter based on a Minsoo Kim's quadcopter kit.
Tested setup:
- hardware: KKmulticopter flight controller v0.2
- firmware: Quadcontroller v4.5 (asm code version can be downloaded here) by Rolf R Bakke.
- 4 brushless motors 925 KV FlyCam 925
- 4 ESC turnigy PLUSH-6
- 2 propellers CW GWS EP5030Rx3
- 2 propellers CCW GWS EP5030x3
- 1 Lipo battery 2S1P 7.4V 800 mAh
- AVRISP mkII programmer
- compiled with AVR Studio 4
- 1 Micro Multicopter full set ( http://www.kkmulticopter.kr )
Take off weight : 280g

The flight is very stable and fun.

stay tuned at: http://diydrones.com/profile/JeanLouisNaudin

UPDATE: Looks like some bugs snuck in. I've withdrawn this version. Please Dec 13 instead.

I've uploaded a new version of the APM 1.0 code, which has some minor bug fixes.

• The bug where you had to reset your board after a cold start to get the MediaTek GPS module to be recognized is now fixed. (Thanks James Goppert!)
• Several minor bugs that affected Altitude Hold in AUTO mode have been fixed. It's still not as rock solid on all aircraft as we'd like, but we're reviewing several strategies to improve it in the next version of the code. Right now it mostly uses the throttle to maintain both altitude and airspeed (if an airspeed sensor is connected), but this can be unreliable if the aircraft is not well-trimmed. We may mix in more elevator going forward. (Thanks to Doug Weibel for the fixes)
• Various other minor fixes, and support for a new version of the MediaTek GPS firmware that we'll be releasing in a week or so.
• As always, you can follow APM software enhancements and bug fixes here.

If altitude hold is not working reliably for you, try adding a few clicks of elevator trim to counteract whichever tendency your aircraft is showing. So if it consistently descends below the target altitude, dial in a few clicks of up elevator and see if that fixes it. We'll have a more robust solution in the next rev.

Too cold to fly this code? Try an Xplane flight simulation!

Well, here's the first photo of my quadcopter.

Weighing in at 590g as it sits, with a span of 25".  I plan on adding some litening holes in the body plates and landing gear to reduce the weight a little.

Cutting the bolts will lose a few grams, but this is just a dry fit, so nothing's done as of yet with any permenance.

I plan on powering it with seperate batteries for eletronics and flight, the motors will be 4 Turnigy  TR35-48-B, 900Kv motors with Master airscrew 11*7 , 3 blade props. powered by a Zippy flightmax 5000mAh 5S1P 25C battery.

This will have telemetry, video, sonar, gps, magneto, APM with all the bells and whistles. Hopefully I willl be able to get some decent flight time out of it.

Would it be better to go with 2 blade props, or what I have spec'd? I'm not looking for acrobatics, just long stable flight.

I will update with pics of progress as things start to evolve more.

Hi,

We have been working on this copter for about 3 weeks. First one was made out of plywood and broke while maidening. (Actually never get in the air.) So we decided to build one using U shaped aluminum profiles.

Setup as follows :

4 Turnigy SK35-36 910kV with 2 12x6 hobbyking APC's and 2 12x6 reverse real APC's

4 Turnigy 60A ESC ( don't need that much but they can be used for bigger motors :) )

1 5000mAh 3S1P 40C Zippy Battery (will test with 2 of them)

Magnetometer

Arducopter NG Code with a few thing changed ( to allow changing pid's while in the air and view a few key data)

After 5 minutes of short take of and landings to configure PID's we can fly this thing hands off the stick. Actually it flew itself :)

Here is the first battery being drained to the limits. :)  Nothing happened to the copter.  (Raw footage not edited yet )

My DIYDrones Arducopter survived its first few flights without incident!  This is my first quadcopter, and first Ardupilot project, so I'm actually a little surprised it flew so well.

Very stable.

This is the FahPah "all up" kit, with an added XBee Tx and Futaba R6008HS.

Arducopter NG software, untouched except to enable XBee.  No magnetometer.

Turnigy 2200 3S batteries.

All bullet connectors soldered shut, which resolved the burning-motor problem.

I'm not sure I mounted the ESCs as intended.. it appears each of the arches has a protrusion that may or may not be useful for ESC mounts.

The in-tube motor wires makes a very clean package, and the "wedding cake" racks make for a compact center.

The GPS Hold mode was the only confusing thing, since it seemed to have a lot of wander and a very aloof and unauthoritative throttle control.  It tried to drift down into the weeds and I had to switch out of GPS Hold to recover it.

So far, so good!

GPS altitude hold is good for +-5m, but what if you want more precision than that, closer to the ground. ArduCopter team member Randy Mackay. He explains what it takes (this is also in the manual):

    To give it a go do this:

        1. get yourself one of these Sonars and attach to the bottom of your quad

            http://www.sparkfun.com/products/8504  <-- the cheaper LV ($28)

            http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9495  <-- the slightly more XL ($50)

        2. attach it up to AN1 (the Analog2Digital port on the very back
right of the oilpan near the CLI switch.  AN5 is the outmost, so count
in from there to AN1).

        3. comment out this line in ArduCopterNG.pde:

                //#define UseBMP

        4. make sure this isn't commented out just below in ArduCopterNG.pde

                #define isRANGEFINDER

        5. if you're using the LV sonar you will need to change this line in ArduCopterNG.pde:

                 AP_RangeFinder_MaxsonarXL  AP_RangeFinder_down;

            to be like this:

                 AP_RangeFinder_MaxsonarLV  AP_RangeFinder_down;

        6. you'll need to reset your EEPROM values or go into the CLI menu and select 'o' and set your Sonar PIDs to 0.8;0.3;0.7

 

     I had to make one change though that affects the existing functionality
... if you're UseBMP (i.e. using baro for altitude hold) it's now
possible to do altitude hold even though you're not doing GPS hold (I.e.
if you don't have a GPS lock).  I think this is ok.

 

     So the Barometer altitude control and sonar altitude control continue
to be quite separate functionality that can't be used at the same time. 
Clearly we need a nice transition from one to the other when you go out
of sonar range.  anyway still, thinking about how to do that.

Arduino 0022 is now out. Mostly bug fixes and optimization. A few additions/improvements of interest to us:

• Fixed EEPROM library on Mega 2560.
• Adding an SD card library based on sdfatlib by Bill Greiman and the MemoryCard library by Philip Lindsay (follower) for SparkFun.
• Building the user sketch before the core or libraries, so errors appear faster.
• Hardware serial receive interrupt optimization.
• Remembering serial monitor window size and line ending selection.
• ....and a bunch of others you can see here

450 tube`s .

the new setup.

the parts are orderd.

Hi Guys,

I received the OpenLRS PCBs and we start to working about firmwares.

This is the Tx module of OpenLRS, It gives 100mw 433mhz RF power and its penetrating behind 5-6 concrete building!, we will test it on flight for range. System can controllable by any PPM signal or over RS232(bidirectional)



This is the Rx of OpenLRS,

It is very small receiver that supporting I2C (for IMUNext) and RS232 Telemetry.  It sends the RSSI level over telemetry and RSSI output (PWM).


And our killer 7W Booster for very long range oneway RC control.

All Atmega328 processors including MegaLoad bootloader for firmware update over rs232. All AVR programmers are welcome.

They will in stocks before 2011.

You can follow the OpenLRS project from here

Cheers and Mary Christmas

Melih

Pretty cool. This Syma gyro-stabilized coax heli is the #1 toy at Amazon this year.

Here's an excellent HBR article about the company behind this toy. I can imagine that in a few years, they could be making autonomous helis, essentially MAVs. These guys have serious hardware skills.

Here's an excerpt:

"In the midst of the [2005] downturn Huang, Syma's vice general manager of product development (and the owner's brother-in-law) took a business trip to Japan and brought home a new model airplane. Intrigued by its
components, he took it apart, wondering if a helicopter made up of
separate, replaceable parts could be economically produced. Three months
later, he and his people had worked it out, and the new model that
resulted became an instant hit. "He saved Syma," Kevin Cheng, Syma's
sales manager told me. "And he saved the whole toy helicopter industry
in Chenhai."

If that's not quite innovation, it's still more than imitation. It's the kind of achievement celebrated by Oded Shenkar in Copycats, involving borrowing and combining inputs from multiple others and integrating them into a distinct, cost-beneficial, and continuously
improved package.

Syma isn't an aggressive new product developer; it prefers to succeed through determined focus. Its team might produce six to eight concepts over the course of 12 months, but the company gets behind just one as its "Product of Year".
Much of its effort goes into continuous improvement of a few existing
series. Take its Apache Attack series, for example. First developed in
2007, it featured three channels of radio control, and a simple body
design. The year 2008 brought details to its appearance, such as wheels
and mini-cannon, and in 2009, a more refined fuselage. This year, a gyro
was added to the main rotor to increase stability in flight.

As testament to its success, Syma, born of imitation, now has many imitators. There are over 40 other companies in Chenghai offering toy helicopters with essentially the same functions, same structure, and
same appearance — some of them even in the same packaging, save for the
logo. "They are waiting at our gate," Cheng told me. "As soon as we
launch a new product, they take it and copy." But he insisted that Syma
is not afraid of the competition. "Our quality control process is strict
and costly," he explained, "and they are not willing to pay for this."

We now have the ability to make the APM boards ourselves, so we can offer the full set of ArduPilotMega gear from the DIY Drones store. APM boards are now in stock (we'll be replenishing supply daily, so check back in a day if the current supply runs out). Starting next week, we'll be offering all-in-one packs of APM electronics.

Note that this is the new 1.4 version of the board, which makes several improvements/changes:

• RC ports are now numbered according to RC convention: 1-8 (rather than the previous board's 0-7)
• Now comes with right-angle connectors for your RC and servos at no extra charge!
• New protection circuitry should make it impossible to blow out a MUX, not matter how wrong you plug in your cables.
• Because of this new protection circuitry, the USB cable will not power the RC/servo rails. You MUST supply the board with its own power (an ESC or other power source) on the benchtop if you want to connect a RC receiver or servos. This is not an issue in an aircraft, where the whole board is powered by the RC connections.
• The onboard regulator was replaced with a better one (more power handling, lower dropout voltage, better heatsinking). If you are supplying power directly from a battery (and removed the SJ1 solder jumper), you should supply between 6 and 9v. A two-cell (7.4v) LiPo will work fine.