Posted by Paul Mather on November 21, 2010 at 8:30pm
It seems that some of the other GCS programs out there don't work so well on small display laptops. I went ahead and made mine go as small as 800X480. At that resolution, there are so few pixels to work with
This screenshot is at the minimum 800X480 - additional "Status" tab appears at this resolution which includes all the waypoint, mode, distance, etc data
This image is closer to 1280X800. You'll see how the instruments have moved around a bit.
I can't say for sure that I'll be able to keep 100% functionality of the GCS at this tiny resolution forever... there just isn't enough room on the tabs.
This could be a good one. Coming to HobbyKing in a few weeks, and sure to be inexpensive. I can only hope the ridiculously chubby looks means lots of interior room!
The QGroundControl dev team is currently hard working on the integration of more autopilots and the 3D outdoor view. In line with these efforts we would like to add more CAD models of airplanes, helicopters and other MAVs to allow users to select a CAD model close to their aircraft.
If you have a CAD file (.step/.stp or .iges or any other common exchange format), please send it to <pixhawk@switched.com>. Please note that the CAD model will be included into the GLP-licensed QGroundControl application. If you send it in, please do not forget to give the name of the model and the real/physical size.
Hilarious. This is why you want live video/telemetry in your planes!
"One of my 1st FPV attempts didn't turn out so well, it was found by some teens whose first thought wasn't to find the rightful owner until they discovered a camera on-board. A couple hours later I recovered the plane with the help of a local garbage collector and here is the edited down version of the video I found recorded after the whole ordeal had ended. "
Posted by James Goppert on November 20, 2010 at 3:16pm
The new ArduPilotMega Mavlink branch with the latest QGroundControl development branch enables the operator to dynamically load waypoints and set gains in flight. To test out the communication we setup a small ground based experiment with an RC Car. No gains were changed from the default ArduPilotMega gains. Also the inertial navigation code was used between GPS updates but the GPS reset the position/ velocity when each GPS packet was received. This led to some oscillations that will be corrected in later tests. The autopilot trim throttle/ steering is set at the beginning of the experiment using the autotrim feature of the ArduPilotMega autopilot system. At the end of the experiment the trim throttle was insufficient off-pavement and led to the end of the test. More experiments to come! We will be testing out the data-logging and in flight gain adjustment.
Below we have included a screenshot of the ground trajectory. We were using a ublox gps. Note that there was significant GPS signal degradation due to the surrounding buildings that led to the trajectory deviations from the flight plan.
Posted by Jason Short on November 20, 2010 at 11:00am
Hey everyone, I just wanted to catch everyone up with the state of the original Ardupilot (not APM!). I'm the only developer currently working on it and could use some help. I recently had a baby boy and between him, work and a small copter side project I've not been able to keep up with the code.
What needs to get done:
Maintain compatibility with the config tool. - don't mess too much with the EEPROM.
Move from our old GPS parsers to the newer and well maintained Libraries.
Add printf and <avr/pgmspace.h> to move Serial.print strings to ROM from RAM.
If possible add in CLI from Mega. (We're running low on ROM!)
Do anything to reduce, clean up code to free up ROM.
Anything else we can do to align, where possible, with Mega.
In the end these should be minor updates. I just can't get to them and flight test them.
Posted by Chris Anderson on November 20, 2010 at 10:02am
This isn't quite DIY, since the Skybotix coax platform costs $5,000 (!), but if you want to run Willow Garage's cool Robot Operating System (ROS), you're going to need some serious computational horsepower, such as an onboard Gumstix linux processor board.
"There seems to be something about Zurich and Micro Air Vechicles, maybe it's the alpine air. This video shows the Skybotix CoaX helicopter being tele-operated through ROS. On the software side of things the CoaX, appears to be running eRos, or something similar, on-board aGumstix processor. It has basic support for running opencv on-board and is capable of transmitting images as a ROS topic. It's not clear how the IMU and optical flow data is made available in ROS, but overall their documentation looks good.
On the hardware side, the CoaX is equipped with both a pressure altimeter, for outdoor use, and a sonar altimeter, for indoor flight. It has two dsPIC microcontrollers, IMU and a Bluetooth or Zigbee radio. Optionally it can be purchased with a Gumstix Overo, WiFi and lateral IR sensors. The 340mm rotor diameter makes it capable of flight through small apertures and it's low center of gravity makes it aerodynamically stable."
As we do every week, I've rolled the latest bug fixes into the current public zip file version of the ArduPilotMega code. It's a good idea to download a fresh version if you haven't used the code for a week or so.
These are just bug fixes. The new features and enhancements are happening in the developer trunk of the SVN repository and should not be used, as they're often untested. They'll be release with the next public version of the code, 1.0 (non beta).
If you've had trouble getting your CLI to work, try downloading the code again, as we've fixed that bug. It's best to delete all your APM files INCLUDING THE LIBRARIES, and load them fresh from the zip file.
A few other updates:
APM boards will be back in stock at Sparkfun on Monday
More magnetometer boards will be in stock at the DIY Drones store early next week.
ArduCopter kits started shipping on Friday, and the first 50 are already out the door. If you pre-ordered one, it will probably be shipped in the next few days.
We've got tons of new products coming! You're going to be amazed ;-)
On Nov 18th at 11:30 AM a member asked the following on the AMA forum:
"If the NPRM happens in June 2011, what happened recently that made AMA say we have to do stuff 'now'? Cause 'now' aint June2011. "
On that same day by 4:00 PM his post was deleted. Why is the AMA afraid to answer a simple question to an issue they themselves raised? Why did they feel the need to delete his question. He had posted several times and his questions as well several other questions by several other members were deleted. This happens all the time over there but I actually documented this one with timed web snapshots. Are they afraid to answer or is there something "strange" going on in Muncie?
Update
Just another Govt Document about the propsed rules. Note they are specifically concerned about "operating recreational remote control model and toy aircraft in the NAS" not sUAS. Quite different concept than other FAA documents that talk about sUASes.
Kinderkram, who did a great ArduCopter build log, now has an equally good build log for "MultiWii", which combines an Arduino dev board with Wii controller gyros and accelerometers to make a cheap and very functional RC quadcopter. Not a full UAV, but a very cool Arduino-based project that looks like a lot of fun to fly.
hey guys, this might be of use to some of you: i've scripted a set of basic instruments in Python that might be of use to some of you. the Youtube clip shows it attached to my UAV project.
for anyone who hasn't used it, Python is a particularly easy to use programming language that is used for all sorts of applications. there are loads of add on libraries to do much of the hard work for you which makes it particularly useful for this sort of rapid development.
Posted by Chris Anderson on November 18, 2010 at 12:14pm
I've never been totally sold on the AR.Drone as a gaming platform (you need two drones, two iPhones and, most importantly, the ability to fly the thing via the laggy first-person-view video feed on the phone, which I find really hard), but credit to the company for making it look cool!
Read more…3D Robotics
Posted by Chris Anderson on November 18, 2010 at 12:09pm
Robots Podcast co-host and researcher Sabine Hauert writes to tell us about a new blog:
"I thought you might be interested to know that the journal "Autonomous Robots" which is very well known in robotics now has a blog:http://www.autonomousrobotsblog.com/
The goal of the Autonomous Robots Blog is to present the latest research published in "Autonomous Robots" in a fresh and interactive manner through reader-friendly summaries and videos. All posts are based on material that is newly published and peer-reviewed.
Our latest post is about quadrotors cooperating to transport objects:
Posted by Chris Anderson on November 17, 2010 at 11:24pm
There's a long article in this month's Unmanned Systems magazine (the official magazine of AUVSI) about hobbyist UAVs and DIY Drones. Here's the PDF, for subscriber/members. For others, images of the article are below (click for full size versions).
Posted by Chris Anderson on November 17, 2010 at 11:00pm
Based in large part on our experience here at DIY Drones, I've written "Ten Rules For Maker Businesses", which has been serialized on the Ponoko blog this week in the lead up to their announcement of adding 3D printing to their service. Here they are (click on each for the full text of each one):
Posted by James Goppert on November 17, 2010 at 9:55pm
ArduPilotMega integration with QGroundControl is finally finished. All of the basic functionality is there although there are some finishing touches that need to be done. I added the ability to set local/global waypoints and also actions (takeoff/land/etc.) to easily integrate with the existing APM autopilot software. A 3d osgearth view inspired from dronegcs is in the works and we hope to have it together soon.
Read more…3D Robotics
Nothing to do with UAVs, but boy is this geeky/cool (from MakeZine):"Matt Thomas of Roger Dodger Aviation (and Maker Faire Kansas City fame) designed and built this Moving Axis AirCraft Simulator, which is a flight simulator that tilts and shifts you as you fly a virtual plane. If you've been thinking about building something similar, you are in luck- along with the device itself, he also recorded a series of tutorial videos on the trials and tribulations of constructing such a device. He writes:
The Moving Axis AirCraft Simulator (MAACS) was our first experimental effort in motion flight simulation. We also delved into virtual reality along the way.
The menu on the right is a series of videos that show how MAACS works. It shows how MAACS was developed, and how we tried different configurations.
...and we tried a lot of stuff. We called this rapid prototyping. Basically, you draw up an idea, then buy a bunch of boards and plywood, bang it together and see what works and what doesn't.
It was a lot of trial and error. It was frustrating and fascinating all at the same time. This is the MAACS series.
