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3D Robotics

UAVs at the Smithsonian

Posted by Chris Anderson on February 27, 2009 at 3:15pm

From BoingBoing: "The Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum has mounted a display of unmanned aerial vehicles, essentially model airplanes outfitted with GPS, microprocessors, and surveillance tech for battlefield reconnaissance. Seen here is a prototype of the 5 pound, 45-inch AeroVironment Dragon Eye. It was launched by hand or slingshot style with a bungee cord. From Smithsonian: Unmanned and remote-controlled aircraft have a surprisingly long history. "The technology that goes into a UAV has been around for 100 years," (museum curator Dik) Daso says, "since before World War I." Henry Ford and other top engineers helped to design both full-size and scale planes that were radio-controlled. The Great War ended before any of them could go into action. Now, Daso adds, "there are so many UAVs in the air, it's hard to keep track of them all..." So why did (Dragon Eye co-developer Rob Colbow) decide to include this duct-taped veteran in the UAV display? "I wanted it for all the kids who, like me, have built things like this." Worth reading the whole thing: Under the Radar with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
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Merging devices: ArduPilot + OSD

Posted by Michal on February 27, 2009 at 5:46am
I am happy user of OSD by Remzibi and ArduPilot (though Ardu not tested yet).OSD comes with MTK 5Hz 5V GPS. Info about this GPS here.It would be very nice to have both devices sharing GPS. They should be set to 9600 and require additional cable. Both masses should be connected and signal cable should be plugged into GPS, OSD and ArduPilot via servo cable. I managed to get fix with blue LOCK LED. The example of working OSD:
.Next task is to connect software GPS emulator that comes with OSD to ArduPilot via OTI cable. Despite it is able to generate pure NMEA code, the fix LED in ArduPilot remain unlit now.I would like to test ArduPilot with this emulator and then make some trials with real models.Best regardsMichal
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3Ch plane, why not?

Posted by Roberto on February 26, 2009 at 4:00pm
The question is simple: why spend money on 4Ch plane, Co-Pilot & co??I want to try to setting up a 3Ch plane with ArduPilot, somebody have any experience?I choose the Multiplex EasyCub, 1400mm wing span.

2008070412050466965_easycub.jpg

Maybe I will use a yaw gyro to fix unwanted roll.
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Hexarotor, folding multirotor helicopter

Posted by jlcortex on February 26, 2009 at 2:00am

It is a folding 6 rotor helicopter, inspired in X6 helicopter.i would like to build in polyethylene technical plastic, it is light, shock resistant and easy to work with my cnc mill.propellers are in a circle of 500mm diameter, i think best option in order to use standard RC parts is to use 6 x 12" counter rotating propellers.3 (counter rotating) propeller of 12" have an 8% more surface than 4 propellers of 10" (like typical quadrotors)Probably 14" propellers are better in order to get more performance but i think is not possible to find very low Kv motors with the necessary low power and low weight.Any idea are welcome!jlcortexnmine.com

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3D Robotics

Getting ready for ArduPilot 2.0

Posted by Chris Anderson on February 25, 2009 at 11:00pm

ArduPilot 2.0 uses the same hardware as ArduPilot 1.0 but new software to do both the navigation and stabilization functions itself, with no need for a FMA Co-Pilot (although we still use the FMA XY sensor). Here's how to directly connect the FMA sensor to ArduPilot. [Note if you're buying the FMA XY sensor by itself, you'll need to order a cable, too. Also, note that the sensors come from FMA with a thin film (usually red) over the thermopile lenses. You have to remove the film before using them.] Cut one of the cables that comes with the FMA sensor in half and pull the four wires apart for about two inches. Strip their ends by about a quarter of an inch. Slip on heat shrink tubing. If you have some red tubing, put it on the second wire in from the side of the cable with the red strip, to mark the positive power cable (yes, that's confusing. V+ isn't the wire with the red strip--it's the wire next to it!). Now solder each pair of wires to a two-pin male machine pin header, and shrink the tubing around them. (See photo above). Now, solder on one two-hole female machine pin header to the ArduPilot board in the VCC and GND holes, and another one in holes Analog 0 and 1, as shown in the diagram below. You can see the FMA sensor pin-out details here. Finally, solder a regular two-pin header on the ArduPilot's D6 and D7 holes. This is to place a jumper on when you're doing IR calibration the first time on the ground.

Note that in this version of ArduPilot, we do altitude control with the elevator, not the throttle, so plug in your servos as shown in the diagram below:

You can test your sensor by downloading and running this simple test program. Just load it on ArduPilot (make sure the board is powered and the GPS is not connected). With the FTDI cable connected, click on the serial monitor icon in Arduino and make sure the speed is set for 9600. The program will prompt you to tilt the sensor in certain directions and then strike any key and hit return when you're ready to take the X and Y sensor readings. Remember that sensor readings inside and near heat sources (like your hand) are nothing like the real thing outside. But it's still a good way to confirm that your sensor is working right. Note that when you mount the sensor on your aircraft, the wire should be coming out towards the tail, as shown in the picture of an EasyStar configuration below (you don't need to put it on a pod like that--any position that has a relatively unubstructed view of all four sides is fine). The "P"s on the sensor should be facing forwards and towards the rear, with the one next to the FMA logo in front.

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Bidireccional RC transmitter with ARM7, Xbee PRO, Bluetooth and a PDA.

Posted by jlcortex on February 25, 2009 at 11:30am

Hi,I am working in this project, it is a bidireccional RC transmitter.Sometimes, i think than conventional transmitters start to have no sense for uav projectsThis is a proyect with a small board with ARM7 (NXP LPC2xxx) and a Xbee PRO with 60 mW (similar performance than standard transmitter) and a Bluetooth module to connect with a PDA.This board have 9 analog inputs for joysticks, and other controls, battery voltage..., it try to be a whole solution with charger connector for charge transmitter battery and PDA battery...We are working in a graph tool in order to show flight instruments in PDA.jlcortex

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UAV Playground - NMEA to KML

Posted by jaron on February 25, 2009 at 12:30am

This blog post is an addition to the UAV Playground project blog. It shows you how to program a very simple UAV Playground application that provides Google Earth with some KML data it receives as NMEA data from FlightGear.[The poor formatting of the code sections is unintended]DownloadUAVplayground-KMLPorvider.zipSource code (ProvideKML.java)
import java.applet.Applet;import jaron.flightgear.FlightGearNMEAReceiver;import jaron.google.GoogleEarthKMLProvider; public class ProvideKML extends Applet {  FlightGearNMEAReceiver receiver;  GoogleEarthKMLProvider provider;  public void init() {    receiver = new FlightGearNMEAReceiver();    provider = new GoogleEarthKMLProvider();    receiver.addTrackpointListener(provider);  }}
Google Earth KML file (Start-GoogleEarth-Tracking.kml)
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><kml xmlns="http://earth.google.com/kml/2.1">  <NetworkLink>    <name>UAV Playground Network Link</name>    <Link>      <href>http://127.0.0.1:8080/</href&gt;      <refreshMode>onInterval</refreshMode>      <refreshInterval>2</refreshInterval>    </Link>  </NetworkLink></kml>
FlightGear startup file (Start-FlightGear-NMEA.bat)
"%PROGRAMFILES%\FlightGear\bin\Win32\fgfs" ^  "--fg-root=%PROGRAMFILES%\FlightGear\data" ^  "--nmea=socket,out,0.5,127.0.0.1,5557,tcp"
Start the application- Start the Java application as an Applet- Start FlightGear with the above batch file- Start Google Earth by double-clicking on the above KML file or just open the file in Google EarthTo navigate to the track In Google Earth double-click on Places -> Temporary Places -> UAV Playground Network Link -> Tracks -> GPS Tracks.
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Easy Star flight test with ArduPilot

Posted by Jason on February 24, 2009 at 4:09pm
Today was the first flight test of my upgraded Easy Star with the ArduPilot installed. I encountered a few problems that will take some more tests to diagnose. Would appreciate any comments.Here is the setup:-Easy Star with the aileron conversion as documented in this RCgroups posting.-FMA Co-Pilot-Towerhobbies 72Mhz 8 channel RX and Tower Hobbies 6XM TX.-EM-406A GPS-ArduPilot with the latest code (22 Feb I think) set to RTL.Previously I tested the Easy Star with ailerons and the FMA Co-pilot and found the performance to be rock solid. The only addition to today's flight was the ArduPilot and GPS. Take off was uneventful and I waited until reaching about 200 feet with the plane flying directly away from me to switch on the Ardupilot. I encountered two problems that I believe are likely unrelated.Problem 1: Shortly after switching on the ArduPilot, the plane started flying erratically, the throttle and all control surfaces moving in an uncoordinated and erratic fashion. I switched the ArduPilot off and was able to recover the plane. A little more testing showed that he plane behaved similarly, even with the ArduPilot MUX switched off. The plane essentially behaved as if someone was on the same channel and/or general radio interference. There was only one other flier at the field (that I could see, its a big park) and they were on 2.4ghz.Possible Solution: Move the Ardupilot and GPS as far from the RX and ESC as possible. If that doesn't work, try another RX, possibly a Berg.Problem 2: During the brief intervals where I was not experiencing this interference, I switched on the ArduPilot. The throttle behaved as expected and maintained altitude. It seemed like the plane was turning towards the launch point, but so slowly that I had to switch off the ardupilot and bring it back manually or it would have flow out of visual range. Again I didn't get to test this much as the interference problem was popping up frequently.Possible Solution: Even though I have enlarged the rudder on the Easy Star, when the FMA Co-Pilot is on and I try to turn the plane with rudder only, it takes almost full rudder deflection to make a reasonable turn. I believe there is a setting in the ArduPilot code to turn up the gain on the rudder which may solve this problem.Would appreciate any comments if it looks like I missed something.
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3D Robotics

More housekeeping: new Forum and Blogs tabs

Posted by Chris Anderson on February 24, 2009 at 9:35am
I've finally gone through all the discussion on this site and categorized them so they can be more easily usable. You can see all the categories and the discussions in them by clicking on the "Forum" tab at the top. Please remember to select an appropriate category when you post a new forum topic. As for blog posts, they operate a different way, using multiple tags rather than categories. So please add tags to your blog posts, so people can find them! I've also added a Blogs tab at the top, so you can see all blog posts, as well as them sorted by date and tags.
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3D Robotics

Switching your ArduPilot power to a separate battery

Posted by Chris Anderson on February 22, 2009 at 8:00pm
ArduPilot has a built-in power regulator, so you can power it from a separate battery at anything from 5-15v. To do this, you have switch the solder jumper from the default RC power to battery power. This means unsoldering the solder jumper that the board ships with and resoldering it on the other side. These pictures show the difference (apologies from my crappy soldering on the second one):

One thing to keep in mind if you make this change: Unlike the standard setting, if you use BATT input it will only power the ArduPilot board; it will not power your RC receiver or servos. They must have their own power supply, such as a receiver battery pack or ESC for an electric plane. This is designed for people who fly gas planes (no ESC) and want the RC system on a separate power circuit so the autopilot can't drain that battery. If, however, you want to to power both the RC system and the ArduPilot board from the same source, leave the board in its default setting and connect the battery straight to the RC receiver; the receiver will then power the ArduPilot board.
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T3

roll-pitch demo firmware for the UAV DevBoard

Posted by William Premerlani on February 22, 2009 at 4:00pm
For those of you who bought a UAV DevBoard and who also live some place too cold to fly yet, I just finished a "roll-pitch-yaw demo" that you can use to show off your board. Firmware, documentation, and more details are available in a discussion of a direction cosine matrix estimator.Also, here is the firmware and documentation.The demo is rather impressive. It is a milestone in the project that I am presently working on with Paul Bizard. It uses mostly gyro information to compute the direction cosine matrix that specifies the relative orientation of two cartesian coordinate systems. In the demo, the cosines of the angles between the axes of the board and the vertical ground axis are output to 3 servos. Roll-pitch performance is smooth, accurate, and drift-free.The demo is fun and easy to run, does not require a GPS radio, does not require you to go outside, and will impress your friends.Bill Premerlani
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3D Robotics

Reloading the Arduino bootloader

Posted by Chris Anderson on February 21, 2009 at 9:00pm
If at any point you've managed to crash the ArduPilot code so badly that you've nuked the bootloader, don't worry: you can reload it. You'll need an AVR programmer. The best way to reload the bootloader is with the Arduino IDE, which is pretty straightforward. Just plug in your AVR programmer and select Burn Bootloader/ w/ AVRISP mk II. If you've already loaded AVR Studio, you may get an error in Arduino that says it can't find the USB. That's because of a driver conflict with the AVR Studio driver. Follow this workaround to reload the correct driver. It is also possible to load the bootloader with AVR Studio. Follow these instructions.
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3D Robotics

ArduPilot GPS lock bug fixed

Posted by Chris Anderson on February 21, 2009 at 5:00pm
Thanks to Rusty's detective work, I think we've fixed the GPS lock bug (the blue LED was turning off even when the module was showing valid data). New code is here. (Basically every instance of "if (fix_position == 0x01) ..." should have been "if (fix_position >= 0x01)..." It turns out that there are three valid fix values: 1,2 and 3. See the datasheet for more.)
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3D Robotics

Arduino 13 bootloading hint

Posted by Chris Anderson on February 21, 2009 at 9:18am
If you're having trouble flashing the ArduPilot code with Arduino 13, try upgrading the bootloader on ArduPilot to the latest version. You can do it with your AVR programmer in the Arduino IDE or use AVR Studio to program the board with the ATmegaBOOT_168_diecimila.hex file found in the Arduino folder hardware/bootloaders. I was having that problem and this fixed it for me.
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Can Ardupilot use magnetic heading vice GPS

Posted by Payne Kilbourn on February 19, 2009 at 10:32am
I am interested in using the ArduPilot on an autonomous surface marine vehicle to control the rudder. The vehicle control system is predicated on having the vehicle's bow (front) pointed in a steady direction; not on having the vehicle make a specific course over the ground. The vehicle has a flux-gate electronic magnetic compass that provides NMEA data on heading. What would be required to modify the code to replace the GPS heading with heading from the compass?Thanks
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First screen shot from the ground station software in c++

Posted by Viper UAV Project on February 19, 2009 at 9:00am
Hi this is the first picture of the ground station software i write for my xbee remote.I got the horizon done, but to the lack of missing imu yet , i can only test it via keys, whats not so nice.

The compass works already with the gps data, and also indicates with the green ball where the copter is goinging in the moment. and i als want to incorporate the field of view of the cam so you see in the compass where your camm looks.Beside that , this is the data i recive from the xbee propeller setup its 70 bytes due to the high number of floats i have.but i think its possible to trick a bit with some and pack them in a byte.And i send 8 bytes to it to control the copter.But i think i have to go with hardware serial sync to get a bit better and faster rates. 30 fps is right now the maxwith this much data, on loss rate of 0.01%With the horizon i want to make a second screen where it will be a bit bigger and have instead of the blue an orange back round live video feed. like in a real HUD.More to come.. soon
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3D Robotics

Update on ArduPilot code--final NMEA release

Posted by Chris Anderson on February 18, 2009 at 9:25pm
Jordi has been flight testing ArduPilot all week and we've got a raft of new code to share over the next week and an exciting new dimension of ArduPilot to reveal. First, today's installment: an updated version of the standard ArduPilot code, with PID loops improved and some bugs caught. You can find the code here. This is the last version of ArduPilot that we will be releasing with a NMEA parser. Although NMEA allows you to use any GPS module with ArduPilot, it's inefficient and ultimately limiting in accuracy and reliability. Going forward we will be supporting SirfIII binary mode with the EM406 (if you have one, there's nothing you need to do to switch to that mode; the code will do it for you) and the Ublox 5Hz modules. Everyone with the recommended combo of ArduPilot and EM406 are fine. Those of you with other GPS modules are also fine for now, in that this is the latest and greatest code for this version of ArduPilot, but you won't be able to migrate with us to the next version. (Although you can always tweak our code for your own GPS if you want). All this is the lead-up to the next release, in a few days: ArduPilot with built-in stabilization and navigation, flying great in a plane you may recognize ;-) More later..
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UAV Project Update - February

Posted by Jeremy on February 18, 2009 at 12:12pm
This is the second post I have made that is an update to my initial project design to make my fully autonomous aircraft. Our team has made a fair amount of decision making sense my previous post. Just for reference, the official name of our project is now "FlySpy".Airplane Selection:We have chosen the Easy Glider Pro from multiplex. Although it does not have as much internal space as the Easy Star, we fell that ailerons were a must for our application which Easy Star doesn't have. We have completely assembled the airplane and have flown it once. (No one on our team has experience flying RC Airplanes so we have an official pilot from a local UAV Imaging company. It would be nice for someone on our team to have experience flying but we do not want to use our project as a test dummy.) We are using the Power Pack and Servo pack that are made for the Easy Glider Pro. The motor seems beefy enough to support a flight with our components added to its weight so we do not intend on buying a bigger one.Battery : EVOLITE Li-Po 7.4V 2500mAh BatteryAutopilot Module Component Selection:Microcontroller - Microchip PIC24FJ256GA1103 Axis Accelerometer - Analog Devices ADCL3302 Axis Gyro - InvenSense IDG 300Barometer - VTI Technologies SCP 1000Range Finder - LV-MaxSonar-EZ1 Sonar Range FinderGPS Module - uBlox LEA-4P and getting Sarantel SL 1201 (Geohelix P2)SD Card Slot - TBDI have obtained a Niko Cool Pix s7c from a friend to use as an onboard camera. I am still working on decoding its push button pins so our Micro can turn it on/off and control the shutter.Topics we are contemplating:Powering Autopilot Devices - Everything that we are using runs off a 3.3V Vdd. We are uncertain if it would be okay to use the power rail coming out of the speed controller and sending it to a voltage regulator. We estimate our devices drawing about 157mA when everything is operating. Is this the usual solution or do we need to run off of two battery sources?Gyro & Accelerometer Data - I am still in the process of researching what are the best algorithms to fuse the data between the gyro and accelerometer to get a good orientation reading.If you are interested in looking at our progress, you can always look at our team website. Or if you want to go more in detail about my day to day discovery, you can look at my notebook.
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