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3D Robotics

ArduPilot Assembly Instructions

Posted by Chris Anderson on November 26, 2008 at 9:30pm
Welcome to ArduPilot! Here's how to compete your new board: You should have received the basic ArduPilot board with all surface-mount components already soldered and the essential firmware already loaded on the chips. All you've got to do now is to solder on some connectors and load the autopilot software. For this first part of that you'll need a strip of breakaway headers, and three female-to-female servo connectors. You'll also need an FTDI cable if you don't already have one. The first thing to do is to solder on the connectors. Many of the holes on the board are for optional upgrades, such as sensors and additional RC channels, but for the basic board you only need to solder on three breakaway connectors. From your strip, use a pair of pliers or a snipper to cut off two 3-pin segments and one eight-pin segment.

First, solder the two 3-pin headers and the one 8-pin header in the circled holes above. The long side of the headers should be on the side with the chips. The easiest way to do this is to place all the pins in the holes, then place a pad of paper on top of the pins. Holding the board and the pad, turn them over so the board is on top of the pad, with the pin nubs showing through the board. Then solder just on pin in each segment. Turn the board over again and make sure the connectors are straight (if they aren't remelt the solder joint on the one that's tilting and finger-push it upright...make sure you're not touching the pin you're heating!). If they're all straight, solder the rest of the pins.

Next, we'll solder on the RC inputs. You can either use three more 3-pin headers in the holes circled in red above (in which case, you'll need female-to-female cables to connect to your RC receiver), or make and use "pigtails" instead, which is one less connector to potentially fall off. If you want to make the pigtails, cut two 12" female-to-female connectors in half, and split the wires on each end down about a half of an inch. Strip the insulation of each about 1/8th of an inch in. Now we're going to solder them in in the three sets of holes marked in red above. Black goes on the outside. This is a bit of a fiddly soldering job and it's easier with a helping hand. If you'll be using the ArduPilot 2.0 or above code, you'll need to add a few more connectors for sensors and a calibration jumper. Solder a five-hole female machine pin header strip in the five holes marked in blue at the top in the picture above. Then solder a regular two-pin header in the holes marked in blue at the bottom. [Note: the board comes from the factory set up to get power from your RC system. If you want to power the board from a separate power source, you can do so--the board has a built-in power regulator that can take power from 5v-15v. Instructions to make that change are here.] Now the basic hardware is complete. It should look like the below (connectors just used in ArduPilot 2.0 and up are marked in blue):

If you are making an ArduPilot 2.0 or above, you must now connect the FMA sensor to the ArduPilot board. Instructions for doing that are here. Now it's time to connect everything, plugging your female-to-female cables (or pigtails) into your RC receiver. CTRL should go to channel 5 or 6 (whichever has a toggle switch; if you're using ArduPilot 1.0 the other channel, which should have a knob, will be used to control the FMA Co-Pilot). For ArduPilot 1.0: Input 1 should go to your receiver's Channel 3 (throttle) and Input 2 should go to Channel 4 (rudder). Then plug your ESC (motor speed controller) in the ArduPilot Out 1 and the rudder servo into ArduPilot Out 2. Here's a diagram that shows all the components and how they should be connected (Rx is your RC receiver and ESC is your electronic speed controller):

Here's what ArduPilot 1.0 looks like in real life:

ArduPilot 2.0 and above: Input 1 should go to your receiver's Channel 1 (aileron) and Input 2 should go to Channel 2 (elevator). If you've got a three-channel plane like an EasyStar, connect the rudder servo to Out 1. For a four-channel plane with ailerons, connect the aileron servo to Out 1 (the rudder, which ArduPilot doesn't use in this configuration, can remain connected to your RC receiver for manual use). The elevator servo should be connected to Out 2, as shown below. Throttle is connected directly to the RC receiver; it is not used by ArduPilot in this configuration. Here's a diagram that shows the whole setup:

Software Now it's time to load the software. Download and install the latest version of Arduino, if you don't already have it. First, it's best to run some test code to ensure your board is set up properly. Dowload "ArduPilotNE" from our Google Code repository. This code just flies the plane in the NorthEast direction, so you can test it in the air, but for now, let's just test it on the ground by walking around with the autopilot on and GPS locked and watching the rudder move, as shown in this video: To load this code, power on the board by plugging your ESC into a battery or using some other 5v power source (do not attempt to just power the board with the FTDI cable. We did not connect the power pins on the FTDI port to the processor to avoid power conflict when the board is powered by the Rx and you're using the FTDI as a serial monitor). The red power LED should go on. Now plug your FTDI cable into the board (with the black wire or, in the case of the Sparkfun board, the GND pin on the side marked "BLK") and plug it into your computer's USB port. Here's what the Sparkfun FTDI board looks like when it's plugged in properly:

Then in the Arduino software in the "Tools" menu make sure you've selected the right serial port (the FTDI cable will create a new one, which is probably port 5 or higher). Also ensure that the board selected is "Arduino Diecemila or Arduino Duemilanove w/ATmega168" if you have one of the older 168-based boards, or .Arduino Duemilanove w/ATmega328" if you have the newer 328-based boards. At this point unplug your GPS module if it was plugged in. The Arduino code will not load if the GPS module is attached, because they share the same serial port. Once you've uploaded the code, you can plug your GPS module back in. Please remember this in the future as you're uploading code: you must ALWAYS unplug the GPS first. Load the ArduPilot "sketchfile", ardupilot.pde, which will load the rest of files in tabs. Now press the "Upload to I/O board" icon (the little arrow point to the right). Nothing should happen for about 30 seconds, and then at the bottom the software should report that the sketch was successfully uploaded by reporting "Done uploading" and reporting the Sketch size. If not, check out the Arduino debugging tips here. [Note: if you're still having trouble, you can upload the code with AVR Studio using the AVRISP2 programmer. Just connect to the Atmega168 chip following these direction, and program it with the ardupilot.hex file that Arduino creates in your ArduPilot folder's Applet subfolder.] Now you can disconnect the FTDI cable, reconnnect the GPS module and do the ground test as shown above. For this one, use the ArduPilot 1.0 connections: connect the throttle channel (Rx channel 3) to ArduPilot's Input 1 and the rudder channel (channel 4 from the Rx) to ArduPilot's Input 2. The toggle channel (Rx channel 5) should go to the ArduPilot's CTRL input. The ESC should go to Out 1 (you can disconnect your motor from the ESC, since you'll be testing this on the ground) and the rudder servo should go to Out 2. If your rudder servo is reversed (it would turn the plane in the opposite direction from that required to go NorthEast), look in the first tab of the code and change the number to 0: #define reverse_yaw 1 // normal = 0 and reverse = 1 [NOTE: If for some reason you have run the ArduPilot 2.x code first--naughty! follow the instructions!--the NE mode code won't work. That's because the 2.x code programs the GPS module into binary mode, while the NE code requires NMEA mode. All is not lost, however. If you let the GPS sit without power for a week or so, the internal capacitor will run down and it will return to its default NMEA mode and you can use the NE code again.] If everything checks out, you can now run the full autopilot. Download the latest ArduPilot code (1.x or 2.x, depending on which hardware configuration you want to use), which can always be found on the ArduPilot home page. Repeat the loading process as above. Congratulations! You have a functioning autopilot. You can now plug the GPS module back in and test the basics by toggling your enable channel (5 or 6, whichever you've connected) and confirming that the "MUX" status LED turns on and off. If you're using ArduPilot 2.0 and above, you now you need to go through the initial setup process for the GPS and/or sensors (depending on which version of ArduPilot you're using). Instructions for that are here. For version 1.0, there is no setup process. When the autopilot is enabled, it should move the rudder servo a few degrees in one direction on its own (it is doesn't, you may have reversed your channels--make sure that throttle is in Output 1 and rudder is Output 2). Also, if you're outside or near a window, your EM406 GPS should get a lock after a minute or two. When the LED starts blinking on the GPS module, a blue LED ("Lock") should light up on the ArduPilot board to indicate sat lock. A table showing all correct LED displays in each ArduPilot mode is here. Next, you can learn about using Arduino to set up an autonomous flight here.
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3D Robotics

Setting up ArduPilot for autonomous flight

Posted by Chris Anderson on November 26, 2008 at 5:00pm
ArduPilot has two modes: programmed waypoints and return-to-launch (RTL). In the first one, you enter in GPS Latitude and Longitude coordinates of your waypoints into the code with the Arduino IDE. In the second, you don't enter in any waypoints and the aircraft just returns to the Lat/Lon it was at when you first powered on the board (at your launch location). I fyou're using ArudPilot 2.1 or above, you can set it up with a desktop utility, as described here. If you're using 1.0 to 2.0.1, you need to do it by hand. Here's the process: 1) Go into Google Maps, satellite view, and right click on the location you want to be your waypoint. Select "Center map here", then click on the "link" icon in the top right corner. You'll see a URL come up, which contains your Lat and Lon. Copy each one and past them the "wp-lat" and "wp_lon" declaration for that waypoint in the Mission Setup tab of the ArduPilot code. Continue until you've got all the waypoints. Add as many waypoints as you want, but remember to set the "waypoints" definition in the first tab to the number of waypoints you're using. [Again, this will all get easier and more intuitive in the next version of the code] The altitude is relative to the initial launch position, not above sea level. So if your airfield is 500 meters above sea level and you enter "500" as the waypoint altitude, the plane will fly at 1,000 meters above sea level (but just 500 meters above you). 2) If you just want to have ArduPilot Return To Launch, then go to the first tab in the code and look for "#define RTL 0". This is the RTL flag. Set it to 1 if you want the plane to just RTL, or 0 if you want it to follow the waypoints in the Mission Setup tab. Once you've got the waypoints and settings the way you want them, upload the code to the board. Unplug the GPS module if it was connected, plug in the FTDI cable and click on the upload to I/O board icon on the Arduino IDE. Once it's uploaded, you can reconnect the GPS module. 3) Now it's time to set up your FMA Co-Pilot. Follow the setup instructions that came with it. At the airfield, calibrated it and fly a bit to get a feel for how much gain to give it (using your proportional control on the transmitter). Once it's stable, try turning on the Co-Pilot and then turning the plane using just the rudder. It should "skid" around turns with a bit of rocking as the Co-Pilot tries to keep the wings level as the rudder yaws the plane. What you're doing is manually testing what the ArduPilot will do under autonomous control. 4) Once that is set up, it's time to try an autonomous flight. Take off manually, and get to the altitude you want to run the course at. Turn on the FMA co-pilot and ensure that it's working. Now flip the ArduPilot control switch (your channel 5 or 6 toggle, depending on how you've set it up.) The aircraft should navigate to the first waypoint. If anything seems to be going wrong, remember that you can always override the the FMA Co-Pilot with your aileron and elevator sticks. Even if ArduPilot has done something very wrong with the rudder and throttle, you should be above to regain control and bring the aircraft back to you. Once the aircraft is back in control, turn the autopilot off and you will regain control of the rudder and throttle so you can land and diagnose the problem.
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3D Robotics

BlimpDuino debugging tips

Posted by Chris Anderson on November 24, 2008 at 3:39pm

Just a quick note for those building BlimpDuino boards from scratch and running into issues: First, the instruction on how to load the bootloader, etc, are here. If you're still having trouble and suspect a bad solder or dead component, here are Jordi's debugging tips: 1-Check if you have power... if you don't get 5 volts in the whole bus, maybe you have a defective component, make sure you have soldered the C4 100uf capacitor well, if not, maybe you burned the atmega.. Also change the power regulator 7805... 2-If you have power, maybe is a bad solder atmega and is moving around making false contact, try to re-solder the pins. 3-In case all the pins are well soldered, and you have power in all the power inputs of the atmega, maybe is a defective atmega168.. Could happen if you discharge static electricity, or from factory.... 4-Now if the power regulator is not working, and you want to know if the atmega is burned, try to connect a 5 volts battery (like the red ones included in the futaba receiver) into the servos inputs, be very careful with the polarity, the ground is located on the outside of the board... then see if the atmega is working.... (try with the FTDI or ISCP and upload something or read the fuses)...
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My first EasyStar RC flights- with GPS too!

Posted by Pat on November 23, 2008 at 10:32pm

Like many others, I have been mildly obsessed with the thought of building my own autonomous aircraft for some time now, and DIY Drones has been a wonderful inspiration. It helped convince me to purchase an EasyStar a year ago, but due to other activities in my life, it sat collecting dust in its box until 2 weeks ago when I finally began to assemble it. Well, I finished it last Thursday and had a coworker help with its maiden flight to ensure that all was well. I am flying with a 1500 mAh LiPO battery, so it was tail heavy and we needed to add some ballast to the nose. Fortunately, I had my Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS watch with me, which we turned on and placed in the cockpit. It did the trick for ballast, but the recording was less than ideal.Saturday morning came around, and it was time for my first flight of the Easy Star! The only plane I had previously flown was 2 channel Firebird Commander 2 from Hobbyzone, and I had serious butterlies since I was now moving up to a "real plane"! I learned from the maiden flight that the GPS watch should be set to record data every second instead of at automatic intervals, so with this correction in place, I hand launched the plane into the beautiful 60 degree air and slowly felt my butterflies disappear as I gained confidence in flying the plane. All in all, I was out there flying for nearly an hour on that single battery charge, and according to my recorded flight details, about 40 minutes was actually spent in the air. I have to say that everyone who has claimed tha the EasyStar is a wonderful flyer was right on the money! Not only was it money well spent, but I can't wait to outfit it further with aerial photography add-ons and finally with the ArduPilot!But back to the GPS! Once I got home, I uploaded all the flights to Garmin's MotionBased website where you can play back animations of the recorded paths. Check out the final flight of the day, which consisted primarily of unpowered gliding after the battery voltage got too low. Be sure to choose Satellite and Large within the Google map frame, select the playback speed to be 0.5x or 1.0 x, and hit the Play button!

And if that isn't enough, I was able to export the path to a KML file for 3D viewing in Google Earth! There were two tricks to get this to work properly. First, the MB Gravity Elevation Correction had to be disabled as part of the Activity Options within the MotionBased website. Otherwise, it uses a digital elevation model to estimate the elevation assuming that you are running or biking and would never be 200 feet off the ground! Second, in Google Earth, I had to set the Altitude Property for the path to be Absolute, so that it would be projected in 3D above the Earth. Now I want to figure out how to use the built in flight simulator to fly the path!Sure I don't have an autonomous plane yet, but I already have a successfully flying platform and have performed beautiful navigation recordings, and that's an encouraging start!
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3D Robotics

Coast Guard Academy course built around BlimpDuino!

Posted by Chris Anderson on November 23, 2008 at 5:03pm

This year the Coast Guard Academy's mechanical engineering department build a course around BlimpDuino, both to teach the students about aerial robotics and to help us beta test the blimp. The course was designed to help develop an aerial robotics contest and the students built several of the blimps, programmed them and are experimenting with different contest ideas. The course is led by Captain Vince Wilczynski, who is active in the FIRST robotics competition. This is awesome stuff--I wish I could have taken a class like this when I was in college! They've got the course wiki open here. Here are two particularly interesting/useful documents: The controls class just started, and here's their assignment: MCDS- Fall 2008 – Project Part 1 –Modeling Given: The BlimpDuino prototype is a small UAV designed for college robotics competitions. It employs PID altitude control using a microcontroller, ultrasonic sensor, and a thrust vectoring system consisting of two small DC motors with propellers and a servomotor. A 7 VDC battery supplies power to all components. Find: Develop a mathematical model for the altitude. Our model will differ from the physical system based on our assumptions. The actual system is nonlinear (as is life!), however we will attempt to approximate it as linear. To successfully model the system, and verify that model, we must apply concepts covered in MCDS and EMFTS. You will need to make several assumptions and decisions, so clearly describe your work using homework format. You may collaborate but all documents, including codes and plots, must be your own. In parts 2 and 3 you will apply P and PID control algorithms to this system. In part 4 we will alter the system gains to observe the system behavior. a) Sketch the system to show how components interact. List parameters and assumptions regarding size, weight, etc. I will walk through this with you when we introduce the project, so ask questions. b) Make a general block diagram of the system. Your diagram will identify key transfer functions, some which may not be defined yet. Your diagram will include A/D converters to account for the microcontroller. Let the ordered altitude be yr(t) and the actual altitude y(t). Include a disturbance representing the velocity of an air current directed in the direction of gravity, wd(t). A transfer function should be included to develop the force fd(t) resulting from the wind. c) Include a paragraph or two describing how the system components work together during operation. d) Develop the transfer function describing the sensor. This is a math model describing how the sensor “converts” the altitude, y(t), to a voltage, vA(t). Use the sensor background information. If this is not sufficient conduct experiments to develop a plot of y(t) vs vA(t). Use this plot to develop a gain. The current prototype sensor sends a PWM signal instead of a proportional voltage, however we will assume it operates in the latter mode to simplify our model. e) Develop the transfer function describing the conversion of sensor voltage to altitude. This is the algorithm used by the microcontroller to determine Y so it can be subtracted from Yr to get the error. f) Develop the transfer function describing the actuator. This is a math model describing how the actuator converts the command voltage Vm to a thrust force FT. Depending on your assumptions this will result in a simple gain or a transfer function of higher order. The actual prototype controls altitude by altering the position of the thrusters, not the magnitude of the thrust. This is a subtle, yet important, difference which makes the system nonlinear. Therefore we will assume the motors are stationary and can operate in forward or reverse. Here are two ways to approach this model. You should address both, choosing the results of one method as your preferred model: 1. Test the device. Conduct experiments and develop a plot of vm vs FT. Linearize your plot to develop a gain relating the parameters. 2. Determine analytically. Use what you know about Physics to develop a relationship relating the input voltage to the propeller thrust. g) Develop the transfer function describing the blimp dynamics (your “plant”). This is a math model describing how the blimp reacts to the input forces, fT and fd , to achieve some altitude. Consider drag and friction, weight, buoyancy, and “added mass”. Drag and friction are difficult to determine, and will result in a nonlinear model, so we will need to linearize it. Here are two ways to approach drag. You should address both, choosing the results of one method as your preferred model: 1. Test the device. Conduct experiments and develop a plot of drag vs. velocity. Linearize your plot to develop a gain which will relate the parameters. You can also find the total mass this way. 2. Determine analytically. Use Physics to develop a relationship relating the drag to the velocity. Remember you will need to linearize this for your model. Ref [1] below may be useful here. h) Redraw your block diagram with your chosen transfer functions included.
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extreme navigation 4 U

Posted by Jack Crossfire on November 21, 2008 at 10:30am
That's some extreme autonomous navigation. Forget about asking The Goog how it works or why anyone would bother launching a rocket sideways. We can only guess the 90 deg turn is to save space. There are probably some 1000000 deg/sec gyros in there. Maybe it's Attopilot 1.9.
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6-legged walking roboter

Posted by quix-fz on November 21, 2008 at 8:30am

slightly offtopic, but the servo-interface might be of interest to some people. here's my 6 legged walking roboter. there are 3 servos for every leg.

these are connected to two 4017 ic's (10 servos max each) and these are connected to the two timer-1-compare-outputs (pin 9 and 10) on the arduino. since i'm using the timer1 and interupts, the whole thing barely uses any cpu power. and you can still use the timer1-capture-input to read ppm from the receiver in parallel.regarding cpu usage. i got my prototype-uav running (big breadboard in the background of the photos) with 640Hz sample and update rate, with accelerator-sensor, pressure-sensor, 3-gyros, 10 servo output, ppm input and decoding, gps input and serial display output (had to add buffering to the Serial-library of arduino, but works :) ). the pcb is also on the way :-Dthe 4017 are really easy to work with. if there's interest, i can post the schematic and sourcecode.
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New Refrigerated Liquid Hydrogen Powered Search & Rescue UAV

Posted by Gary Thomas on November 18, 2008 at 4:49pm
I live in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. I'm a former Air Force C141 jet cargo plane mechanic. My trade is Auto Mechanics with a very special focus on Electric and Alternative Fuel Vehicles.

Could I interest anyone in your DIY Drones group in a new liquid hydrogen, electric motor & fuel cell powered " flying - wing blimp ", sailplane, cargo plane, helicopter or 4 rotor hovercraft?

The " KAIST " college research program over in Korea has got a " flying wing " UAV drone that's capable of over 10 hours flight time using just 500g of refrigerated liquid hydrogen fuel, a fuel cell and rather ordinary R/C electric motor.
In a report dated 11 OCT 2007, they claimed that they are ( as of OCT 2008 ) less than one year away from commercialization of ( very very simple, easily understood ) refrigerated liquid hydrogen / fuel cell / electric motor powered UAV technology.

PLEASE help me beat these college techies to the " Factory Production " punch!On February 17th, Fire / Search & Rescue organizations get alot of extra telemetry related " frequency bandwidth " when TV signals go digital in 2009 in the USA.

Telemetry operated Search & Rescue UAV models can be outfitted with digital or infrared cameras. This'll enable organizations like the US Coast Guard and US Forest Service, or Aussie equivalents to locate missing persons, even at night.

Current - technology electric motor & lithium ion battery powered UAV Search & Rescue drones are only capable of about 20 - 90 minutes of flight time. Because of this, the search radius is very small and the chances of finding ( f.e. ) lost hikers or persons thrown overboard in the ocean is greatly reduced.

Fortunately, existing, " off the shelf " technology I have discovered improves R/C or UAV flight distances by a factor of 7 - 12 times more than with lithium ion batteries alone. How? With refrigerated liquid hydrogen fuel.....

Here's a partial specifications list:

* Refrigerated liquid hydrogen fuel* Radiator* Fuel Cell* Electric Vehicle Motor Kit* Lithium Ion Batteries

If simple retrofits with the parts listed above are done, your R/C or UAV models( even helicopters ) will suddenly have a range of at least 2 - 10 hours without landing for recharge or refuel. This vital technology improvement allows Search & Rescue organizations to look for missing persons over a much wider area.

If I can help, call me at 1-480-528-1156 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA

Gary Thomas
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3D Robotics

DIY Drones updates

Posted by Chris Anderson on November 17, 2008 at 9:51pm
A few updates on where we stand on various projects: --ArduPilot: Our second production candidate is now being fabbed. Fingers crossed this one works (it should!). The software is close to ready and I can see us opening up for orders within a month. Ground station software is in alpha. --BlimpDuino: The final production candidate is in the hands of beta testers. The software is done. Now just preparing to turn our hand-assembled one-off kits into something we can mass produce. If you're a university professor or student in an engineering program and are interested in participating in an aerial robotics contest, PM me here and I'll try to get you a beta unit. --ArduPilot Pro: This autopilot, which has stabilization and navigation combined, needs to be more heavily flight-tested before releasing. I think we're looking at Q1 of next year.
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3D Robotics

Laser navigation allows heli UAV to navigate ground terrain

Posted by Chris Anderson on November 12, 2008 at 6:00pm
Carnegie Mellon research have fitted the standard Yamaha 3.5m heli platform (originally designed to fertilize rice paddies) with a custom 3D laser scanner. The result, says New Scientist, is a UAV that can hug the ground, avoiding obstacles as small as a telephone line: "The helicopter uses two navigation strategies. First, a long-range planning algorithm uses an existing 3D map to work out a general course that avoids large obstacles like buildings and trees. That map can be preloaded, or built up by the helicopter as it explores a new area. When the aircraft flies a route, its scanner looks out for other obstacles. As these appear, a local planning system takes over and plots a detour. The UAV can fly between two obstacles with only around 3 metres clearance on each side."
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3D Robotics

New Lego Mindstorms NXT servo driver module

Posted by Chris Anderson on November 12, 2008 at 1:00pm
HiTechnic is releasing their servo driver module for Lego Mindstorms NXT as a stand alone product. It is the same one that's in the high-priced FTC competition kit, and is similar to the prototype that I used in the Lego UAV. Can control up to six servos and/or DC motors, and you can daisychain them for more. $79. Unfortunately it doesn't have the RC-in multiplexer feature that the prototype had, so you can't just connect your RC receiver to it and use it to switch between RC and autopilot control. For that you'll need a separate failsafe/multiplexer, like this one or Jordi's DIY one (code here).
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3D Robotics

New ArduPilot Pro boards

Posted by Chris Anderson on November 10, 2008 at 9:00pm

While we revise the production boards for ArduPilot and Blimpduino is being tweaked by the beta testers, work continues on ArduPilot Pro, the dual-core autopilot with built-in IR stabilization. ArduPilot Pro is also our development platform for future versions of the code and because it uses DIP version of the Atmega168 CPU it can be upgraded to the Atmega328 if you want more memory. The latest board, shown above, updates the previous board in a few ways,. We took the GPS module off the board to give you more flexibility over which GPS use and where it is. Instead, we use a EM406 connector, which you can either use for a 5v 1Hz EM406 or use our soon-to-come daughterboard (which also uses the EM406 connector) for 3.3v 5Hz modules. As before, you need to buy a FMA IR sensor modules (here) or build ours. You can buy the board here. The Eagle files are here: Schematic, PCB. Here are the components you'll need:

LEDs:

Capacitors:

Crystal:

Resistors:

  • (R1,R4, R13) 2x 10kOhms P10.0KCCT-ND
  • (R2, R3, R5, R6, R8, R9-12) 10x 1Kohms P1.00KCCT-ND
  • (Trim pot, not marked on board but the three holes in a triangle next the "pot" lable): Trimpot 10k

Connectors:

Switch:

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3D Robotics

iPhone datalogging with a rocket

Posted by Chris Anderson on November 10, 2008 at 8:08pm

From MobileOrchard: "Michael Koppelman - an iPhone developer and model rocket enthusiast - decided to combine his hobbies by launching an iPhone into the skies with his very own “iPhone rocket.” Michael shares lots of interesting technical (and some less than technical) information during the interview, including: * how he polled the GPS and accelerometer * the lag between the GPS and the actual position of the rocket * how network access blocked polling - and how this affected the experiment * how the accelerometer only reported 3G (seriously!) instead of the expected 17G"

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ATTOPILOT website!

Posted by rad man on November 8, 2008 at 11:30pm
I just did a quick search and found that there was no blog post on the (fairly) recent opening of the "A T T O P I L O T" website! So, just in case your interested here is the website. They haven't began selling them yet ): so your gonna have to book mark it or RSS it (if you can) for future updates!P.S. The website was opened on October 1st 2008
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iHUD

Posted by JC on November 8, 2008 at 12:30am

iHUD-main-motion-blur.jpg

iHUD-in-Isuzu-Rodeo-wit-arrows.jpg

iHUD-in-Larr%27s-cockpit-cropped-II.jpg

ihudFrom the website:iHUD is an application (app) that turns the iPhone and - with limited features the iPod touch *) - into an aerospace-inspired mobile Glass Cockpit. iHUD derives its name from Head-Up Display, which depicts motion and flight-related pertinent guidance information and data for optimal situational awareness.iHUD depicts an extraordinary graphic interface with a simulated horizon and a vehicle reference symbol, dynamic speed, altitude, and vertical velocity ribbons and digital display window, rotating compass card with user selectable heading bug, slip/skid ball, and an accelerometer (G-meter).WOW that alone is worth getting an iphone
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3D Robotics

New 5Hz GPS module from Sparkfun

Posted by Chris Anderson on November 7, 2008 at 6:10pm
Sparkfun has just started selling the excellent 5Hz Locosys LS20031 GPS module that Dean Goedde is using with Attopilot. It uses the Mediatek chipset, which doesn't have a binary mode, but is otherwise great at getting a lock fast and keeping it. Cost is $59.95. Details: # 32 Channel GPS # Fast TTFF at low signal level # Up to 5Hz update rate # Capable of SBAS (WAAS, EGNOS, MSAS) # Built-in micro battery to reserve system data for rapid satellite acquisition # LED indicator for fix or no fix
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Another possible project

Posted by Tyler Nighswander on November 7, 2008 at 3:17pm
To start, I want to thank you all for such a great site! I came here about a year ago and never quite got over how fun it would be to build my own UAV, so I'm finally going to try it.Ideally the UAV would be able to receive some simple commands (fly to this location, raise altitude to this much, etc) and eventually carry a camera (something like this after being modified a bit, which will take pictures at the specified coordinates. Ideally the plane would just be stable, slow, and easy to control.My current plan is to use the Easy Star body (most likely I will be suffering from some crashes, so foam is very good) with most of the suggested mods for it (faster motor, slower prop, etc). I'm currently planning on using the Arduino Duemilanove for the main controller on the plane (mainly for it's low cost and ability to output a lot of PWM signals easily and get inputs from lots of digital and analog sources). I'm planning on doing the coding myself, just because that should make it far more interesting. For sensors, I am going to try to use Sparkfun's pressure sensor and maybe their small 5 DoF gyroscopic and accelerometer board, along with a GPS (I haven't decided on the model yet).One thing I'm not too sure about is what I will do for controlling it by radio. I am thinking about using these radio modules for their relatively low price and high power output, and then have some sort of setting on the plane to switch from auto-pilot to controlled directly from the radio. It seems to me that a lot of you have a failsafe backup computer as well as the radio control, to make sure that nothing can go horribly wrong, but I'm not sure how necessary this is, and I don't plan on flying the plane too far from where it takes off. I also don't know if something like those radios would be suitable for controlling the plane in real time. I would have a base station set up with a computer to control it and send it signals, as well as monitor the batteries and all that. I am also thinking about having some sort of failsafe system, where the plane will deploy a parachute if it is losing altitude too fast, the batteries somehow get lower than they should, or to help make it land without too much complicated control.Some questions I have for you guys are: is there any reason I should use the IMU I listed instead of a thermopile? what should I look for in a GPS? do you think that radio would make sense for communicating with a UAV? does anyone know if a parachute system makes sense?Any other thoughts or comments are greatly appreciated!
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