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Hello from Ireland

Posted by Huey on October 29, 2008 at 6:46am
Hi FolksA quick note to introduce myself, I have been RC flying since I was a kid, recently I made the jump into electrics after years of tinkering with IC engines. I like designing and flying (sometimes!) my own SPAD planes also. I have been playing around with Spad FPV and camera platforms. Mainly building the plane around the camera.I am trying to understand the technical and electronic aspects of DIY Uav’s. I found this site very useful in getting to grips in what’s involved. Hope to have my DIY drone up and running shortly when time permits.I’ll keep in touch.RegardsHuey.
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3D Robotics

New: BlimpDuino board version 5

Posted by Chris Anderson on October 28, 2008 at 12:30pm

BlimpDuino is in the hands of beta testers, so we're doing some last minute tweaks. The current code works on boards version 431 and up (don't ask about the numbering schemes--they're based on internal versions. When we release the commercial board, it will be called V1.0 as usual) . The newest internal version of the board is now V5.1. If you want to order and assemble your own boards before the commerical release, you're welcome to! Order the boards here. ($10 + $10 handling) The Eagle files (PCB and schematics) are here. Once you've built it, instructions for loading the firmware are here. Here are the SMD parts, with their PCB labels, values and Digikey part numbers (see below for direct links and prices)

Remember to watch the polarity of the LEDs ("+"s are marked on the board) and capacitors C1 and C4, which are also marked on the board. Here are the components you'll need (Digikey part numbers unless otherwise stated--prices given were correct at the time of this writing and represent total costs in the case of multiple units):

Total, including PCB: $94.56 (not accounting for any volume discounts you may achieve with multiple units)

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AUTOPILOT + STABILIZER + KALMAN + IMU + QUADROCOPTER + GCS + IMAGEPROCESSING

Posted by Geetesh Dubey on October 27, 2008 at 3:13pm
Yes..thats right. I have eventually developed all the above said techies in a past few months...A very thanks to DIY for the help i've found in posts and digging stuff sround on the site.So, inow finally have a EM-406 based Autopilot.Gps runs in NMEA but now i've hooked up to Binary(WOW i dint beliv its gonna be that straight....beliv me guys binary is far simpler as much we thot its difficult).It sends data to Autopilot (self made) which uses AVR atmega16I used the draganflyer to try my skills and i was able to autonomously takeoff and navigate(think so, i actually never let it go all by itself but it did make manouvrs to goto reqd heading)

I was usiing a micromag compass(guys its a hell experience with mags..im quitting to use mags unless they r 3-axis and magnetically shielded)Now i thinkGPS shud be used ....now that im gonna run it in binary so i expect a 5hz response...(make sure the vehicle moves abt 3m/s "In INDIA" to detect heading)..FInally im developing a QUAD with hitec outrunners

...i have alrdy workedTHE KALMAN FILTER out

the yellow line --> Actual Gyro angle in degrees(oops they do drift...look below)BLACK line --> Kalman+gyro+acceleroREd--> accelro degrees(oops it jitters)

im usin IMU v2 6DOF by sparkfun...im using the IMU in BINARY(wowee binary is fun)THE GCS i have made in VS C# has 3 displays1) Telemetry2)Real Time Vehicle Tracker(a Google map backgorund scaled to gps pts)3)Live Video Relay (video can be processed for objects as small as human ,mines, its can detect patterns if sign is give...have also developed a damn good image processing using SIFT(oops it gives 0.25 FPS hehe..but other r really fast))...all developed in MATLAB.

this 1 gives 0.25 FPS....but its good (ref. Dr. Lowe)...any suggestions...most welcome...
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Reading XRX PCAS

Posted by Carlos Mojarro on October 27, 2008 at 11:31am
Hi, everyone.Im trying to read the information from a XRX trough the rs 232 connector. Does anybody know how is that information arranged, or baud rate used. I just couldnt figure out the signal that the XRX is transmitting.
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3D Robotics

Finally! BlimpDuino code now in beta!

Posted by Chris Anderson on October 26, 2008 at 10:00am

Jordi's done some heroic work squeezing the maximum out of the Arduino platform (with some help from Arduino co-founder Massimo Banzi. We finally have a code base that does everything it's supposed to. Here's the code. It works with any version of the board from 431 up.
(Note that we've also changed the voltage regulator to this through-hole one, which has a more linear response curve for when battery voltage is dropping. As you can see above, we just soldered it on to the same SMD traces on the old board, but the new version of the board--V432--is designed for this new voltage regulator.) Jordi explains what's new in the code: "Now you can read two channels from the receiver.. Blimpduino will detect when you have the receiver connected and will run in manual mode... If not, autonomous... You have to connect the vectoring servo directly to the receiver in order to fly in manual mode.. The two RC input channels control the motors for; forward, back, left and right... The problem was: I can't use pulseIn function because is not supported in the pins PB6 and 7.. so i have to use the timer1 to count the pulse length... The Atmega168 only has 3 timers. The timer 0 is for millis() counter, the timer1 is for pulsing the vector servo in automode and reading the RC inputs in manual mode, they can't be used at the same time... and the timer 2 is to control the PWM of the motors... I also solved an small bug in the anti static friction module of the motors... I love to fly in manual mode, Oliver [Jordi's baby] was scared, hehehe... Blimpduino is a very funny toy.... =)" Guys, this is world-class Arduino coding. Read it and learn ;-) Congrats, Jordi! Here's a pic of it all taped to the bottom of a blimp--not pretty, but it works!

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Where'd I Go...

Posted by Genesis Factor on October 21, 2008 at 2:00am
okay, i suddenly had a burst of energy towards this project, and then SUDDENLY, i disappear for a few weeks. What the hell right?For those of you who haven't been paying attention to Hard forums deals, or wanted ot build a new computer, two things arose that grabbed my attention, and my bank account. For those of you building a computer, listen up, because the price keeps going up...MS cashback is giving 30% off of any BIN ebay items. this is great.We found some hellishly expensive processors for DIRT CHEAP...BIN. Anyways, a few people, wh weren't affected by the market crashing as much as the rest of the world, went crazy. Quad core is all the craze for some people...but we have EIGHT CORES MINIMUM IN OUR MACHINESThis is my build thread.http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1356818Why did i do this? I needed a good base station.But, while things were going fun, i didn't forget about my UAV. After losing sight of a pinnacle video transfer module, i picked up a serial GPS. Yay! My mini UAV knows where it is going now. 1Hz.though. yes, i know, i suck. I am waiting for a lynxmotion serial thing to pop up on ebay BIN. If its not done by the time weekend rolls arund, i'm picking it up myself. Then, when my build is finished, the real fun begins....Shout out to criag and chris!!!! criag, i need your addy to send you the stuff. I didn't forget ;).
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3D Robotics

New 4Hz GPS receiver from SparkFun

Posted by Chris Anderson on October 19, 2008 at 7:11pm

If you've been wanting to move to a >1Hz GPS receiver but were holding out until a retail version of the awesome U-blox chipset was available, today's your lucky day. Sparkfun has just started selling the 4Hz GS406, which uses a helical antenna, which in our experience beats the usual ceramic patch. Note that it's 3.3 v, not 5v like the 1Hz EM406 that we're currently using for ArduPilot, so if we go with this we'll mount it on a voltage-converting daughterboard. Specs follow: * Sarantel omni-directional Geo-helix S-type active antenna * 4Hz Update rate * Fifty satellite tracking channels for fast acquisition * Supports UBX data protocol at 9600bps * Filtering effect of the antenna gives high immunity to RF interference * Wide antenna Beam width * Low power: 3.3V @ 75mA * Time to fix: o Hot start: <1 second o Warm start: 29 o Cold start: 29 Dimensions: * Length (with antenna) 54.5mm * Width: 22.9mm * Weight: 16g
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3D Robotics

New BlimpDuino code--much more efficient!

Posted by Chris Anderson on October 18, 2008 at 4:30pm
Jordi's been hard at work on the BlimpDuino code. Here's the latest version, which he describes as follows: "Wow, a lot to explain! I added a lot of interesting functions, it will blow your mind ;-) First I added a smart delay system. If you need to delay() something you can use the smart_delay(1000) function, and it will delay the value between the () and spend the time capturing IR packets rather than doing nothing. This code improved the performance in the navigation routine 100%.. I also added an 'anti static' function for the motor, at the beginning you need to apply more force to the motors in order to move it, well this "dead zone" was screwing my system, so i modified the motor functions, to pulse the motors for 10 milliseconds with a higher power (like 80%), and then back quickly to the desired speed, so now the blimp is more reliable than ever... I also added two autopilot state modes, hold altitude only and hold altitude and navigate mode... Blimpduino will enter to hold altitude only mode, when the IR beacon is not preset (does not detect any IR packets), it will use only motor power (vectoring thrusters pointing down always) to maintain altitude, which is like stand by.. If there any IR packets in the air, it will enter to hold altitude and navigation mode, using the vectoring to hold altitude... I improved the battery protection system, now with the new power regulator is working better than ever... it can read the real voltage of the LIPO... amazing... " Also added is a very efficient hardware PWM to drive the servos. Note that in doing this he discovered a serious bug in the standard Arduino servoTimer1.h library. Somehow the upgrade from Arduino 11 to Arduino 12 broke this servo pulsing library, so after lots of time wasted debugging this, he wrote his own library, which is included in the above code. (It only works for Pins 9 and 10). You can see his video of the blimp in action here. Note that the code now lights up a blue LED in the direction that it sees the IR beacon, so you can see the navigation routines working in real time.
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How to make gps data unbreakable? ( maybe a tip?)

Posted by MrKiss on October 18, 2008 at 12:00am
I was wondering why chris and jordy use binary gps format, because I didn't know the instability of getting gps data then.I'm using gps module that has MTK chipset so I can't use arduipilot binary gps parser.There has been periodic breaking of gps data. But I can't get rid of it for a whileToday I realize the problem comes from the speed difference between gps module and arduino.Periodic breaking of gps data arises only when arduino do the other hard work beside gps parsing.So I come to think it's arduino serial port buffer overflows problem.then, my solution is repeat parsing until $GPRMC sentence comes and then go to calculate distance and bearing lolP.S. I'm making USV(unmanned sea vehicle?) ArduPilot and BlimpDuino codes are very good reference for meActually my code is mashup of ArduPilot and BlimpDuino and Maarten Lamers's NMEA library and ladyada's gps test program and a lot of my bugsThank you very much Chris and Jordy and everyone above.OSP robot test bed vehicleIs this a sea vehicle? On not yet. It is test bed for it
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3D Robotics

New Arduino starter kit

Posted by Chris Anderson on October 16, 2008 at 1:27pm

For those of you interested in learning about embedded computing with a modern, open source platform, the new Arduino Starter Kit from O'Reilly looks great. $89 buys a lot of useful stuff. OReilly's also releasing a new book by Arduino co-founder Massimo Banzi that looks great for learning. Arduino Starter Kit Features * 1x Arduino Diecimila * 1x Mini Breadboard * 1x 3 ft. USB Cable * 10x 1K Resistors * 2x 10k Resistors * 3x Red LEDs * 2x Green LEDs * 1X Superbright Blue LED * 1x Momentary Tactile Switch * 2x Interlink Force Sensing Resistors * 1x Protoshield Kit (unassembled) * Making Things Talk by Tom Igoe * 24" each of Red, Blue & Black AWG jumper wire * 9V Battery Case w/DC Plug (some assembly required) * Yes, even a 9V battery
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more airbus insanity

Posted by Jack Crossfire on October 15, 2008 at 11:00am
Everyone knows Air Busses have problems, from the 2001 crash due to rudder failure to the 1988 takeoff crash on GooTube, so no surprise that the latest sudden 650ft descent of an aircraft was an Air Bus whose IMU malfunctioned & sent out an erratic orientation.What a thrill that our home made IMU & autopilot can be at least as reliable as the world's largest, low bidding, government subsidized passenger airline manufacturer's. Our IMU has drifted from vibration but never suddenly disconnected or generated noise in flight.http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/10/14/2391134.htm

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3D Robotics

DIY Drones stats update

Posted by Chris Anderson on October 11, 2008 at 9:48am
Just a FYI: this site now does just under 200,000 page views a month, on nearly 50,000 unique visits. Traffic has quadrupled over the past year. On an average day, about 1,500 people will visit. Those that want to contribute join the site, and as a result we add about one member every two hours. We currently have 1,777 members.
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3D Robotics

Upgrade your Arduino with more memory

Posted by Chris Anderson on October 7, 2008 at 4:00am

Ladyada writes: Running out of space in your big Arduino project? Good news! Finally, after months of backorders, one can now buy the latest improvement to the ‘ATmega8′ line of chips: the ATmega328’s. The ‘328 has 32K of flash, and 2K of SRAM. Basically its got the capacity of an ATmega32 but in a slimmer package. These chips are notable for their ability to drop-in replace the ATmega168. So that means if you have an Arduino or compatible clone, it is a easy 2 minute swap. If you have an Adafruit wave shield or GPS/datalogging shield, and you’re annoyed that the FAT16 libraries eats up so much flash and RAM, upgrading will definitely fix the problem. There are 250 preprogrammed chips in the Adafruit webshop or you can get blank chips from Mouser (but be warned that they’re backordered till mid-December)
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