Remote controlled flying things-Quads, Hex, Octo or anything

[Marschy]

That all looks good. How did they go on your thrust tester? Any indication of drawing too many amps from the ESC's? Are the ESC's getting hot when you try spinning up to full throttle?

[Mandrake]

I can flip it on its side in the blink of an eye HUGE amount of grunt sideways and back and forward and turning BUT main thrust straight up with all 4 motors is really really slow to lift

[Marschy]

I can flip it on its side in the blink of an eye HUGE amount of grunt sideways and back and forward and turning BUT main thrust straight up with all 4 motors is really really slow to lift

GPS mode maybe? Try another mode.

[Mandrake]

Yeah I haven't tried manual or atti yet ... Gotta go out now so I'll probably give it a go tomorrow - Thanks mate ...

[Crisp Image]

Yeah I haven't tried manual or atti yet ... Gotta go out now so I'll probably give it a go tomorrow - Thanks mate ...

Which FC are you using on this one?
Crispy


Sent using fat fingers on the iPad thingy

[Mandrake]

Naza Lite with DJI LED and GPS units .

[Crisp Image]

Naza Lite with DJI LED and GPS units .

NAZA will take off in GPS, ATTI or Man modes. you will have to raise the throttle above 50% (closer to 75%) for the auto take off to work. This is a feature of the NAZA. I am not sure if you can disable it in the assistant.

Crispy

[Sawed-Off]

I know you blokes are mad keen on your video platforms, but I just ordered a couple of these for a bit of campsite fun. For ~$25 delivered, by all accounts, these are a lot of fun for the money.

[banksy69]

Have a read of this people, fined for flying drone.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/queensland-man-first-in-australia-to-be-fined-for-flying-a-drone/story-fnihsrf2-1227196782216

[Marschy]

Have a read of this people, fined for flying drone.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/queensland-man-first-in-australia-to-be-fined-for-flying-a-drone/story-fnihsrf2-1227196782216

There's a bit more to it than 'fined for flying drone', he was fined because he was a d!ck who thought he was above the law and regulations.

[banksy69]

There's a bit more to it than 'fined for flying drone', he was fined because he was a d!ck who thought he was above the law and regulations.

And that’s why i gave you the link for it so you could have a read.
My apologies if the 5 minute read wore you out. 

[Marschy]

And that’s why i gave you the link for it so you could have a read.
My apologies if the 5 minute read wore you out.

I am on the Phantom Australia Facebook forum and some guy in Townsville just got fined by CASA $850 for flying within 30 m of people .. His YouTube video was used as evidence..
They are watching us ,
http://eftm.com.au/2015/01/850-drone-fine-casa-using-youtube-to-identify-illegal-drone-use-19067

I think that's it .

My attention span goes for longer than 5 minutes

[CBRK]

Thanks for those screen dumps Chris, I'll give them a go this weekend.

I sorted the Bluetooth adapter out on the mini quad. I had to change the baud rate using the FTDI programmer which meant I had to make a cable connector for it and I downloaded a terminal emulator so I could send AT commands directly to the com port. Droidplanner is now working happily on my Nexus tablet. The good thing is no external antenna which is a win in my opinion on the mini quad.

I use the minimOSD for telemetry, not the Bluetooth adapter. I only plan on using Bluetooth for changing settings so range is not an issue. The other thing that I think is a win is now I don't have to worry about the OTG adapter or ground module for my tablet.

Hi Marschy,

No probs on the screenshots, hope it helped.  Sounds like it was fun configuring the bluetooth adapter, didn't you already have a cable done up for the MinimOSD?  If so shouldn't it follow the same pin out?

I do have a question though, if the MinimOSD is the primary (that is has the TX wire connected) then does the bluetooth also have it's TX wire connected?  If the MinimOSD doesn't have it's TX wire connected then you'll need to connect via bluetooth every time you go change the battery.

Chris

[Marschy]

G'day Chris,

Hope you got some video for us to watch. 

I've been breaking props and GPS stands this weekend trying to PID tune the X-mode Alien, fun and games.

The bluetooth adapter cable was the tricky part, the pinout diagram on the mini APM was completely wrong, so I had to use the multimeter to determine the power supply. TX and RX I just worked out through trial and error.

I've made the "Y" cable, but I'm waiting for a minimOSD to arrive in the post, so I haven't got as far as testing as you have indicated, but the intention was that the minimOSD would not have the TX cable connected. I was not aware that the telemetry radio or bluetooth needed the TX cable connected for the minimOSD to work at all, so I will have to test that.

Not sure what you mean when you say I need to connect via bluetooth when the battery is changed. Is this some sort of handshake between the FC and the telemetry module/bluetooth adapter that wakes up the minimOSD?

Cheers, Mark

[CBRK]

Well I've returned from a weekend of fun at Abercrombie River NP.  Was mostly great with the exception of a decent size storm rolling in on Saturday afternoon / night and the fact that the wind was strong almost the whole weekend.

On the first point, always remember to zip up your windows on the camper trailer when heading off for a day of fun.  All I can say is it was fun (not) drying the bedding in a 2 hour break in the rain.  My little one had dry bedding but me and my wife didnt get a dry bed until the next day    First time I've gone camping and done that - it's something I wont do again that is for sure.

On the 2nd point, I only got about 20-25 mins of flying in on the weekend the wind was blowing a gale most of the time.  I did get some good shots of the campsite as it was in a valley, so I'll post those on my youtube channel soon.  I forgot to record some telemetry on my highest flight but I think I went up to 70m at one stage so nice and high - was hard to keep it fixed in place in the strong wind - my gimbal was working overtime I think.  I was still was below the surrounding terrain from what I can see on the quick review I've done.

Great place for 4WDing, conquered little bald hill (took a lot to convince the wife that we can do it - particularly with our 11 month in the back seat).  It's so steep you can't walk up the hill.......  Lucky I found some others at our campsite to come along with us and I asked one of them to go first to that my wife was happier.  I wanted to get one of the others going up with the tricopter but it was so busy at the hill there wasn't a chance to do it - not to mention it was still blowing strong.....

Chris

[CBRK]

I've made the "Y" cable, but I'm waiting for a minimOSD to arrive in the post, so I haven't got as far as testing as you have indicated, but the intention was that the minimOSD would not have the TX cable connected. I was not aware that the telemetry radio or bluetooth needed the TX cable connected for the minimOSD to work at all, so I will have to test that.

Not sure what you mean when you say I need to connect via bluetooth when the battery is changed. Is this some sort of handshake between the FC and the telemetry module/bluetooth adapter that wakes up the minimOSD?

Cheers, Mark

Hi Mark,

So for the MinimOSD to work it needs the MAVLINK packets, they only get sent out on the telemetry line when something requests it from the FC (usually it requests it with a rate - x packets per sec I think).  So either the MinimOSD has a TX line attached to initiate the request or as you have it with the Y cable the other device (bluetooth or Telemetry Radio) initiates the request.  Otherwise the data on the MinimOSD wont update properly, you'll get mode changes displaying but not much else (no power levels or attitude indications). 

That process should happen every battery change as the FC looses power and doesnt know it has to send out regular MAVLINK packets.  I think it throws them out automatically for key events.

Unfortunately due to the way the system works you cant have both TX lines connected to both devices - just doesnt work apparently and as I've released enough of the magic smoke from Minim's I'm not exactly jumping to try it out :-)

This is one of the reasons for switching the tricopter to the Pixhawk (should arrive any day now) as it has two independent telemetry ports, both can have the TX line connected!  So MinimOSD will just work without the telemetry radio starting the datafeed.

Chris

[Crisp Image]

Got the new gps last night and attached it. Did the compass cal and got similar results with my offsets the first one being 247. Doing some reading values under 250 are ok.
I still have the jumper in place but have the settings for the external compass. Without the jumper in place I can't get the compass to calibrate. Can someone con firm this is the correct thing to do?
Not working today so I might be able to get in a flight if the wind stays away.
I am working tonight so only have this morning to have a play.   
I might take an extra pair of eyes with me to keep an eye on the laptop or my phone.
Crispy


Sent using fat fingers on the iPad thingy

[CBRK]

Got the new gps last night and attached it. Did the compass cal and got similar results with my offsets the first one being 247. Doing some reading values under 250 are ok.
I still have the jumper in place but have the settings for the external compass. Without the jumper in place I can't get the compass to calibrate. Can someone con firm this is the correct thing to do?
Not working today so I might be able to get in a flight if the wind stays away.
I am working tonight so only have this morning to have a play.   
I might take an extra pair of eyes with me to keep an eye on the laptop or my phone.
Crispy


Sent using fat fingers on the iPad thingy

Hi,

You need a jumper on either int or ext. If no jumper it cant see the compass. If its now just under 250 anx reporting the correct heading you should be good.

Chris

[Crisp Image]

Hi,

You need a jumper on either int or ext. If no jumper it cant see the compass. If its now just under 250 anx reporting the correct heading you should be good.

Chris

Thanks Chris.
Looking outside it is calm so might have to go to the oval and play.
[EDIT] Wind as arrived no flying today.

[CBRK]

Thanks Chris.
Looking outside it is calm so might have to go to the oval and play.
[EDIT] Wind as arrived no flying today.

Hi Crispy,

Thats a bugger, you'll get it in the air soon.  I've got rain that is really set in so no flying for me either :-(

On a plus the ODROID-C1 has arrived which I'll be experimenting with in flight processing of images for a variety of tasks so I'm busy playing with it.  I've also ordered my my 3rd axis board and brushless motor and and mounts.  For around $35 for those I thought why not, plus since my tricopter still occasionally has a slow yaw oscillation I thought it would help to get rid of it.

I also worked out that some of the oscillations are coming from the battery tray as it's not rigid (they reduced when I secured the rear end with some twine), since the battery tray no longer has cameras on it, I can remake it more rigid and improve the visible area the camera can use on the gimbal.  So I'll be working on that soon.  My pixhawk should arrive in the next couple of days too!

Chris



 

[Marschy]

Howdy Chris,

I just googled ODRIOD-C1 to get an idea of what new gizmo you are talking about. What sort of inflight processing are you contemplating? Is this in line with the firmware you loaded onto the Ixus?

I'm looking forward to seeing what it is you are trying to do.

Cheers, Mark

[Mandrake]

Dunno if you blokes are still looking for FPV cams but Banggood have this deal on at the moment ...

http://www.banggood.com/Eachine-700TVL-13-Cmos-FPV-110-Degree-Camera-w32CH-Transmission-p-965760.html

Seems pretty good for $30 and all wire up for the balance plug to power it !!! Bonus ...

[CBRK]

Howdy Chris,

I just googled ODRIOD-C1 to get an idea of what new gizmo you are talking about. What sort of inflight processing are you contemplating? Is this in line with the firmware you loaded onto the Ixus?

I'm looking forward to seeing what it is you are trying to do.

Cheers, Mark

Hi Mark,

I'm looking at replicating some of the stuff that Canberra UAV have done.  Basically the ODROID C1 will be what I link to, so it will be a communications bridge between the ground station and the pixhawk.  I am looking at trying some of the image recognition, so analysing the look down pictures and looking for stuff that is abnormal.

I also want to try some tracking with the gimbal mount, so that if I enter a set of GPS coords I can tell the camera to always track to that location.  Also I'd like to do the reverse and get it to tell me the location of where I have the gimbal pointed to, so that if I control it manually it can tell me where on a map it's pointing to.   At some stage I'd like to try object tracking, so that it recognises an object and will follow it (so a person walking for example).

There is a great script out there for targeting red ballons, so that the ODROID will update the APM on where to fly based upon what it sees in it's camera (such as a red ballon, it will hunt them down).

These are things that the Pixhawk and APM cant do by themselves as they dont have enough spare processing power to do it (well some of the gimbal stuff it can but the tracking stuff there isnt enough cpu power).  There are plenty more ideas coming to me on what I can do with this, once some of them pan out I'll put a bit more out there on it.

These are all longer term projects, so if I get even one done in the next 6 weeks that is great otherwise it'll be several months down the track.

I forgot to say that someone is also building a cape to put on top of the ODROID C1 to enable ArduPilot to run on it and have the PWM outputs and PPM inputs, etc.....

Chris

[Crisp Image]

With no flying today I tackled the OSD program.
Tried once and something is not right so had another crack at it and mostly good.
It is reporting low RSSI. I think I might have to set it up differently as I have it set to Mavlink. I think someone changed it to ch6 and had to change the settings on the APM to match.
But all is good for now.
Off to work tonight so need to get ready.
Regards
Crispy

[CBRK]

With no flying today I tackled the OSD program.
Tried once and something is not right so had another crack at it and mostly good.
It is reporting low RSSI. I think I might have to set it up differently as I have it set to Mavlink. I think someone changed it to ch6 and had to change the settings on the APM to match.
But all is good for now.
Off to work tonight so need to get ready.
Regards
Crispy

Hi Crispy,

If you want to remove the warning, all you should need to do is take the minimum to 0 and set the warning level to 0%.  This will essentially ignore the warning on the OSD.  If you have RSSI output on your receiver then wire it up to the APM and choose the channel you are inputting it on, I think typically people use CH8 but it's up to you as to which one you want to use.

Chris