Evolving NG UAVP

Flight at a sunny fall evening

stefan — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 21:38:34 +0000

Some time went by since my last post! In between I fixed the problems with my new quadrocopter, in the end I had problems with my altered brushless controllers. I had to resolder some soldering joints. But now it is flying quite nice, but see yourself:

Flight at a sunny fall evening

My next goal is flying with first persion view (FPV). For that purpose I bought a Headplay Eyewear and started soldering on a 5.8 GHz NGvideo. Therefor I also started flying in X-Mode (instead of + mode, which I did until now). With X-Mode you have a free view between two arms of the quadrocopter, its easier to place the camera that way. Expect more about this soon!
There is also another quadrocopter meeting at Amir’s place in the mid of october. Don’t miss it!

My second NG is airborne

stefan — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 00:19:21 +0000

The last days I worked a lot on my second NG UAVP quadrocopter. I had many of the parts ready since weeks. But I decided to do some things different than planned. But in between, all things were done and it was time to get my new aircraft airborne. And it flew! Unfortunately I had some interferences, but look yourself!

Maiden flight of my second NG UAVP quadrocopter

The second quadrocopter is a lot easier to build. The whole world of quadrocopter and radio controlled model making in general was very new to me. I made wrong decisions or just didn’t know how I want to have it in the end… Here is a small lists of improvements I made on my second quadrocopter. It might help other beginners to do it better in first place

Battery connectors

XT60 plugs

On my first copter I bought the same connectors for the quadrocopter which the batteries had: 4mm Bullet connectors. But connecting them was dreadfully: My connectors were a little bit to big, so I had to deform the plastic of the connectors a little bit. The plastic on the front was battered. Connecting them was very tough, in the end I didn’t connected them fully, it simply wasn’t possible anymore. So it was time to switch. I decided to use the XT60 connectors from Hobbyking (an alternative to the popular Deans connector system). They are cheap and you can also buy batteries with this connectors. The connection holds strong but you can connect and disconnect them without problem. No more half connected plugs in the air.

Power distribution

Using a board to distribute the power is definitely more comfortable, especially if want to connect something new or disconnect something. I used a two-sided 70µm copper bare board. Don’t forget to remove the coat before soldering if it has one. You also should have a soldering iron with enough power doing this. My 40W soldering iron was definitely a bit too feeble. Another good tip is to use silicon cable whenever possible. Its easier to solder them because the cable coating doesn’t melt.

New landers: Claws

Landers and centerplate

Having good landers from start is also very convenient. Starting from grass is no problem, calibrating the acceleration sensor is easier too. I already wrote about my new centerplates. They look good and are very strong.

LED’s

Its easier to distinguish the front of the quadrocopter with colored LED’s. I planned to add LED’s to my first copter already, but because the power distribution was inflexible I desisted installing them. On my second copter I bought 3mm plugs to connect them, and also added a cable to the power distribution system.

My first onboard Video

stefan — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 21:43:59 +0000

Recently I bought the nice GoPro HD digital camera. This week I mounted it the first time on my quadrocopter and flew around with it. But with the last battery the motor dissolved itself from its basement. Luckily my quadrocopter and the camera survived the crash without serious damage.

Onboard Video

By the way, I made this video using PiTiVi, which seems to evolve to a very easy to use video editor. The features are a bit limited at the moment, but there is much effort in the community improve this drawback.
I’m still working on my second quadrocopter. I decided to solve the current distribution better than I did at my first quadrocopter. I going to use a blank board with 70µm copper on each side. Each side has one pole and its mounted directly above the center plate.
There is also lot going on in the whole community: Two weeks ago the third NG UAVP Meeting took place in Zurich. We worked a lot on the new DCM based controller. Watch this footage from Robert. Also ludiwawa did the maiden flight of his Klappa Hexacopter.

Centerplates

stefan — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 21:00:16 +0000

Carbon fiber centerplates

For my next Quadrocopter I plan a bit nicer frame. Because construction isn’t my strong point I prefer something simple but reasonable priced. These out of the box frames were too expensive. Construction one by myself was not an option. Fortunately Robert made some very nice Frames and Centerplates. At first I wanted to build a CargoNG. I opted for centreplates only but in exchange with carbon fiber. Without a full frame it is easier to build and I have more freedom In terms of adding more circuit boards or a digital camera. Also if once I test some newly developed code and undergo a heavy bug, its not that expensive to repair the Quadrocopter

Centerplates arranged in AutoCAD

But where can I let it mill? Several team members have a mill by them own, but sending plates around, over the frontier, was a bit too complicate. I found the little company Keiro located in Switzerland which makes kits for air planes and also has a CNC mill service. I found carbon fibre plates at suter swiss-composite group at reasonable prices. To minimize wasting of space I descided to mill two 340mm x 300mm, 1.5mm thick prepreg plate in one procedure. I never used a CAD software, so I’m an absolute noob! I tried to put together the dxf files with QCAD, which is open source, but I didn’t succeeded. It was the control concept which I could not work with, the simple functions like moving and coping weren’t at places I expected them. And once I found one item, I had to try several times until it worked as I wished and I searched it again the next time. AutoCAD is a very popular software, so I tried it with a trail version of it. Even with AutoCAD I needed some time to arrange all parts. But as you can see, I finally succeeded. Two weeks later my brand new centerplates arrived. As you can see, there are also some landers and some spare parts for crashes or another Quadro-/Hexacopter!

Bus Pirate

stefan — Sun, 23 May 2010 00:34:24 +0000

Bus Pirate

As I wrote yesterday I bougth the Bus Pirate from Seeedstudio and a nice case. Another team member found this nice tool. It can be used to prototype and test electronic deviecs with buses such as UART, SPI or I2C. As I saw the ability to work as an AVR programmer and even a JTAG adapter I was persuaded of it as well. It looks like a perfect devleoper device for the NG UAVP.
With delivery I paid about 55$ for both parts. The case from US arrived way faster then the Pirate itself from China, but finally both made their way to Switzerland! I needed to alter the case with a nail file a little bit to make sure the USB connector has enought space. Built into its case it looks very nice!
The firmware on the delivered device was not that up to date:

HiZ>I
Bus Pirate v3 (Seeed Studio)

http://dangerousprototypes.com

Firmware v2.4-Seeed
DEVID:0x0447 REVID:0x3043 (B5)

First I had to upgrade to V4 Bootloader. I connected the PGD and PGC pins of the ICSP header to trigger the bootloader. Then I changed bitrateindex to 8 (for 115200):

vi P24qp.ini

bitrateindex=8

Afterwards I could do the firmwareupgrade (just ignore the verification errors in the output, its a bug in v2 bootloader):

$ unzip v2tov41-bootloader-update-va3.zip
$ cd upgrader
$ sudo python P24qp.py --serial=/dev/ttyUSB1 -v --auto=BPv3-v2blupdaterVa3-v4.1.hex
....
Writing 256 bytes to address 0x0000AB80
Reading 256 bytes from address 0x0000AB80
Write operation complete.
Verified Okay.
Verification complete, switching to user mode

Now I removed the jumper and restartet the Bus Pirate. Pressing enter produced this output:

Upgrade cancelled.

Universal DS30 Loader installer v0.3 (C)hris 2010

Released under Creative Commons null license.
Found bootloader v unknown (probably v2)
Will install bootloader v4.1

Type 'Yes' to program the new bootloader.
Disconnect power if unsure (no harm done).

“Yes” started the upgrading

Erasing 0xA400... done
Erasing 0xA800... done
Writing row 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 done
Erasing 0x0000... done
Writing row 0... done

Success!
Upload new firmware with the ds30 Loader app to complete the upgrade.

When the update is complete, the MODE LED will blink and the upgrader will prompt you to upload a v4+ firmware. I connected the PGD and PGC pins of the ICSP header to trigger the bootloader once again and restarted the Bus Pirate. I then uploaded the v4.2 firmware directly (you can’t install the v4.2 bootloader since its only a version for programm with PIC directly):

$ unzip BusPirate.firmware.v4.2.zip
$ sudo ./pirate-loader_lnx --dev=/dev/ttyUSB1 --hex=BPv3\&v2go/BPv3-Firmware-v4.2.hex

Removed the jumper again and the Bus Pirate has a shiny new software version on it:

HiZ>I
Bus Pirate v3
Firmware v4.2 Bootloader v4.1
DEVID:0x0447 REVID:0x3043 (B5)

http://dangerousprototypes.com

AVR programmer (STK500v2)

One of the features I needed most was the AVR programmer. For that purpose you have to flash a special firmware:

$ sudo ./pirate-loader_lnx --dev=/dev/ttyUSB1 --hex=BPv3\&v2go/BPv3-STK500v2-v0b.hex

Afterwards you can use it like an STK500v2:

$ avrdude -p m328p -c stk500v2 -P /dev/ttyUSB1 -v -V -U flash:w:sb-ctrl.hex

Just a small performance comparission showed positive results. I wrote an Intel hex with 30178 bytes to an Atmel ATMEGA328P. These are the flash times:

Bus Pirate	STK500v2
10.75s	42.55s

Note: These are both out of the box configuration, with correct STK500v2 configuration you can probably gain more performance…

New blog appearance

stefan — Sat, 22 May 2010 02:16:28 +0000

After several weeks of silence I could finally find enough motivation and time to update my blog. I renamed it to “Envolving NG UAVP”, because, you might have heard it, I joined the development team of the NG UAVP in between. Now I try hard to help evolving this wonderful multicopter platform! To address the international community I decided to switch the language of this blog to English. The old NG UAVP from Scratch blog posts stay in german and are archived under its own category NG UAVP from Scratch.

Currently we work on several things for the NG UAVP: First of all we improved GPS support. We also tested new build toolchains and think about new control algorithm. All in all, its very interessting and I’m very happy do be part of the team!

I also bought new equipment: I have now a maas SPS-30 II power supply to load my LiPo’s quickly. I also bought a Bluetooth Bee, a serial extender with X-Bee pin alignment, but I could not test it yet. Also from Seedstudio I bought the Bus Pirate, an universial bus connector, programmer and even debugger.

My NG UAVP is still flying! But nevertheless I plan to build a second NG UAVP: I want to use nicer Centerplates, better motors and, finally, the TowerPro BLC’s with Quax firmware. But I still build it as simple as reasonable possible, I prefer to spend my time on developing software than building nice frames!

Erstflug!

stefan — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 22:12:04 +0000

Heute, am Dienstag der 23. März 2010, wars endlich soweit: Ich hab den Erstflug gemacht. Nachdem ich in den letzten Tagen schon ausführliche Tests “aus der Hand” gemacht habe, aber da noch einige Probleme sah welche mich verunsicherten, hab ich den Erstflug vor mir her geschoben… Ich habe gestern alle Stecker besser fixiert und die Sensoren mit Heissleim verleimt. Das letztere hat die Abweichungen des Beschleunigungsensor auf der Nick-Achse schon einiges reduziert. Nachdem heute auch noch schönes Wetter war, hab ich mich entschieden den Erstflug direkt nach der Arbeit durchzuführen. Alles ging Reibungslos von statten, ich habe während ca. 30 Minuten zwei Akkus “durchgeflogen”. Ohne Simulation und andere Flugerfahrung hab ich noch nicht viel gewagt. Anheben und etwa auf Augenhöhe umherfliegen hat mir fürs erste gereicht. Daher ist das Video total langweilig, sorry!

Erstflug meines NGone

Nun werde ich fleissig fliegen üben und den Quadrokopter noch etwas verbessern. Da sind noch einige Baustellen: Fehlende Duo-LED’s, Verkabelung, Landebeine, besser Entkopplung der Steuerung, Kompass, GPS, etc… Auch möchte ich Erweiterung wie Bluetooth-Konsole, NGvideo oder Kamerahalterung realisieren, nur weiss ich noch nicht welcher ich den Vorrang geben werde

Geflogen bin ich mit folgenden Parametern

set controller amir
set T.idle 20
set T.reserve 20
set T.spinup 2
set P.nick 60
set P.roll 60
set P.yaw 60
set D.nick 50
set D.roll 50
set D.yaw 10
set I.nick 30
set I.roll 30
set I.yaw 15
set Kalman.Angle.Q 0.00030000
set Kalman.Bias.Q 0.00010000
set Kalman.Acc.R 3.00000000
set Kalman.Cycle 1
set Kalman.Limit 1
set P.z 1950
set D.z 5000
set I.z 0
set P.z.limit 20
set P.z.upfact 28
set KalmanZ.L1 1.29170001
set KalmanZ.L2 0.83420002
set KalmanZ.L3 -0.26930001
set RC.nickcorr 0
set RC.rollcorr 0
set RC.yawcorr 0
set RC.throttlehoover -100
set ACC.nickcorr 9
set ACC.rollcorr 28
set ACC.yawcorr 65
set TRIM.roll 0
set TRIM.nick 0
set TRIM.yaw 0
set RC.fact.nick 30
set RC.fact.roll 30
set RC.fact.yaw 65
set Axis.decoupling yes

QNGctrl unter Ubuntu

admin — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 02:34:43 +0000

Heute hat mein NG UAVP die ersten Flugübungen gemacht, allerdings noch in meiner Hand. Dabei hab ich bemerkt dass ich die Roll-Motoren verkehrt montiert habe, was für einen realen Fatal wäre: Gerät er nur etwas in Seitenlage würde er den Motor in welche er sich neigt stärker ansteuern. Da die Motoren verkehrt montiert sind würde der falsche Motor geregelt. Dadurch würde die Seitenlage noch verstärkt was eine noch stärkere Regelung zur Folge hätte. Ein Absturz wäre unausweichlich.
Das QNGctrl-Tool hat mir geholfen zu verstehen wie genau geregelt. So konnte ich auch die Parameter besser verstehen. Dabei sind auch Probleme aufgetaucht wie zum Beispiel seltsame Jitters in den Gyros (was eventuell auf mangelnde Befestigung hindeuten könnte) oder abweichende Signale bei laufenden Motoren und gestoppten Motoren (was wahrscheinlich mit mangelnder Entkopplung zu tun hat).

QNGctrl zeigt Gyrometer mit Jitter

Nun aber zum eigentlichen Thema…

Nach etwas Probleme habe ich es hin gekriegt QNGctrl unter Ubuntu zu kompilieren und installieren. Da es einige Libraries braucht und viele sich nicht mit dem Kompilieren auseinander setzten möchte habe ich Deb-Pakete für Ubuntu erstellt.
libglc-1.10-dev_1.10-1_i386.deb
ng-tools_0.56-1_i386.deb
libglc-1.10-dev_1.10-1_amd64.deb
ng-tools_0.56-1_amd64.deb

67db0a74005a73ab78db0c0ac6300280  libglc-1.10-dev_1.10-1_amd64.deb
88f0bd7e447cb1383e38f6966e567685  libglc-1.10-dev_1.10-1_i386.deb
75f012e6c5402b06f1d3ced1912cd51d  ng-tools_0.56-1_amd64.deb
f0976410f3b8c7d62557b3bd95121c27  ng-tools_0.56-1_i386.deb

Für alle die selbst kompilieren möchten: Zuerst muss GLC_lib installiert werden. Dafür GLC-lib 1.1 downloaden und installieren (1.2 und höher funktioniert nicht!)

sudo aptitude install gzip qt4-qmake build-essential libqt4-dev
qmake
make
sudo make install

Dann NGOS herunterladen und unter sources/ng-tools folgendes ausführen

sudo aptitude install libqt4-dev libqwt5-qt4-dev libqwt5-qt4 lib3ds-dev lib3ds-1-3 libsdl-dev \
libsdl-image1.2-dev
./configure --prefix=/usr

Das qmake-Skript funktioniert nicht unter Ubuntu da die qwt Library einen anderen Namen hat. Dies kann aber angepasst werden: Die Datei qngctrl/Makefile.qm editieren und in der Zeile LIBS -lqwt mit -lqwt-qt4 ersetzen.

make
sudo make install

Die Dateien qngctrl, qngctrl-bg.png müssen Manuell installiert werden, da diese im install-Target fehlen.

NGcon und NGusb

stefan — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 17:22:22 +0000

NGusb

Bereits seit einigen Tagen hatte ich die Leiterplatten der beiden Konnektivitätsgeräte NGcon und NGusb. Inzwischen sind auch die dazu benötigten Bauteile angekommen und verbaut. Jedoch funktionierte weder das NGusb noch das NGcon auf anhieb: Beim NGusb stellte sich heraus dass ich die LED verkehrt aufgelötet habe. Die LED sollte beim Einstecken kurz aufblicken, was sie nicht tat. Danach hab ich fälschlicherweise den Jumper gesetzt um das verbundene Gerät mit Spannung zu versorgen. Da der NG jedoch selbst versorgt ist, funktionierte das NGusb nicht. Danach wurde es von Linux erkannt und funktionierte einwandfrei. Die Ausgabe von “dmesg” zeigt das der FTDI Converter auf dem NGcon erkannt wurde:

[15642.821825] usb 8-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 54
[15643.022980] usb 8-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[15643.029828] ftdi_sio 8-1:1.0: FTDI USB Serial Device converter detected
[15643.029884] usb 8-1: Detected FT232RL
[15643.029889] usb 8-1: Number of endpoints 2
[15643.029894] usb 8-1: Endpoint 1 MaxPacketSize 64
[15643.029899] usb 8-1: Endpoint 2 MaxPacketSize 64
[15643.029903] usb 8-1: Setting MaxPacketSize 64
[15643.033485] usb 8-1: FTDI USB Serial Device converter now attached to ttyUSB0

Beim NGcon stellte sich heraus dass zwischen dem RS232 und dem MAX3232 die RX-/TX-Leitungen falsch verbunden sind. Dies kann behoben werden indem die Verbindung zwischen den Via’s (Durchstichlöcher) und dem MAX3232 mit einem Cutter-Messer durchtrennt und mit Lackdraht gekreuzt verbunden wird.

NGcon oben Korrektur

NGcon oben mit Verbesserung

NGcon unten

Die neuen Akkus sollten nächste Woche ankommen, diese wurden heute Nacht versendet. Auch die LIS3L Breakouts sind nun im NG UAVP Shop verfügbar. Obwohl der Erstflug auch ohne diese möglich gewesen wären, ist mir ein komplettes System viel lieber!

Startprobleme

stefan — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 23:26:49 +0000

Leider stellte sich die Kombination der TowerPro w25A mit den Turnigy 28-30 1100KV Motoren als eine nicht zuverlässige Kombination. Gleich drei Motoren hatten Startschwierigkeiten. Auch das Bewegen des NG’s oder aufdrehen der Kraft der Motoren hat sie nicht zum starten gebracht. (Update: Scheinbar lag dies an falschen Firmwares)

TowerPro w25A mit Quax-Software Startprobleme

Ich habe mich deshalb entschieden die Motoren mit dem MK-BL-Controllern zu betreiben da diese deutlich bessere Startroutinen haben. Inzwischen sind die BL-Controller angekommen, eingebaut und getestet. Allerdings hatte ich während meinen Ferien den Akku am NG angeschlossen gelassen, was zur totalen Entladung führte. Was ich nicht wusste, dass der Akku dadurch zerstört wird: Ab einer gewissen Zellenspannung ist der Akku unterladen und nicht wieder aufladbar… Die neuen Lipo-Akkus sind bereits bestellt muss ich mich bis zum Erstflug weiter gedulden.