Monday, 14 December 2009
Construction and set-up manual released
The set-up manual is finished (you'll find it at the top right of this blog). I tried to address all potential questions & difficulties, but I am sure I missed some. The manual will be improved when I get some feedback from you.
Saturday, 5 December 2009
Stability tests...
A quick video: Using different props or adding weight to one of the booms doesn't really change anything.
I also tried to make the tricopter as small as possible. I can't see any differences in flight characteristics nor in flight stability:
I also tried to make the tricopter as small as possible. I can't see any differences in flight characteristics nor in flight stability:
Friday, 4 December 2009
GUI released and some other things
Okay, today there are some more news on the project:
First of all, I can release the GUI. It was tested on Windows Vista and Windows XP. I hope that the GUI is at least partially self-explanatory, but I'll write a tutorial soon.
TriGUI v1.0 features:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=AB99342F-5D1A-413D-8319-81DA479AB0D7&displaylang=en
The newest release will always be available from the link in the right column of this blog. There, you'll also find the latest firmware (.bas and compiled as .hex).
I built a second Shrediquette for Eric, a nice guy from Paris/ France. This gave me the opportunity to check the setup again. I had no problems during construction at all, everything worked very fine. As soon as I did some outdoor test, the tricopter will be shipped to Eric.
I am thinking about making a I²C -> PWM converter, to enable the use of standard ESCs (a number of people requested this possibility). I already designed a PCB, I would like to use an ATtiny45 (one µC for each ESC). The converter is only 17 x 17 mm (0.7 x 0.7 inch). The converter will be powered by the BEC of the ESC. Using two solder jumpers, the user can select PWM refresh rate (like 50Hz, 100Hz, 200Hz, 400Hz or so). Now for the problems...: As you might have noticed, my personal Shrediquette flies very good with I²C ESCs. Therefore, I don't need this converter. I don't have any standard ESCs, so I can't test the converters (my programming skills always require extensive testing to find all the errors I made ;-D). I am not willing to buy three ESCs because I simply don't need them. So, if anyone out there is planning to build a Shrediquette with standard ESCs, it would be very nice if he or she would borrow me the ESCs for testing purposes.
The last news is that I succeeded in doing a double and a triple flip. The double flip is not critical, but the height loss for the triple flip is quite high... I will keep on trying to improve my flying skills...
First of all, I can release the GUI. It was tested on Windows Vista and Windows XP. I hope that the GUI is at least partially self-explanatory, but I'll write a tutorial soon.
TriGUI v1.0 features:
- COM ports 1-30 selectable
- Saving and loading parameter-sets to/ from hard disc
- Stick sensitivity (roll & nick, yaw) for acro and hover mode
- Exponential agility boost for acro mode
- Minimum throttle (idle up)
- Free channel assignment (CH. 1-4) for throttle, nick, roll, yaw
- Motor deactivation (safety feature)
- Inversion of the directions of the gyro's and the ACC's
- Modify parameters for the complimentary filter
- Hover and acro mode PID parameters
- Voltage warning threshold
- Display problems with reception
- Realtime display of sensors, transmitter and voltage level
- Firmware update via RS232 with a single button click
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=AB99342F-5D1A-413D-8319-81DA479AB0D7&displaylang=en
The newest release will always be available from the link in the right column of this blog. There, you'll also find the latest firmware (.bas and compiled as .hex).
I built a second Shrediquette for Eric, a nice guy from Paris/ France. This gave me the opportunity to check the setup again. I had no problems during construction at all, everything worked very fine. As soon as I did some outdoor test, the tricopter will be shipped to Eric.
I am thinking about making a I²C -> PWM converter, to enable the use of standard ESCs (a number of people requested this possibility). I already designed a PCB, I would like to use an ATtiny45 (one µC for each ESC). The converter is only 17 x 17 mm (0.7 x 0.7 inch). The converter will be powered by the BEC of the ESC. Using two solder jumpers, the user can select PWM refresh rate (like 50Hz, 100Hz, 200Hz, 400Hz or so). Now for the problems...: As you might have noticed, my personal Shrediquette flies very good with I²C ESCs. Therefore, I don't need this converter. I don't have any standard ESCs, so I can't test the converters (my programming skills always require extensive testing to find all the errors I made ;-D). I am not willing to buy three ESCs because I simply don't need them. So, if anyone out there is planning to build a Shrediquette with standard ESCs, it would be very nice if he or she would borrow me the ESCs for testing purposes.
The last news is that I succeeded in doing a double and a triple flip. The double flip is not critical, but the height loss for the triple flip is quite high... I will keep on trying to improve my flying skills...
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