There's been a lot of odd ("botched") reporting on this, so I'm hoping that this will help clear things up a bit. Why it's so difficult for reporters to actually read five pages of surprisingly clearly written text is beyond me. It took me about two hours to go through and type this up. NY Times, give me a call!
Later I'll do the same for the California bill (much less clearly written!). As always, leave me some comment or corrections if you've got them!
I've highlighted some important parts of the text concerning civilian or hobbyist use. Scan down and read those and you'll have a reasonable idea of how the law applies.
tl;dr: If you're flying over public property, private property with permission of the owner, or not intending to surveil a particular person, you're good to fly by this law.
Here's the followup to this post where I promised to cover the setup and operation of proper setup and operation of a brushless gimbal.
Right now it's a work in progress, as I'm just starting to fiddle with the thing. Like most postings here, this is just a journal of my continuing ignorance, so feel free to leave questions and comments below.
When I'm finished with this, I'll probably split this into two posts: one for building the software, getting the drivers installed, and getting the GUI running, and one on actually using the GUI to tune the gimbal.
If you've got a CHDK-enabled camera, here's a nice instructable that shows how to control it with an RC radio. It uses an Arduino Pro Mini to interface between the receiver and the camera USB.
Chris A. chimed in in the comment section noting that this functionality is now built into the APM software, and that there is a MAVLink command to trigger the camera shutter.
I have to say, even though as a practical matter I would use the APM to control this, it's interesting seeing the more bare-bones approach in this instructable.
It looks like a nice platform for learning some basics due to it's simplicity. I've been contemplating some time of rover, and I think this might be the one.
Here's the video, which I had some trouble embedding. Click through the link below for a better view.
When I first started messing with RC planes, the All Things That Fly podcast was my online flying club. They're smart guys, and also nice and funny.
So, you can imagine how pleased I was to appear on their show #267, talking about our experiences with Brushless Gimbals. The best part is that when you get bored of hearing me talk, you can skip ahead until it gets interesting!
The direct link is here, but if you're at all interested in radio controlled flying things you owe it to yourself to go to their main page and subscribe.
A couple of weeks ago KBS sent a crew from their "World Today" news show to the US to report on the current state of civilian drone technology. Andreas and I demoed both fixed wing and multirotor craft, and took them for an FPV ride. They also talked to 3DRobotics and the ever-awesome Roswell Flight Test Crew. Lawyers, Protesters, Law Enforcement and Activists are also featured, blessing the Korean population with their views on the current state of American dronism.
The broadcast is of course in Korean. This clip from "World Today" is used by permission of KBS.
The videography was really good. Here's some shots from the EastBay segment.
Need a voltage regulator module for your project? Turns out that's just another name for UBEC! Most of them are advertised as being switching mode (good, uses less power and generates less heat) and polarity protection.
Andreas just received his new RC Timer Gimbal and Martinez controller. I went over to assist with the build and take some pictures. Here's the parts as they came from RC Timer. Note that you need to order the motors in addition to the gimbal and controller. The motors are included as part of the gimbal kit. There's an RCG thread.
Here's everything out of the package. There was one bolt missing. Be careful with the bag that contains the grub screws and C rings. They're really tiny.
For Lemon Rx 8 channels receiver, failsafe is available for all channels and some user may found it useful (for robotics application or UAV).
When bind plug is still plugged after successful binding, pressing the mem. button will cause the receiver to memorize all channels settings at the time the button is pressed for use in failsafe. If the failsafe is enabled correctly, green light should be on at the bottom of receiver. Press mem. button again while bind plug is plugged will cause the green light to turn off. This indicate the failsafe mode is disabled. Take the bind plug out before flying! Even in the event of power disconnected, failsafe settings are still saved and will restore to its functions accordingly when power is provided.
About failsafe enabled: When the primary receiver and satellite receiver is unable to detect any RF signal for continuous time interval of approximately 3 seconds, all channels will be restored to the saved setting. At this point the receiver will try to find valid RF signal. If valid signal is detected, the receiver will use the valid signal immediately.
About failsafe disabled: When signal is lost for continuous time interval of approximately 3 seconds, all channels will have no output (all outputs are pulled to ground). If you don't like failsafe, make sure green light is not on before flying!
We aware that most people use CPPM/PPM for Adurino application, which is mostly used in quad-flyer or robotics.
We had actually implemented CPPM/PPM sum output for 8 channels receiver. However CPPM/PPM sum is just too rough and troublesome for quad or drone application (including resolutions / number of channels/easy of implementation/ delays..etc.).
It maybe better to switch to HUART which is currently available for 8 channels in the long run (high speed UART, 115200bps, 8N1). Use Adurino to read the HUART data directly. If you can check out our website, we have already simplify as much as we can for easy integration for Adurino or other embedded system application.
Andreas and I went flying this morning, and were seeing how close-in we could navigate. Turns out closer than we thought! Amazingly, total damage was one prop tip sliced cleanly off.
Direct from the manufacturer in lovely Woodland, CA... they build em, they sell em! As you'll probably guess, they're prop builders and not web page designers. http://www.apcprop.com/v/index.html
sparrow1717 shares his design in this RCG thread and provides these notes:
10mm SlowStick aluminum fuse for arms
5in props
WMC FLIP FC
12 amp escs
2900 kv motors
2S 1000 mah batt
240 mm span
170mm motor to motor
7oz AUW
"I went with the H layout for ease of build and extra surface area for carrying cams or whatever. Try to build as light as you can. Weighing in at 7 ounces my quad flies quite spirited on 2S. As far as the frame spacing . I decided something close to 250mm diag spacing as this seems to be a popular size for 5 in props. I finalized at 170 mm from motor to motor.
Optimized interrupt handlers to minimize servo jitter.
The Aux input is no longer just on/off. It controls the gain for the stabilization correction from 0% (full off) to 100% (full on) and anything in between.
The reverse switches are no longer needed to reverse the correction. Thus they are available for other functions.
The gain controls function differently. The 12 o'clock position is 0 gain, counter clockwise from 12 o'clock adds correction in one direction, clockwise from 12 o'clock adds correction in the opposite direction. Thus no longer a need for reverse switches.
Adds Attitude Hold to allow the current attitude to be maintained.
Snapped from a video interview with DJI CEO Colin Guinn at NAB 2013. Most of the talk was about their new brushless gimbal, but what caught my eye was the blade guard on one of their upcoming models. I might try making something like this for the Arcticopter!
The Walkera RC Magic Cube MTC-01 V2. Can be plugged into trainer port, and also has an iphone android app. On sale at Hobby One. Review and binding instructions here. Notes on the app here.
You can use the mtc-01 on your 9x and I have flown my ladybird using it with stock 9x firmware. but you have to reverse some channels. I recommend you upgrade the stock 9x firmware to er9x, because on the stock 9x firmware the elev and aile channel is swapped and there is no way you can change it with stock firmware. With er9x you can easily change it.
And compare these to the Movi, now getting a lot of discussion in the camera world. Even at $15k the equipment it replaces makes it an attractive platform.
hdr len seq sys cmp id payload (len 9)------------------ crc--- 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 a b c d e f 10 FE 09 4E 01 01 00 00 00 00 00 02 03 51 04 03 1C 7F
Fixed Header (6 octets)
0. packet header, always 0xFE
1. message length (9)
2. sequence number -- rolls around from 255 to 0 (0x4e, previous was 0x4d)
3. source system - what system is sending this message (1)
4. source component - what component of the system is sending the message (1)
5. message ID (0 = heartbeat) Variable Sized Payload (specified in octet 1, range 0..255)
06-0e. payload Packet Checksum
0f-10. CRC25
In common use (single aircraft, single autopilot), source component and systems will be (1,1)
Here's some notes on elevon mixing with er9x. It's pretty simple once you know the basics. Here's some background on how elevons work. Check out the calculations page... I think it's the only page on the Web with the mixing formulas -- at least as far as I could find!
Here's the mix. The right and left elevons are on channels 2 and 3, respectively. Note that the +/- values of the mix will be determined by the servo installation, so follow the technique on the video to make sure nothing is reversed.
You have a couple of choices to enhance the strength of the wing spar.1. Drill (see 1a) out the spar hole and put in an 8mm CF.1a. To make a "drill", wrap and glue a piece of 80 (or60) grit sandpaper on the end of a 7/16" dowel rod and drill out the spar hole - takes about 30 seconds.1b. Install new 8mm CF spar with the old 6mm spar slid inside it.1c. OR - put 3-3mm CF tubes inside the new 8mm spar.2. Almost as good - Put a 4mm CF tube and a 3mm tube inside the existing 6mm stock tube.
This post is mainly for my own convenience, listing out the software I've downloaded to do thing 3D-printerish.
MakerWare -- driving the MakerBot (update: ReplicatorG is better, use it)
ReplicatorG -- an open source alternative to MakerWare
SketchUp -- for drawing objects
OpenSCAD -- for programmatic generation of objects
Sketchup STL import/export -- plugin to import/export, here. (update:If you get an error on import, it's most likely that your plugin directory is not writable.)
Here's one that even stronger... the 10 inch prop requires you to cut into the tail boom a bit. Andreas and I are hoping that the extra power will be worth it when it's full up on FPV and autopilot gear.
(note: this motor has a limit of 32 amps, and as configured it hits 30 amps on the bench... be forewarned!)
BTW, regarding servos... you need 6 if you do the flaps. I'm pleased with these. If your radio can handle the mixing, you can use two channels for the flaps. Otherwise, get a servo reverser.
RTL Fasteners has a great collection of metric fasteners at what seems to be a pretty good price. Way better than the local hardware store, where they seem to believe that M2 and M3 fasteners are made from 24K gold! The have a giant super-pack as well.
Here's the Small Parts motor mount extension I got for the Bixler 2. It's rated for up to 9 inch prop, but following Andreas' lead I trimmed a notch in the Bixler tail and fit a 10 x 4.7. It draws 30 amps off a 3S battery.
HK now has a similar mount... no idea how it works, but it's certainly a bit cheaper.
Some notes on HD keychain cams. #16 v2 seems to be the good one. eletoponline365 seems to be a good vendor. The "D" lens seems to be popular for FPV coz it gives a wider field of view.
Cheap GPS hackery here. Very interesting, and it can save on some projects. Ebay searchage for "U-blox PCI-5S" and "GPS Ceramic Internal Patch 1575.42MHz Antenna 20x20x7mm" about $15 combined!
I do a lot of construction and repair with Beacon Foam-Tac. It's safe on all kinds of foams, doesn't have stinky fumes, dries quickly, doesn't yellow, and maintains a rubbery, resiliant quality.
I broke off the nose of my F-22 yesterday, and thought I'd document the repair. EPP foam is great for this kind of disaster. I applied the Foam-Tac to one surface, mashed and unmashed the surfaces together, let dry for a few seconds, and made the final join.
In under an hour the joint is firm. I think the directions say to let it cure for 24 hours for maximum strength. As you can see here, it's nearly impossible to see the repair line.
Here's a video of the process. Made with my new downshooter!
Here's my new downshooting rig! It's always been a serious pain to set up a tripod on the workbench to shoot, because it takes up all the room on the workbench! I saw this instructable, and here's my version of it. The clever bit is using the two linked pipe clamps to make the 90 degree connector for the boom.
I followed the instructable pretty closely. I used 1 inch dowels for sturdiness, and didn't bother embedding the tripod mount, since I've got an iphone tripod mount already. Instead of using wire to attach the camera holder, I just cut the dowel and used glue. I liked how the instructions for aligning the iphone brackets use the iphone itself, wrapped in a plastic shopping bag, which doesn't stick to the epoxy.
Here's a shot showing how I cut and glued the camera bracket. I used PU glue (white gorilla glue) which was quick and filled up the gap from my crooked cut.
If the shaking is too bad, I'm going to mount the leftover bit of dowel as shown here (using two more pipe clamps) and brace the rig against the wall. Hopefully that won't be necessary.
Here's a still shot. The still camera has a wider viewing angle than the video.
Note: the camera was in portait mode, so I had to rotate this and the following pictures. Be sure and put the camera in landscape mode if that's how you want to shoot.
Here's a shot where I was bumping the table. It seems it may not be as much of a problem as I had feared.
Here's a shot while the rig is vibrating up and down. Even with this, there's only a little distortion.
And a shot while the arm is oscillating side to side. I gave the rig a pretty strong tug, far more than would ever be caused by a simple bump. Watch this in the video, it's pretty alarming!
Overall, it looks like it might work pretty well, at least based on this first impression. Here's a video showing the rig and taking some test videos.
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