My AutoPilot
RubrChicken
Posts: 39
Well....
Ken spilled the beans on my autopilot project:
He's given me a proto-board and let me borrow his $300 soldering iron, and (I think) I did a pretty good job soldering up 5 headers onto my protoboard. Three of them will go to the servo outputs of my receiver and two will go to servos. I have a DX6 6ch radio (If you're into RC airplanes, you need to upgrade to 2.4ghz) and my plane, the Multiplex easy star
www.hobby-lobby.com/easystar.htm
is 3 channels. I plan to use one other channel for controlling the autopilot on and off, and the other two channels (rudder and elevator) for repeating to the servos (when autopilot is off) and (maybe) for averaging with the autopilot's signal when the autopliot is off. I have some code so far, but I'm not chucking my faithful plane into the air before I know my code is rock solid. The attachment manager won't accept ZIP files, so I'll just attach the file I wrote. Every other object is from the OBEX.
Today, I'm doing a proof of concept flight. I upgraded my easy start to use a lipo battery, which are known for higher energy density than anything else. The plane flies for >20 min, and I've had to attach a lead weight to make it balance because the battery is so light. I have my protoboard hooked so it will get power when the receiver is turned on. My POC code is making the two LEDs I mounted on the foam blink. I used a 150 Ω resistor hooked to two LEDs and ground, then soldered a male right-angle header to the board so I can plug and unlpug my LEDs in at will. Heres the (simple) code:
I haven't made a proper schematic, but here are the pin outs and ins:
0: Header without power
1-4: Headers with power
5-7: LEDs on a right angle header
8-9: Memsic 2125 pins
11:Memsic pin
The rest are unused.
Looking at the memsic from the label:
____________________
| Memsic 2125 |
P9 | | 3.3v
P8 | | P11
Gnd |___________________| NC
That's all for now. Sorry If my post is moderately incoherent and spelled atrociously, It's morning before school (I'm going to fly my plane at school) and I'm not what you would call "awake". It's been scientifically proven that I don't really wake up until 11. I'll post pics, edit this post, and whatever else when I get home from school.
RubrChicken
Ken spilled the beans on my autopilot project:
Ken Gracey (Parallax) said...
I'll stick with RubrChicken. . . but he's not getting anymore hardware out of me until I see his autopilot fly hands-free. Time for him to put down the iPhone and show what he can do [noparse]:)[/noparse]
He's given me a proto-board and let me borrow his $300 soldering iron, and (I think) I did a pretty good job soldering up 5 headers onto my protoboard. Three of them will go to the servo outputs of my receiver and two will go to servos. I have a DX6 6ch radio (If you're into RC airplanes, you need to upgrade to 2.4ghz) and my plane, the Multiplex easy star
www.hobby-lobby.com/easystar.htm
is 3 channels. I plan to use one other channel for controlling the autopilot on and off, and the other two channels (rudder and elevator) for repeating to the servos (when autopilot is off) and (maybe) for averaging with the autopilot's signal when the autopliot is off. I have some code so far, but I'm not chucking my faithful plane into the air before I know my code is rock solid. The attachment manager won't accept ZIP files, so I'll just attach the file I wrote. Every other object is from the OBEX.
Today, I'm doing a proof of concept flight. I upgraded my easy start to use a lipo battery, which are known for higher energy density than anything else. The plane flies for >20 min, and I've had to attach a lead weight to make it balance because the battery is so light. I have my protoboard hooked so it will get power when the receiver is turned on. My POC code is making the two LEDs I mounted on the foam blink. I used a 150 Ω resistor hooked to two LEDs and ground, then soldered a male right-angle header to the board so I can plug and unlpug my LEDs in at will. Heres the (simple) code:
VAR
long i
pub main
repeat i from 5 to 7
DIRA[i]~~
DIRA[noparse][[/noparse]0]~
!OUTA[noparse][[/noparse]6]
repeat
!OUTA
!OUTA[noparse][[/noparse]6]
waitcnt(cnt + 1_000_000)
[/i]
I haven't made a proper schematic, but here are the pin outs and ins:
0: Header without power
1-4: Headers with power
5-7: LEDs on a right angle header
8-9: Memsic 2125 pins
11:Memsic pin
The rest are unused.
Looking at the memsic from the label:
____________________
| Memsic 2125 |
P9 | | 3.3v
P8 | | P11
Gnd |___________________| NC
That's all for now. Sorry If my post is moderately incoherent and spelled atrociously, It's morning before school (I'm going to fly my plane at school) and I'm not what you would call "awake". It's been scientifically proven that I don't really wake up until 11. I'll post pics, edit this post, and whatever else when I get home from school.
RubrChicken
Comments
Need someone to be nervous for you? [noparse]:)[/noparse]
Best of luck, hope to hear good report back later today!
OBC
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
New to the Propeller?
Visit the: The Propeller Pages @ Warranty Void.
I used to 'crash' glow plug planes many years ago. I say crash because I never actually landed one successfully. Really, I never got to the point of trying to land either. However, I did learn how to build planes that could withstand some rather nasty crashes.
Someone else has a quad-copter and autopilot using the prop. I think the thread was something like propeller controlled propeller.
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Links to other interesting threads:
· Home of the MultiBladeProps: TriBladeProp, SixBladeProp, website (Multiple propeller pcbs)
· Single Board Computer:·3 Propeller ICs·and a·TriBladeProp board (ZiCog Z80 Emulator)
· Prop Tools under Development or Completed (Index)
· Emulators: Micros eg Altair, and Terminals eg VT100 (Index)
· Search the Propeller forums (via Google)
My cruising website is: ·www.bluemagic.biz·· MultiBladeProp is: www.bluemagic.biz/cluso.htm
@OBC All went well. I hooked up the proto board to the receiver, the LEDs blinked (I made sure to put red-port and green-starbird). I removed the lead from the lipo, and the plane flew excellently. There was a bit of wind, but all the landings were safe. I even did a touch-and-go! (not easy on a plane without landing gear).
@Cluso99 Nice! I got the DX6 when it was top of the line, no fancy LCD display for me.