newbie question. Is propeller the way to go?

J.T.

Hi,

The project I am working on will require me to control 4 motor speeds·seperately.· It's basically a four rotor flying vehicle, so I would need to be reading input from 3 separate gyros, and then controlling the·appropriate motor(s)·speeds based on the input from the gyros.

I have the basic stamp, but this point I believe the stamp is not the best option to handle the multi-tasking, and it would seem the propeller would be the way to go with it's 8·processors to handle these tasks seperately.· But before I go too far down one path, can anyone advise if they agree with the propeller for this?· Partly I ask because it seems like most people are using the propeller for graphics, etc...

Thanks!



·

Rayman

This sounds right up Prop's alley to me!

Sparks-R-Fun

I concur. The Stamps will not be able to do what you have proposed. The Propeller is your best Parallax option for this task.

Have fun explaining to people that your flying machine has four propellers outside that all respond to a hidden Propeller inside!

- Sparks

J.T.

Thanks guys!

...yes, the propeller that controlls the "other" propellers!!

acy.stapp

J.T. said...

The project I am working on will require me to control 4 motor speeds seperately. It's basically a four rotor flying vehicle, so I would need to be reading input from 3 separate gyros, and then controlling the appropriate motor(s) speeds based on the input from the gyros.


Thanks!

What kind of i/os do you need to read your guidance and gyros and to control motor RPM? Analog, PWM, serial?
What's your target update rate? 1/s? 10/s? 100/s?
How heavy-duty is your control system, does it use a lot of CPU computing responses or memory for control tables?
Will the cpu be doing any other taks like wireless communication, data logging, or reading control information from a sd card?

J.T.

Acy, thanks for your questions...

What kind of i/os do you need to read your guidance and gyros and to control motor RPM? Analog, PWM, serial?
Both the gyros and the motor speed controls require PWM.· I am looking into the Polulu motor speed controllers.

What's your target update rate? 1/s? 10/s? 100/s?
definitely the quicker the better.· For stabilization, it probably needs to be about 10/s.

How heavy-duty is your control system, does it use a lot of CPU computing responses or memory for control tables?
The input from the sensors is the main computing, not much memory needed.

Will the cpu be doing any other taks like wireless communication, data logging, or reading control information from a sd card?
no.· I may incorporate a GPS receiver, but for now, just trying to get the stabilization down.
·

acy.stapp

This doesn't look too difficult for a stamp but it will be a breeze with the propeller, so to speak. And it will give you room to grow if you want to add a GPS. Sounds like a fun project.

I hadn't heard of those Pololu motor controllers but now they're firmly bookmarked. The prop should have no problems driving several of these at once.