Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Marty on January 16, 2009 at 8:18pm

I thought Jack Crossfire had sucess with the SCP1000 on his Vicacopter although readin later posts it looks as if he decided against it.

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ModeratorPermalink Reply by Chris Anderson on January 16, 2009 at 8:42pm

GPS modules from the SirfIII chipset on can all do a reasonable job of altitude measurement. We use the EM406 with ArduPilot and get about 1m resolution, and the Mediatek (Locosys) and Ublox chipsets are even better.

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Permalink Reply by borneobear on January 17, 2009 at 7:16am

Thanks for the feedback guys. I've been doing a lot of reading here.
Will update after I've narrowed down all I need.

How the Ardupilot will come back in stock soon.... :)

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Permalink Reply by James on January 17, 2009 at 4:24pm

Hey,

I know there is a way to set up throttle hold at whatever throttle you are at when you flick the switch but am not sure. Neither am I sure that's what you want but its a good start. I gues to stay in one place you could put some gyros rigged up to the cyclics (turn off heading hold!). I don't know about some fancy gizmo that will do it for you but i'm sure there is one.

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Permalink Reply by borneobear on January 17, 2009 at 10:27pm

HI James..
Actually my aim is very very simple; I'm doing aerial photography, and all I want is the heli to simply (autonomously) reach a pre-programmed altitude and stay there.

Stabilization is handled independently via an AP2000i mixer and FMA thermophile (won't be linked to the autopilot).

The reason for wanting altitude hold is that, when I'm at 400 feet, its very difficult to maintain altitude while at the same time flying the heli and taking pictures.

All help and input is very much appreciated. :)

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Permalink Reply by Mike on January 19, 2009 at 5:34am

Borneobear,
how do you find the AP2000i for stability - i was just looking at buying one for my Hirobo Shuttle and saw you are using it - would be nice to have an independent opinion.

Maybe you could use the Ardupilot with GPS but only connect the throttle servo and input a nominal waypoint with altitude - the horizontal navigation would effectively be ignored but presumably the altitude part of the program would work as that controls the throttle on a fixed wing so you are kind of in a similar situation then? Whether you would have to modify the code I don't know - someone more familiar might comment?

Cheers,
Mike

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Permalink Reply by borneobear on January 19, 2009 at 5:52pm

Hi Permalink,
I've been using the AP2000i for over two years now and its been trouble free. I haven't had any problems even when flying over water, near buildings or when the sun is low. On my other AP heli, I'm using the Helicommand 3A. But I find the AP2000I more stable in comparison.

Thanks for the suggestion on the Alt hold. I have the same idea as you, which sounds simple enough, my search on this site gives the impression that GPS Alt feedback is unstable, so much so that filters are required.
Others have suggested Alt hold via barometers, which contradicts what others have said (in other forums).


I'm kinda stuck here at the moment.

Any input would be much appreciated.

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ModeratorPermalink Reply by Chris Anderson on January 19, 2009 at 6:13pm

GPS altitude accuracy has improved tremendously with the current generation of chipsets (Mediatek, Ublox, SirfIII). We filter out crazy readings (>20m from last recorded data) for safety's sake, but I don't think we've ever had to invoke that.

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Permalink Reply by muhammad jawad majid malik on April 11, 2009 at 10:41pm

Hi Friend!
You mentioned of using the AP2000i on your Helis and found it better than other brands.Can you please guide me whether I could also use AP2000i for my Heli which is with fly bars, a HIROBO SCEADU?

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Permalink Reply by borneobear on April 12, 2009 at 5:34pm

The AP2000i can be used on any heli, with or without flybar. Go to runryder.com and do a search there.

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Permalink Reply by James on January 18, 2009 at 10:19pm

Hi,

i really don't know anything about all this automatic UAV stuff at all, just the mechanics/electronics systems of an aircraft but as Chris said a GPS module that is rigged up to only go to a certain height is the best option.

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Permalink Reply by borneobear on January 19, 2009 at 5:53pm

Will look into what Chris said. Thanks.

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