New TriCopter

[cardboard]

My 3rd multi copter, have recently changed to tri and am very happy with it. Excellent yaw control and way easier to get orientation, not to mention folding as well.
Flying it with my home made joystick 2.4ghz TX

Currently waiting on a 5.8ghz 200mw FPV system

[Noctaro]

hey cardboard!
wich kind of wood did you use for that? Your construction looks very smart.
Btw. awsome Joystick mod!!!! How did you do this? Is there an controller that translates the joystick input?

greetz noc

[cardboard]

The 2 plates are plywood cut with a hole saw, the booms are 12mm square pine.
Its rather sturdy but is on the heavy side, almost 700grams in i remember correctly.
This is the newest design- fully loaded with fpv and a 2200mah batt its only weighs only 500g and the performance gain is huge. With a 1300mah batt and no fpv gear the weight goes down to 300g and it makes it really nimble and fun.

Still using the same pine and plywood but a smaller base, only single sided and non folding.

The joystick really does it for me, makes the flying experience so much more enjoyable. I don't normally fly aircraft with rudder and have never flown heli so needing to use the rudder input on a standard TX was a bit to much, but with a joystick it comes far more naturally . That and it means i can fly with one hand for short periods of time, great for tweaking goggles when fpving or just brushing hair out of my face.
Basically I gutted an old saitech joystick, leaving the pots and all the buttons. The code base I got from http://www.ianjohnston.com/content/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=32:project-rc-joystick-tx&catid=3:hobbies&Itemid=8, one of the early devs and i modded it for my use. It uses an arduino to read the pots/ any switches, do any mixing, encode a ppm signal which goes to a standard 2.4ghx TX, in this case a corona 2.4.
The trims are on the hat switch/ thumb buttons, all trim settings are written to eprom so there saved between flying sessions. There is also more features including toggle switches for AUX1 (acro on/off as I am just starting to learn to fly in this mode)

If you wish I can share my code, but it needs a little tidying up before hand as I never wrote it to look prety

This is my latest (I have no props atm and am having issues with multiwii) and there are some clips of my setup in use via the fpv camera. Me flying recording me flying o.0
http://vimeo.com/28620388

[Noctaro]

nice captures!

The joystick really does it for me, makes the flying experience so much more enjoyable. I don't normally fly aircraft with rudder and have never flown heli so needing to use the rudder input on a standard TX was a bit to much, but with a joystick it comes far more naturally . That and it means i can fly with one hand for short periods of time, great for tweaking goggles when fpving or just brushing hair out of my face.
Basically I gutted an old saitech joystick, leaving the pots and all the buttons. The code base I got from http://www.ianjohnston.com/content/inde ... s&Itemid=8, one of the early devs and i modded it for my use. It uses an arduino to read the pots/ any switches, do any mixing, encode a ppm signal which goes to a standard 2.4ghx TX, in this case a corona 2.4.
The trims are on the hat switch/ thumb buttons, all trim settings are written to eprom so there saved between flying sessions. There is also more features including toggle switches for AUX1 (acro on/off as I am just starting to learn to fly in this mode)

Ok that sounds quite cool, on my way to order a new arduino (pro mini should be fine?). I have experience in flying helis and planes, so my mx16 does it for the moment...
But i was thinking of your solution of control since my first attemps to build a quad! Genious....I can belive that it feels way more natural to control!
Also cool that you integrated the trim function to your coolie, clever to write the settings to eprom!
I recently ordered an FRSKY 2,4 ghz hack module. It works on trainer ports of different RC systems and uses PPM, do you think it could work?

If you would share your code that would be great! I have only basic knowlege about C, so it could happen that i keep on bothering you if i dont get it

Btw. would you post me the exact name of your joystick? Maybe i am able to get the same one.

Don´t stress yourself ^^

greetz
Noc

btw.: Big up for Pendulum!

[stylesuxx]

Hey cardboard,
this is awesome!
Noctaro "infected" me with the whole WiiCopter thing and since the last weekend I have my own

He also showed me your Joystick Mod, which is absolutely awesome.
I am also interested in the source code. Doesn't even matter if it is clean or not

Keep up the good work.

Greetz
Chris

[cardboard]

i tidied up the code a bit today, commented it some more and what not.
Was going to make a google code project to host all the work but it seems its down for maintenance.
Ill post a link here when its all up

[cardboard]

And go Pendulum!!
Team Blacksheep (my personal fav fpv guys) have this video with Pendulum soundtrack.
http://www.vimeo.com/23038820

[cardboard]

Ok its all up and running now.
http://code.google.com/p/tx-joystick/updates/list
1.3 works pretty dam well but if you want to write your own code based on mine id suggest looking at 1.0 and up as they are very minimal and would be easier to build on from scratch. Also check out the work I based mine off.
I don't see to many updates in the near future as the current build is stable and i don't need any new features yet. I have some head tracking code in the works but its on hold at the moment and that may also go up when its polished off.

If you have any direct questions or help fell free to contact me, I realize allot is left uncommented, especially on the hardware setup side of things.

Happy flying.

[stylesuxx]

Thank you cardboard!

I will dive into the code in the evening - eventually I will ask some questions here.
Can you tell me which transmitter/receiver combo you use.

And thanks for the vid, these guys are awesome too.

Greetz
Chris

[cardboard]

it is a saitech joystick with a corona 2.4 DIY tx/rx set thing. any with ppm will do the job tho

[stylesuxx]

Alright, thx for the info.
I took a brief look at the code(V 1.0) and it looks like you are connecting the potis of the Joystick directly to the arduino, so it shouldn't really matter which Joystick I get - simply rip out all boards and connect the wires to the arduino. I am planning on purchasing this one => http://www.amazon.de/Saitek-J18-Cyborg- ... B00000JKLW

In the source I also saw that a arduino nano was used, I guess I can use the Arduino Pro Mini too since I will only use 6 AI Pins?

I am planning on purchasing this rx/tx combo => http://www.toprc.de/rca503-corona-24ghz ... 96625.html I guess this should do it?

Let me know what you think.

Greetz
Chris

[cardboard]

Im using a lillypad which is basically the exact same as a pro mini so it should be fine,
The only reason I mention a specific joystick is that I've come across some really old joysticks that use a light sensor array instead of pots and some really new joysticks use other optical rotation sensors instead of pots. But the one you hae showen looks fine ata glance. And that TX will work fine, just dont mix up the wire config when your plugging it in, ive lost one TX to that mistake

[Noctaro]

Hey guys,
@ cardboard thx for sharing your code, will have a look at it today. So far i found an old Sidewinder Joystick, looking forward to connect it if it got pottis.


@ stylesuxx
I got my arduino clone very cheap from ebay within 3 days! Check it out!
http://www.ebay.at/itm/DFRobot-Pro-Mini ... 3cba908577
Works like a charm, -> I created an little Soundmodule to test it.
By the way yesterday i recieved my
FrSky Module:
http://www.ebay.at/itm/FrSky-2-4G-DIY-R ... 1e61a7e9c2
this should do the trick and you gonna save money!

greetz
Noc

[stylesuxx]

@Noctaro the clone looks nice, but I already ordered two arduinos but I guess you can never have enough of them
The RF Module also looks interesting, but I guess I'm better off with the Corona since I get a receiver too and we can then compare them and I can finally return your RX/TX
The Joystick I wanted to buy is not shipped to Austria, so I have to look for an alternative, maybe this one: http://geizhals.at/53973

@cardboard I went through the Code yesterday, just Version 1.0 for now and I have a couple of questions:
* The trim settings are only saved not read out anywhere
* god and jesus are only there to check if the trim settings changed
* what is this dualrate stuff? Do we need that?
* there seem to be two pins asigned to the buzzer, one time it is pin 9 and the other time it is pin 12 - or am I missing something here?
* why are the trims defined as byte and int and then typecasted again?
* I guess I can add two more channels for the PPM output in the same manner the others are added, since I was thinking about adding one channel for light on/off and another to trigger a servo or so via the joystick

I commented it a bit more and I was thinking - maybe we should make a small project out of it, with a schematic how to connect everything - I could make pics while building mine and we can write that down in a Wiki or so, what do you think cardboard?

Greetz
Chris

[Noctaro]

@stylesuxx
right cant get enough arduinos! XD
Ok, its gonna be intresting to check performance of the modules.
Of course i would also share my experience if you plan to create an wiki page!

Watch out! You need at least 4 AXIS on your stick to sucessfull control your copter. Your posted one got only 3 axis.

Something like that -> http://geizhals.at/277238
should be fine i think.

btw. DUALRATE does change the smoothness of your stick.......more ore less reaction to your inputs!

greetz
noc

[stylesuxx]

Oh, thanks for the hint with the axis, haven't looked at that.

Greetz
Chris

[cardboard]

@cardboard I went through the Code yesterday, just Version 1.0 for now and I have a couple of questions:
* The trim settings are only saved not read out anywhere
* god and jesus are only there to check if the trim settings changed
* what is this dualrate stuff? Do we need that?
* there seem to be two pins asigned to the buzzer, one time it is pin 9 and the other time it is pin 12 - or am I missing something here?
* why are the trims defined as byte and int and then typecasted again?
* I guess I can add two more channels for the PPM output in the same manner the others are added, since I was thinking about adding one channel for light on/off and another to trigger a servo or so via the joystick

I commented it a bit more and I was thinking - maybe we should make a small project out of it, with a schematic how to connect everything - I could make pics while building mine and we can write that down in a Wiki or so, what do you think cardboard?

Ok time to work through all this

*In 1.0 trim was not fully implemented. in 1.0 i grabbed Ian J's code and destroyed it enough to work with my code, in later revisions the code is more streamlined and i cut out many things i didn't use/features were fully used.
*Yea my variables aren't the most usefully named but you are correct, they are there to check if the trim state has changed from the last time it was checked.
*dualrate was used by Ian's code, he had a switch to go between low and high rates, as the joystick is only for multiwii the dualrate was removed completely latter on and i use the dualrate built into the gui as it has far more resolution as the way it is implemented in the multiwii code.
*The buzzer being assigned to two pins is me moving the pin and not removing the original assignment.
*data in the eprom is stored as bytes and when i read them in on setup they are casted to int so that math functions can be preformed on them. I may have gone about this a bad way but it seem to work.
*if you look at 1.6 there is already ppm code setup for 8 channels and I have one set up as a mode switch.

I really like the idea of making it into a full project, it would be really nice to have to polished off nicely and have it available for anyone to pick up and use easily.

One last heads up that is a real fail on my end.....i do believe rudder and elevator are mixed up in the code. It's an issue i never fixed, It just needs the variables named correctly.

[stylesuxx]

cardboard, thanks for the explanation - I think I understand everything now.
I went through 1.3 too - nice job!

Can't wait for my arduino to arrive
Unfortunately the Corona transmitter doesn't seem to be on stock - after payment. meh.

Where do we want to document all this? Do we have a Wiki around here?

Greetz
Chris

[cardboard]

Yea 1.3 is far nicer to look at as far as layed out-commented-completed code goes.
No wiki as of yet, there is the wiki built in to Google code but i don't think its that amazing purely because I don't see it used.

I hope the Corona module doesn't take forever to get to you.

[stylesuxx]

Finally my new tx/rx combo arrived though it is not the Corona since the shop had some problems with backorders.
They sent me this one: http://www.myrcmart.com/kds2008b2-kds8x ... -2495.html
My Joystick already was prepared and only the tx needed attaching - everything seems to work like a charm.

I have to say that I rewrote most of the software because I wanted to dive in the whole arduino stuff a bit more and understand PPM
Cardboard, may I join your google code project and add my code?

I hope I find some time this weekend to go on a testflight

Greetz
Chris

[cardboard]

nicely done, be intereested in seeing how you redone it. I reworked someone elses code when i did it as well.
Over the last few days I have integrated a wmp into my fpv goggles and use the arduino on board my joystick to work headtracking into one of the spare channels.

btw how do you add people to a code group??

[stylesuxx]

Hey Guys! I was able to test flight it yesterday in the evening and today - it was amazing.
It is so much easier to use a Joystick than a regular remote. I think you could give a total n00b the Joystick and he could fly the copter within minutes,.... not that I am going to test it

Cardboard, you can add me through the google code project's people tab to your project (stylesuxx [et] gmail.com)

Maybe I have some time later on then i will take some pics and put them in another Thread - I also documented the build a bit - if we have a wiki or so around here I can post it - or Noc, what do you think about putting up a mediawiki on your domain? wiki.quandrocopter.at ?

Greetz
Chris

[cardboard]

glad to see someone else having such great sucsess with it. joystick is far easy
Just as an update, i recently removed the end point adjustment from my code, i have a sneaking felling it was causing drift in my copter.
will add you to the code thingy now stylesuxx

[Noctaro]

Ahrg! thats great Chris, cant wait to test it!
Mediawiki is an cool idea! I´ll start right away!

greetz
noc

[Noctaro]

ok, wiki is up and running!
i will install the subdomain later today.
for now you can reach it at
http://www.quadrocopter.at/mediawiki

greeetz noc

[cardboard]

mean a wiki
uploaded some more versions of code that ive tinkered with over the last few weeks as well for anyone that has been following