Flight Controller Board Question

[Blakeanator]

Hello,

I am debating whether or not to get AutoQuad flight board for my quadcopter. I just have one question though that I can't seem to find an answer to. Can the AutoQuad flight board fly a quadcopter with rotating rotors? We would be using the quad plus setup (as seen here: http://autoquad.org/wiki/wiki/getting-s ... ing-table/). The only difference is that rotors A and C would rotate left/right and rotors B and D would rotated forward/backward. Will AutoQuad do this "out of the box" so to speak? If not, can it even be programmed to do that?

Thanks,

Blake

[LPR]

Blake

You can make a custom motor mix so just about any flyable design of multicopter could be controlled.
I'm afraid I don't understand your description of your quadcopter design.
Here some info on the basics of how quadcopters fly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadcopter

Larry

[DUKE40]

Hi Blake,

do you mean that your motors will not be fixed to the frame but could additionally rotate on the quadrocopter arms?
Like the motors of the Boeing V-22 Osprey?

[Max]

Hi Blake, welcome.

Do you mean tilting the motors using servos? A "rotor" already rotates, by definition.

What are you trying to accomplish? Fast yaw rates?

If you mean tilting them for greater yaw control, then yes, I think this would be possible w/out changing code, using the mixing table, but I've never tried nor heard of anyone doing that. You'd need servos capable of 400Hz input rates, unless you modify a bit of code.

However if you just want quicker yaw, IMHO there are easier/more reliable ways to achieve that.

Cheers,
-Max

[Blakeanator]

Hi everyone,

Thank you for the replies. Yes I am trying to achieve an Osprey-like tilt effect on the rotors (I know that rotors already rotate ). I understand that the default setup just speeds up the rotors for the quadcopter's movement. I would need them to also rotate. The idea behind this is that the quadcopter can move about but its frame would always stay level to the ground. It sounds like, from your replies, that doing this should be possible. I'm new the the quadcopter space but have a few years of programming experience. So do I need to extensively recode the board somehow to allow this type of flight? And do I need to attach the servos to the board? So sorry for all my questions, again I'm really new to AutoQuad.

Thanks for all your help!

Blake

[kinderkram]

Hi Blake,

I´ve seen guys trying this with an APM: http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/til ... %3A1480244

From the rare videos they don´t look very stable...

Norbert

[Kisssys]

I have always had interest in the Osprey but it would be a huge project. The real Osprey has swashplates so the mechanical aspect is huge. The software to control it in heli mode or aircraft mode wouldn't be has hard as getting the transition from one to the other correct. I've set in the XV-15 and the controls in the real aircraft are pretty straight forward.

I've seen a flew modelers have done it. Here is one of them.

[Blakeanator]

[Max]

Changing the output frequency of all PWM motor outputs is very simple -- MOTORS_PWM_FREQ macro is defined in each of the board_*.h files. Changing the output of individual ports would be only a little more complicated -- I'd probably put some conditional logic in motors.c/motorsPwmInit() and set the frequency based on port number (motors get 400Hz, servos get 333 or whatever).

I'd say the code option is easier and cheaper than finding servos that work well at 400Hz (333 seems a lot more common). I'd choose good quality servos for such a task, smooth and fast. I'm guessing that a servo which is good for a gimbal would also work well here.

Also, don't power the servos directly from the AQ board -- only hook up signal (and optionally ground) to the motor outputs, and use a BEC for power directly to the servo. You can also use higher voltage servos that way.

-Max

[Debian]

Hi guys,
I'm interested in developing a V-22 Ospery frame and let it fly using AutoQuad M6.
So I have a pair of questions about that.
1) did you already successfully develop such a concept?
2) do you tilt the motors using a ESC or a servo?
3) did you need to change the original code to get a smooth transition between hovering and flying straight?

Thank you very much in advance.