MHV Quadcopter Manuale di istruzioni

Stephen Dade

MHV Quadcopter

Workshop Manual 2

July/August 2013

V 3.1 MHV Quadcopter Workshop Page 1 of 36

Table of Contents

Objective .................................................................................................................................................3

What to bring to the Workshop.............................................................................................................. 3

The hardware.......................................................................................................................................... 3

The software ........................................................................................................................................... 3

Ground Station.................................................................................................................................... 3

Autopilot ............................................................................................................................................. 4

ESC’s....................................................................................................................................................4

Transmitter .........................................................................................................................................5

Radios.................................................................................................................................................. 5

Build Instructions .................................................................................................................................... 5

Timing..................................................................................................................................................5

Evening 1................................................................................................................................................. 5

Introduction to Quadcopters ..............................................................................................................5

Components........................................................................................................................................ 6

Generating Thrust ...............................................................................................................................6

Basic Stats ........................................................................................................................................... 7

Autopilot Modes ................................................................................................................................. 7

Initial charging of the battery .............................................................................................................8

Frame assembly .................................................................................................................................. 8

Evening 2...............................................................................................................................................10

Transmitter Firmware Upgrade ........................................................................................................10

Transmitter setup .............................................................................................................................12

ESC Firmware Flashing ......................................................................................................................14

Simulation .........................................................................................................................................16

Wiring up the system –Power train ..................................................................................................17

Propeller Balancing ...........................................................................................................................18

Radio binding (and servo test) and Failsafe......................................................................................19

Evening 3...............................................................................................................................................20

Safety ................................................................................................................................................20

Current Australian Law and Regulations.......................................................................................20

LIPO Batteries................................................................................................................................ 21

Propellers ......................................................................................................................................21

Radio Interference ........................................................................................................................22

V 3.1 MHV Quadcopter Workshop Page 2 of 36

Wiring up the system –Flight Electronics.........................................................................................22

Connecting the ground station .........................................................................................................24

Firmware Loading .............................................................................................................................25

Telemetry Radio Setup......................................................................................................................26

Telemetry Radio Connection ............................................................................................................27

RC Radio Calibration .........................................................................................................................28

Accelerometer Calibration................................................................................................................ 29

Compass Calibration .........................................................................................................................30

Loading Parameters ..........................................................................................................................31

Motor and ESC tests and calibration ................................................................................................32

Build Checklist................................................................................................................................... 33

Test Flights ........................................................................................................................................33

Evening 4...............................................................................................................................................34

Safety ................................................................................................................................................34

Startup ..............................................................................................................................................34

Longer flights.....................................................................................................................................34

LOITER ...............................................................................................................................................34

RTL.....................................................................................................................................................34

ALT_HOLD .........................................................................................................................................34

AUTO.................................................................................................................................................34

References ............................................................................................................................................35

V 3.1 MHV Quadcopter Workshop Page 3 of 36

Objective

To design and build a quadcopter for a workshop to be held at the Make Hack Void Hackerspace

(Canberra). It is designed to be:

(Relatively) Cheap

Commonly available spare parts

Open source or hackable hardware/software where available

Easy for beginners to build

Strong/tough enough to withstand beginner pilots

Able to carry a 200g payload (such as a small camera)

What to bring to the Workshop

Laptop (and charger!). Confirm that the APM Mission Planner software (see the Ground

station software section) runs on your laptop beforehand.

MHV will provide everything else.

Note the workshop will require basic soldering. If you haven’t soldered before, we can teach you

during the workshop

The hardware

The following list includes all parts (and some tools) required to build the quadcopter. Note you may

need a soldering iron for electrical work. Other hardware tools should be in your shed (or local

hackerspace!)

The list can be found at https://canberrauav.readthedocs.org/en/latest/quadcopter-

workshops/quadcopter-workshop-2-0/parts-list.html for the list of tools.

Total cost of all parts is $730.

The software

Ground Station

The standard GCS is the APM Mission Planner

http://ardupilot.com/downloads/

This will run on Windows XP/Vista/7 or Ubuntu (or similar). Linux users need to install the mono

framework.

The program does require a moderately powerful laptop/PC to run on. It will barely run on most

netbooks. An active internet connection will be required to use some features.

The APM Mission Planner is frequently updated. Fortunately, it includes auto-update software.

V 3.1 MHV Quadcopter Workshop Page 4 of 36

More advanced users can use MAVProxy (a command line GCS) instead:

http://tridge.github.io/MAVProxy/

MAVProxy is compatible on Linux and Windows platforms, and uses the Python framework.

An alternative option is APM Planner 2. It is based off the qGroundControl software, with APM-

specific improvements. At the time of writing it is still in beta. APM Planner 2 can run on any

Windows, Mac or Linux systems using the Qt framework. It is a GUI based ground station and has a

fairly small impact on system resources. It is available at:

http://firmware.diydrones.com/Tools/APMPlanner/

The telemetry radios can be (via the supplied cable) connected to a mobile phone or tablet running

Android 4.1 or later. Look for the Droidplanner app on the Google Play store.

Autopilot

We use the ArduPilotMega (APM):

https://github.com/diydrones/ardupilot

The APM mission planner includes the APM software in it. This software is being frequently updated

with bug fixes, better navigation code and more features. It is recommended to update when a new

version is released.

Note that the Pixhawk board is used for this workshop. When uploading firmware ensure the

Pixhawk version of the APM software is selected.

A note about terminology: Pixhawk refers to the physical board based on the ARM chip. APM refers

to the software running on the board. To make things more confusing, APM also refers to the

physical boards based on the ATMEGA2560 chip.

Due to the 2 hardware boards, there are two builds of the APM software:

ATMEGA board

Pixhawk (or PX4) board

It should be emphasised that the ATMEGA and Pixhawk builds run the same APM software, minus

the different hardware drivers. The high level navigation, positioning and other features are exactly

the same.

For the purposes of this workshop, I will refer to the Pixhawk when referring to the board and APM

when referring to the software.

ESC’s

The SimonK firmware is compatible with the ESC’s used in this project.

V 3.1 MHV Quadcopter Workshop Page 5 of 36

https://github.com/sim-/tgy

This firmware increases the update rate of the ESC’s, making the ESC (and hence motors) more

responsive to commanded throttle changes.

Transmitter

The er9x firmware is built for the Turnigy 9X transmitter.

http://code.google.com/p/er9x/

The er9x firmware makes the GUI far easier to navigate.

Radios

Like the APM, the radios use open-source firmware.

http://code.google.com/p/ardupilot-mega/wiki/3DRadio

The firmware is not frequently updated, so we probably won’t need to update this.

Build Instructions

Timing

The build will take several evenings. Flight testing and lessons will take an afternoon.

The timing is:

Evening 1 –Introduction. Flashing ESC’s, Transmitters and frame assembly. Soldering of

power connectors. Simulator setup

Evening 2 –Flight electronics installation.

Evening 3 –Calibration and testing. Safety Briefing

Evening 4 –Indoor flight at Dickson College. Simple flights

Afternoon 1/2 –Outdoors flight at a local oval. Training of advanced flight modes

Evening 1

Introduction to Quadcopters

A quadcopter is a flying vehicle possessing 4 identical rotors, evenly spaced around the central

fuselage (hub).

First, quadrotors do not require mechanical linkages to vary the rotor blade pitch angle as they spin.

This simplifies the design and maintenance of the vehicle. Second, the use of four rotors allows each

individual rotor to have a smaller diameter than the equivalent helicopter rotor, allowing them to

possess less kinetic energy during flight. This reduces the damage caused should the rotors hit

anything. For small-scale UAVs, this makes the vehicles safer for close interaction. Some small-scale

V 3.1 MHV Quadcopter Workshop Page 6 of 36

quadrotors have frames that enclose the rotors, permitting flights through more challenging

environments, with lower risk of damaging the vehicle or its surroundings. (Wikipedia)

Components

Electronic Speed Controller (ESC): Regulates power to the motor according to the input throttle

level. It also provides +5V power for the flight electronics

RC Receiver: A (usually 2.4 GHz) RC radio receiver on the quadcopter that receives commands from

the RC transmitter on the ground. One way link

Telemetry Link: A (usually 915 MHz or 433 MHz) bidirectional link between the flight controller and

ground station. Provides current status to the ground station and accepts flight commands to the

quadcopter.

RC Transmitter: A (usually 2.4 GHz) RC radio transmitter used by the pilot to direct the quadcopter’s

direction and position.

Hub: The central fuselage of the quadcopter. Contains the flight electronics and battery

Arm: The beam that each of the motors sit on.

Generating Thrust

The motors and propellers alternate in direction and pitch, in order to cancel out and horizontal

torque. All propeller/motor combinations still produce downwards thrust:

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By altering the thrust to each of the motors, the quadcopter can move and turn:

Pitch (forward/back): Decrease thrust to motors 1 and 3. Increase thrust to motors 2 and 4 to

maintain altitude. This will pitch the quadcopter forwards, giving it a forward velocity.

Yaw (horizontal rotation): Decrease thrust to motors 3 and 4. Increase thrust to motors 2 and 1 to

maintain altitude. This will rotate the quadcopter counter-clockwise.

Roll (left/right): Decrease thrust to motors 2 and 3. Increase thrust to motors 1 and 4 to maintain

altitude. This will roll the quadcopter left, giving it a sidewards velocity.

Basic Stats

The basic stats are:

Top speed: 2.5 m/s vertical, 6m/s horizontal (no payload)

Max Payload: 400g

Flight time: 12 min (no payload)

Note quadcopters (particular those < 1kg) are very sensitive to payloads. The payload should be as

close as practical to the quadcopter’s centre of mass.

Autopilot Modes

The ArdupilotMega (2.9.1 at time of writing) has the following flight modes:

STABILISE –The primary mode. Use the RC sticks to navigate the quadcopter. Otherwise, it

will stay level

ALT_HOLD –It will maintain the current altitude. Otherwise, the RC sticks can be used to

navigate the quadcopter

LOITER –It will maintain position, heading and altitude at the current point. Altitude can be

changed by changing the throttle value

RTL –It will return to its takeoff (where the quadcopter was armed) point. Depending on the

mode settings, it will either hover at a 5-10m altitude and wait for the pilot to land it or

gradually descend until it lands.

AUTO –It will run through the waypoints currently loaded. The waypoints can be a simple

“go to point”, “loiter for X min”, “change velocity”, “land”. Note there is not automated take

off.

V 3.1 MHV Quadcopter Workshop Page 8 of 36

ACRO –Advanced Mode. The RC sticks act as rate controllers rather than position

controllers. There is no automatic stabilisation

LAND –lands the quadcopter on the ground at its current point

More modes may become available as new versions of the APM software are released.

Initial charging of the battery

The2 batteries come shipped with a nominal 60% charge. Use the battery charger to charge both the

flight battery and RC transmitter battery. The settings on the battery charger should be: 3S LiPo

battery type, charge rate 5A for the flight battery and 2.5A for the RC Transmitter battery.

Both the power cable and balance connector should be hooked up to the charger.

The batteries will be fully charged around the 12.6 V level. The charger will emit a series of loud

beeps when it is done.

Frame assembly

1. Attach the motor mounts to the end of each arm:

2. Use the M3 screws to attach the motors:

3. Attach 1 of the leg struts, along with the spring and screws:

4. Attach the other half of the strut:

V 3.1 MHV Quadcopter Workshop Page 9 of 36

5. Assemble the top of the hub plate. Note there are 3 plates here:

6. Along with the bottom plate, start attaching the legs:

Indice

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