Hi, I've looked around the web to get an understanding the setup of the Ardupilot flight modes with a Spektrum DX6 2nd generation and there was none. So I decided to write this blog. The few things to consider when doing this: Please follow the instruction given on the ardupilot webpage . Have the Pixhawk hardware connected to Mission Planner (I have 1.3.50 - Copter V3.5.3)  Use the display bar in the Radio Calibration page as a guide while changing the rate pulse widths on your transmitter. I've used switch D to change the pulse width ranges on channel 5.

So my pixhawk has finally arrived! Now it's time to get to understand the codebase and integrate my algorithms to the flight control suite. I've also gathered a few parts from a research quadcopter. The plan is to have it takeoff and demonstrate that it works!

So I've had to think hard about which route I wanted to take for my research. On one hand, I could go full customized process with every bit of code written by yours truly (including the the hardware design, soldering, testing and integration). This will mean a serious divergence from the primary focus of my research but the high risk could yield immense entrepreneurial satisfaction. I calculated that this route would probably add another 6 months to PhD research. On the other hand, as I've posted before , buy an off-the-shelf flight controller, focus on integrating the peripherals, up-ramp knowledge on the tested code suite and start working on integrating my research algorithms almost immediately. This route is substantially more expensive (Initial capital), but you then have a large community of users to inquire from. I've estimated about 2 month of extra work towards my PhD research. So the decision is now obvious. I've chosen to buy the Pixhawk 2.4.8 first....

I think often times, I have fallen into the trap of reassuring that as long as I put in the hours of grinding sweat and tears, success will come as a consequence. But that hypothesis doesn't hold all to often if you were think of how many people work in plantations but their lives seemed to be getting worse in relative terms to the work of society.  It was quite clear that the hypothesis is either flawed or incomplete. I would like to think that success in not only a measure of how much work you put in but more so on WHAT you're working towards. Taking the example of the typical rice field worker in some village in Taiwan, if the primary thing is to work hard such that you can put food on the table for your family, then perhaps that's not good enough. But if the money, which buys the food for family is to bring about change in your life or in the life of your kids, then education or extramural skills will be the topic of discussion around the dinner table. Then of all the s...

It's amazing how a continuous search at possibilities eventually leads to finding a "needle in a haystack". Introducing the Teensy 3.6 development. It a 32-bit Cortex M4 ARM core with (FPU) at a 1/6th of the price of the Pixhawk (The Pixhawk runs the same chip although has double the Flash memory). Granted, it doesn't have any sensors but man, that's find. Did I also mention that it works straight with arduino code. This means that I've upgraded to the most powerful MCU in the market at the same price as an Arduino Due . Wow! I overcame my shock by going to Robotics in Centurion and getting my hands on this dynamite. It can even run X-plane flight simulation controls in real-time communicating through the USB port! Ok enough ranting and raving! The point is now I can test the embedded algorithms on a similar ARM-based microcontroller as the Pixhawk and conclude the testing and validation up to HILS level with the sensors in the loop (while emulating th...

When will I fly again? I've been asking that question for a while now. After that expensive and silly mistake of loosing my Blade 300 CFX to some uncalibrated mass balancing, the wind of excitement was whiffed out of my spirit. I must say, this has allowed me to refocus my energies on the helicopter simulation model and how it should be modeled such that the research of the neural network algorithms could be easily prototyped and embedded into an autopilot software suite for HILS and flight testing. I must say, I feel like I've made quite a bit of progress on this front. Even though my spirit is itching to get something flying in the sky, the notion that I'm getting closer to creating a simulation environment where these algorithms can be tested, explored and refined for flight testing. I'm also grateful that during this time, my company has agreed to fund my research and I now the ability to procure the items that I need to properly get this research off the grou...

It was time to decide. Playing small robots and chiefs with the likes of Arduino and the soldering iron was a nice learning curve but it had to come to an end. The bigger objective of this research was to integrate intelligent algorithm on a platform that was accepted by most engineers and hobbyists. The learning pain will be great, but the support community will be there to help. The need to do things properly and start from a good foundation given the experimental nature of this research is key. It's clear there will be limitations, but what's obvious is that whatever software I build will be implemented on an architecture that's continously changing and being upgraded due to the fast changing nature of current drone industry. So the sooner I get into this game properly, the better it will be for future algorithms. Given the function of software in the loop, implementing a whole range of algorithm will now become a breeze. The prospect of using cheaper materials to...

Don't get me wrong. I like Mathworks products, specifically MATLAB and the suite of control toolboxes. But for curse of being a super monopoly software is that, in order to make profit to drive software updates (which is now expected to be at least twice a year on most toolboxes), the focus is on the popular user requirements. This is often based on academia and research houses which often doesn't deal with hardware or firmware. In so doing, a large percentage of professional engineers productivity is directly coupled to the level of expertise of the analysis tool rather than the process upon which the product is based. Consequently, the poorer or bloated the tool, the slower can an engineer develop a product at lower cost. Unfortunately, the reliance on more powerful machines is the way to circumvent to problem. Just run the bloated simulation fast enough that's it's on longer noticeable to the designer. But is that engineering design? Is not the whole point to i...

Posted by Chris Anderson on April 25, 2017 at 7:00am  View Blog . The PX4/Dronecode team and Drotek have been working on the next generation of Pixhawk autopilots, and you can now see a preview of that with the Pixhawk 3 Pro . It's based on the new PX4 FMU4 Pro standard, which includes a full suite of next-generation sensors and and the more powerful STM32F469 processor. It's designed for the Dronecode/PX4 flight software, which is the current official Pixhawk standard. The board is currently in developer release, but will be taken out of beta after testing is complete in the next month or two. All details are  here  (and below): ------------------ Introduction FMUv4-PRO takes input from all of the Pixhawk stakeholders; end users, developers, researchers and manufacturing partners. Goals for this iteration of the platform are: – An integrated, single-board flight controller for space constrained applications – A modular multi-board flight controller for ...

So part of my PhD deliverable is to develop a hardware-in-the-loop simulation model such that the entire suite of software can be tested with a high-fidelity simulation model that mimics the sensors such as the IMU and GPS units. Eventhough I've finalized the simulation model of a 2m glider, the prize is to have miniature helicopter model implemented. The following makes use of the PC only for visual aid and the rest of the simulation. Potentially, although low priority, the matlab visual could be connected to Flight Gear and visualize a 3D model as one. The use of the transmitter and receiver will only to act as control inputs which are then converted to airframe deflections.