MatrixPilot stabilizes a Coaxial Helicopter

[Bryan Cuervo]

I was excited to get the latest UAV devboard V3 with the IXZ500 gyros
so I could use it in a coaxial helicopter my partner had designed.
This heli is statically unstable and we were using 3 orthogonally
placed, heading hold gyros for stabilization. The devboard will now
allow us to progress with John and the rest of the heli group on to
autonomous flight.

Here is the setup:
MatrixPilot stabilizes roll and pitch.
Futaba 401 gyro in heading hold stabilizes yaw.
Mixer between the UAV devboard and Rx handles the mixing for
differential collective pitch (yaw control).

Flight results:
At first I couldn't stop the oscillations about roll and pitch so I
experimented with reducing the filtershift and that did the trick.
I've tried to attach a link to the Vimeo video of the latest flight
that shows how well the dev board stabilizes the heli. On my Vimeo
page you can also view a short video of an earlier flight where the
poorly tuned parameters produced severe oscillations.

http://vimeo.com/16067236

Bryan

[William Premerlani]

Hi Bryan,

That is really good news. Thank you for posting.

You might want to get in touch with Jerry and John. Both have been working with helis, and Jerry has also been working with quads. They have made good progress.

In particular, John and I have developed a heading-hold function with behavior very similar to the 401 gyro. It still has some rough edges, but it will provide a heading lock.

Best regards,

Bill

[JERRY CHAPMAN]

Bryan,
 
Looks very good, impressed with how stable it is.  Its exciting when a plan comes together. 
 
Jerry
 
 
> Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2010 05:48:09 -0700
> Subject: MatrixPilot stabilizes a Coaxial Helicopter
> From: bryan...@comcast.net
> To: UAVHel...@googlegroups.com

[iga...@gmail.com]

Hi Bryan

What are the benefits of such unusual configuration ?

2010/10/22 JERRY CHAPMAN <rapto...@msn.com>

[Bryan Cuervo]

Bill,

I'd like to try that heading hold function you developed so I can get
rid of the Futaba gyro.

A coaxial configuration is not everyone's cup of tea but benefits
include a more compact VTOL configuration and potential increase in
efficiency since all of the energy from the Lipos is directed toward
vertical thrust even when you yaw.

Bryan

On Oct 22, 2:33 pm, "ig...@actcom.co.il" <iga...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Bryan
> What are the benefits of such unusual configuration ?
>

> 2010/10/22 JERRY CHAPMAN <raptor9...@msn.com>

>
>
>
> >  Bryan,
>
> > Looks very good, impressed with how stable it is.  Its exciting when a plan
> > comes together.
>
> > Jerry
>
> > > Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2010 05:48:09 -0700
> > > Subject: MatrixPilot stabilizes a Coaxial Helicopter

> > > From: bryancue...@comcast.net

> > > To: UAVHel...@googlegroups.com
>
> > > I was excited to get the latest UAV devboard V3 with the IXZ500 gyros
> > > so I could use it in a coaxial helicopter my partner had designed.
> > > This heli is statically unstable and we were using 3 orthogonally
> > > placed, heading hold gyros for stabilization. The devboard will now
> > > allow us to progress with John and the rest of the heli group on to
> > > autonomous flight.
>
> > > Here is the setup:
> > > MatrixPilot stabilizes roll and pitch.
> > > Futaba 401 gyro in heading hold stabilizes yaw.
> > > Mixer between the UAV devboard and Rx handles the mixing for
> > > differential collective pitch (yaw control).
>
> > > Flight results:
> > > At first I couldn't stop the oscillations about roll and pitch so I
> > > experimented with reducing the filtershift and that did the trick.
> > > I've tried to attach a link to the Vimeo video of the latest flight
> > > that shows how well the dev board stabilizes the heli. On my Vimeo
> > > page you can also view a short video of an earlier flight where the
> > > poorly tuned parameters produced severe oscillations.
>
> > >http://vimeo.com/16067236
>

> > > Bryan- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -