(19-Sep-2017, 09:16 AM)sloscotty Wrote: I still can't help but be curious about the purpose of this craft.  I did a bit of "googling" this morning, and found out that there is a competition underway in your part of the world:  The Medical Express UAV Challenge  https://uavchallenge.org/medical-express/

I know you probably can't say, and I'm not sure how "IT" would fit in, but since the initial deadline for entry just passed, maybe you can say now (if that is it)?

Patience my friend all will be revealed in due course.

I did not know about the Medical Express challenge. Sounds interesting. Where was it held?

You must admit it is tantalizing is it not?  

The only thing I can tell you at the moment is that it is unlike anything you have ever seen.

The actual mission won't take place until September 2018, however the deadline for first documentation was at the end of August just past. The base departure point for the mission will be at Dalby Model Aero Club in Queensland. Sounds like a very challenging competition.

       

(19-Sep-2017, 01:04 PM)sloscotty Wrote: The actual mission won't take place until September 2018, however the deadline for first documentation was at the end of August just past.  The base departure point for the mission will be at Dalby Model Aero Club in Queensland.  Sounds like a very challenging competition.

Thanks Slo, I know Dalby well. I made many good friends up there during my years participating in UAV development and competing in the Outback Challenge 2007.

I did most of my UAV development work up there  and I used to drive the 1100 km there and back once or twice a years for about 7 years.

I will look up the web page on the Medical Challenge tomorrow.


Photos are of Dalby MAC field.

(19-Sep-2017, 06:17 AM)Keyboard Kid Wrote: Thanks FF. Sadly the Naza does use stick arming and I have tried reducing the stick throws but it does play up with the arming.

Can you assign multiple flight modes within your radio, so you could have 1 for arming with normal rates, then another 1 for flying with reduced rates?

I wouldn't feel safe with stick arming tbh... I mean, arming is one thing, but especially disarming i feel needs to be possible instantly...

(20-Sep-2017, 07:00 AM)fftunes Wrote: Can you assign multiple flight modes within your radio, so you could have 1 for arming with normal rates, then another 1 for flying with reduced rates?

I wouldn't feel safe with stick arming tbh... I mean, arming is one thing, but especially disarming i feel needs to be possible instantly...

HI FF, I managed to work around that problem by increasing stick end points to maximum (130) with 80% expo did the trick.

As far as stick arming is concerned I agree with you. I much prefer the arming switch.

But I must admit the Naza is really starting to perform well with 2 - 3 minute uninterrupted flight now common place.

I feel I am now within a calf's moo (as against a bull's roar) of flying the battery dry in my backyard.

That is my immediate target anyway. Hopefully my very next flight.  

KK

   
Getting back to Dalby MAC, the two photos attached show what I call the "Stairway to Heaven" and the view from the top of the Stairway.

Can you think of a better field to conduct a Challenge from?

In addition it has Men and Women's shower and toilet blocks as well as a good club house and a camping ground.

One of the best R/C club fields in Australia. (In my opinion)  

KK

(21-Sep-2017, 03:35 AM)Keyboard Kid Wrote: Getting back to Dalby MAC, the two photos attached show what I call the "Stairway to Heaven" 

...and when she get's there she knows,
If the stores are all closed...

The mall can still be used as a venue for drone racing!

Well I finally did it.  

Hovered the battery dry over the spot in my backyard.

Gains; Pitch = 140%; Roll = 150%; Yaw = 70%; Vertical = 60%.

Atti; Pitch = 250; Roll = 250;

Expo in TX; Pitch = 70%; Roll = 70%.

I am not sure if these are the final adjustments but they are very close.

Wooden It hovers quite still and will hold position until a gust comes along and I need to tap it back into place.

I am not sure about vertical. I think there is some improvement to be had there.


These adjustments are all for manual flight.

Off to the farm next Monday for the REAL test.

KK

Another dead still day. (Third in a row)

Making a lot of progress and having conquered manual mode to my satisfaction I decided to move on to Atti Mode.

What a difference. I still do not quite understand all of the ins and outs of Atti mode but it appears that Atti mode is the auto stability mode.

There are three modes in Naza M, Atti GPS which reverts to Atti if no GPS is fitted (Mine). Atti mode and manual mode.

All of my previous struggles were with taming manual mode. I have never touched Atti mode until this morning.


The first thing that hit me was the operation of the throttle. I went from take-off on 50% throttle to 90% in Atti mode. Not only that but for some reason known only to the Naza M, Wooden It would lower itself gently back onto the ground with no throttle change.

I have started learning my way around the parameter tuning and found those settings vastly different from my manual tuning settings.

However in spite of or perhaps because of all of the foregoing, Wooden It is now behaving like a very good little quad at the moment.

I just wish that the Naza M intruction manual was written in better English. It would make life much easier.    

So there you have it.

Real progress at last.

I will resist the urge to give myself another promotion until I have tamed Atti mode.    

KK

The end of four long busy days and all of the tuning that I can do in the backyard is complete.

Stability in the Atti mode is good but I still cannot sort out the throttle. There is still an occassional loss of power for no apparent reason.

I finally settled for 100% gain on all five parameters with vertical being changed from 50% to 150% with no apparent difference.

The real test starts on the farm on Monday so we shall see what that brings.

Although I must say I am worried about the loss of power in Atti mode and the effect that will have on the next stage  of the project.

KK

"Atti" is short for attitude. It will try to maintain heading and level using the gyros. It won't affect altitude at all. It makes sense that the quad slowly looses altitude at a fixed throttle position, because the battery is slowly draining (less volts for a fixed throttle position). Unless you have a good barometer and/or gps, you'll probably have to stay on the throttle.

(23-Sep-2017, 11:02 AM)sloscotty Wrote: "Atti" is short for attitude.  It will try to maintain heading and level using the gyros.  It won't affect altitude at all.  It makes sense that the quad slowly looses altitude at a fixed throttle position, because the battery is slowly draining (less volts for a fixed throttle position).  Unless you have a good barometer and/or gps, you'll probably have to stay on the throttle.

Thanks Slo, however the loss of altitude is a little more dramatic than a loss of volts. The revs drop to almost nothing and I have to push the throttle well forwar then it all settles down and I have to pull some throttle off.

I just cannot find a reason for it. It does not happen in manual mode.

(23-Sep-2017, 12:47 PM)Keyboard Kid Wrote: Thanks Slo, however the loss of altitude is a little more dramatic than a loss of volts. The revs drop to almost nothing and I have to push the throttle well forwar then it all settles down and I have to pull some throttle off.

I just cannot find a reason for it. It does not happen in manual mode.

In actual fact Slo, I have decided not to fly again in Atti mode in my backyard due to the difficulty with throttle.

In all the flying I did in manual mode I never once exceeded 60cm altitude which meant I felt quite safe flying backwards and forwards under the clothes line.

However on several occassion flying in Atti mode I found myself flying at a height exceeding the clothes line, however, luckily to one side of it due to the difficulty with controlling throttle. The height increase happened so suddenly I could not respond quickly enough to prevent it.

Had me sweating for a while believe me.  

KK

(23-Sep-2017, 01:36 PM)Keyboard Kid Wrote: In actual fact Slo, I have decided not to fly again in Atti mode in my backyard due to the difficulty with throttle.

In all the flying I did in manual mode I never once exceeded 60cm altitude which meant I felt quite safe flying backwards and forwards under the clothes line.

However on several occassion flying in Atti mode I found myself flying at a height exceeding the clothes line, however, luckily to one side of it due to the difficulty with controlling throttle. The height increase happened so suddenly I could not respond quickly enough to prevent it.

Had me sweating for a while believe me.  

KK

Did you check motor/esc temperatures after flying in atti mode? I don't know how it is designed in the naza firmware, but in cleanflight etc. the angle mode PID are, like, added on top of the normal PID, so if both are pretty high, it can lead to oscillations and heat and in turn consume/waste much more power.

(23-Sep-2017, 06:11 PM)fftunes Wrote: Did you check motor/esc temperatures after flying in atti mode? I don't know how it is designed in the naza firmware, but in cleanflight etc. the angle mode PID are, like, added on top of the normal PID, so if both are pretty high, it can lead to oscillations and heat and in turn consume/waste much more power.

Thanks FF, I have not checked temps lately especially since starting on Atti.

There is another test I need to do as well I will have one more flight and check all of the above.

KK