Help choosing my Flight Controller

SYNDK8

SYNDK8

Skyvokker
I am at the stage where I need to decide on the flight controller.

A little background, I have worked in the ecu dyno tuning business and have experience with many systems like MoTec, EcuTek, Hondata, AEM, Stock ECU assembly language and binary code reprogramming..... but thats all about air and fuel ratios, some with amazing GUI with graphs and some just binary. I am looking for a flight controller that will give me advanced tuning options like I am used to in the automotive industry. Sometimes we make our own boards and software to talk to the car ecus, so a controller with an open platform would probably be ideal so we can expand and make piggy back boards/distribution boards if necessary.

Parts bought so far:
TorxPower MC3536 Pro - 8qty
Custom CF quad frame - x8 configuration.
Turnigy 9x


These are the options I have looked at so far:
1 - DJI Wookong WKM - $1099

2 - OpenPilot - $90

3 - Ardupilot - $605
4 - HoverFly - $900
5 - Mikrokopter -
  • Kinda lost as what I need to get.. distribution boards, blctrl, .......... :dejection: way too many options.

I really like the ardupilot and openpilot they seem more advanced and tweakable. Would love to hear your suggestions and advice on this.

Thanks.
 

DucktileMedia

DucktileMedia

Drone Enthusiast
I'm not going to be using them anymore due to lack of customer support, but I have had great luck with my Xaircraft controller. I dont have the GPS though so i can't tell you if that really works or not.
 

R

RTRyder

Merlin of Multirotors
If you want to be able to tune the flight parameters and have open source firmware you can write the Hoverfly off the list immediately, that system is about as closed as you can get and the only tuning options are setting gains for the flight modes. The Wookong-M isn't far behind, a little more tunable but absolutely not open source, they also keep the code on a server under their control and you have to download direct to the controller same as Hoverfly. WKM is a very nice setup though if you want simple, reliable, and easy to fly and don't mind paying the entry price.

For open source firmware and tunability you definitely should be looking at the OpenPilot board as well as any of the MultiWii variations that are available, MikroKopter is a lot more expensive but probably has the most tuning options of any board on the market, not completely opensource but very close. The most refined is by far the Mk system, been around the longest and has a lot of bells and whistles, also its a very good choice as the system can be fine tuned to just about any configuration you might want to use but requires I2C ESCs which increase the overall cost quite significantly. At the opposite end of the spectrum for cost is the OP CC board, also very tuneable but a bit more limited in configuration/expansion capability compared to MK although you will save a small fortune compared to the world of MK. Somewhere in the middle are the MultiWii variants, if you can code then you can play around with the firmware refining it to do exactly what you want or build in the ability to work with add-on boards providing the processor can handle it.

I'd say your best choices are the OP, Ardu, and the majority of the MultiWii boards, also some of the least costly as well.

Ken
 

SYNDK8

SYNDK8

Skyvokker
Thank you guys.

Ken, I think I'm gonna pick up the dji and OP. Start with the dji and play around with the OP afterwards.
 

C

Crash

Defies Psychics
SYNDK8 said:
Thank you guys.

Ken, I think I'm gonna pick up the dji and OP. Start with the dji and play around with the OP afterwards.
Click to expand...


I'm not entirely sure what your ultimate goal is. Are you looking for something to 'hack' and experiment with or to make a profit somehow?
Those are two very different boards for entirely different purposes. I'd agree with Ken and he knows his multirotors.

It seems to me like you want something that is opensource and open hardware. MK is open enough to add accessories as long as you do not need access to the navigation board firmware.

I don't know a lot about the ardupilot boards but I do believe that the processor will be upgraded to a much more modern version in the very near future. Multiwii isn't a bad choice depending on needs. It's great for a hobbyist experimenter and it's cheap. The processor is limited though.
Openpilot.org currently only has the CopterControl board available. The board is designed to be for sport flyers. Nothing more. In the coming weeks/months, the fully loaded board will come out. There is no exact timeline so do not ask and the supply will be very limited so don't hold your breath. ;)

Irregardless of your ultimate goals, I would suggest you start with something DIY, simple, and cheap at first. That's probably going to mean buying a multiwii based board with all the sensors while waiting for the next batch of CC boards. Move on to something else once you earn your flight wings.

my $.02

Kirk
 

SYNDK8

SYNDK8

Skyvokker
Kirk,

Thanks for that info, I wanted something the guys at work can play around with and maybe improve upon and also something that gets me flying fairly soon.

Looking at it from a marketing and advertising view, for promoting your business and skills, I am going to go with dji in the beginning, as most users find it stable and easy to setup and get going.
 




RC Flying

RC Flying

A Drone Mind
Bowley said:
Anyone used or using FY91Q + GPS (dreamcatcher) nice price, just wondered if it works.
Click to expand...
I got it, don't like it so far. It's fiddley and a pain in the arse to get working right. Practically every post I've seen on rcgroups is someone trying to get the damn thing to work right.

The Gaui 344 flies much better. Gaui have brought out a GPS now but it's way overpriced at the moment.
 
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W

Wingspinner

Member
SYNDK8 said:
I am definately sold on the dji now :frog:

Click to expand...

You said you wanted something you can tinker with and improve upon. Definitely can't with DJI. OpenPilot CopterControl is very feature limited. It's a sport copter controller - not an autopilot. That leaves MultiWii and Ardupilot (there are others but more obscure). Both have very active dev groups and are moving forward at leaps and bounds. MultiWii has less of a commercial constraint and I'd say it's more truly "open" opensource since the ArduPilot has pretty strong influence from DIYDrones but, that said, it's still very good stuff and getting better every day and source is fully available and it's easy to get a toolchain loaded and modifying code yourself. MultiWii has really made big improvements lately in terms of functionality but it lags Ardupilot quite a bit. In fact, MultiWii folks are leveraging some of the Ardupilot code - a good thing - it's all open source. OpenPilot has autopilot functionality coming in a future board but they move VERY slowly and have had TONS and TONS of problems with the Coptercontrol board - parts availability and reliability. THey recently had to redesign due to lack of availability and problems with the gyro chip they were using. Their toolchain is rather complex to get up and running and uses a complex arrangement of 3rd party libraries which makes it really complicated. They are already on 32 bit Arm processors though and that's a good thing. Ardupilot won't be there until probably next year at best. There is an effort on 32 bit for MultiWii but it's quite new and thrashing around a bit.

If you really didn't mean it that you wanted to "improve upon" then DJI is one of the best for under $2k. HoverFly works excellent as well. XAircraft is good also but it's at the lower end of "plug and play" and because of that attracted a lot of technically challenged people who had a hard time getting things to work without an excessive need for hand holding and promptly got a bad reputation because of all the whining from people who expected a turnkey DJI at half the price. It's not a bad system though and the latest "Autopilot" works quite well.

Good luck!
 
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C

capjlp

Member
Is there an Autopilot option that a "computer programmer" can get cheap... To play with say look it flys itself to these gps cordinates works well with tinkering. DJI is just way to high dollar for me. I am not making money with it. Infact in the US as commercial AP and AV are becoming regulated its going to get way to expensive to even think about making money with. The "real" helicopter pilots will be back on the job soon.

:)
 

R

R_Lefebvre

Arducopter Developer
Definitely Arducopter or MultiWii. They're the only thing affordable, available, and open source. CopterControl could be a player, but you just can't get one.
 


R

R_Lefebvre

Arducopter Developer
Yup, I did forget about that one. It seems like setup and calibration is a bit of a chore, the performance is amazing!
 

ChrisViperM

ChrisViperM

Active Member
It seems that there is only one reliable and affordable flight control on the market....with integrated gimbal:


View attachment 5254
 

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ChrisViperM

ChrisViperM

Active Member
....click the picture....

some folks would call that "being sarcastic"...
 
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