Mauronic
Member
I'm flying the Action Drone AD1 and am really happy with it. The best part is the custom GPC backpack.
www.actiondroneusa.com
www.actiondroneusa.com
New 540 Class Folding Quad Frame
- Thread starter Earl E Adobtr
- Start date
Earl E Adobtr
Paul
I like it. Thanks for sharing. Do you have any video from your rig posted?
Blue Collar
Member
Paul
That bird looks like a nice bit of kit. I only wish the Stella was 3-axis instead of just 2. Have you tested any 3 axis gimbals with your rig?
Mark
That bird looks like a nice bit of kit. I only wish the Stella was 3-axis instead of just 2. Have you tested any 3 axis gimbals with your rig?
Mark
Earl E Adobtr
Paul
Mark
Works with Walkera G-3D but best if combined with the STorM32 BGC v1.3 board and ditch the stock board. The stock plate is actually drilled out to accept the Walkera. Blank gimbal plates are also available and the cage is large enough to accept most 3 axis gimbals that position GoPro lens down center axis.
Works with Walkera G-3D but best if combined with the STorM32 BGC v1.3 board and ditch the stock board. The stock plate is actually drilled out to accept the Walkera. Blank gimbal plates are also available and the cage is large enough to accept most 3 axis gimbals that position GoPro lens down center axis.
Earl E Adobtr
Paul
I feel for you because the first thing you'll need to do is fly over that water again to get rid of the heebe-jeebe's. I'm still trying to get my first whale shot and totally expect to lose it somewhere along the line.unfortunately no, it went for a swim the the pacific ocean. i am building another one though
Earl E Adobtr
Paul
So a lot has happened since I first posted. We had a heart flutter when a customer wanted qty (220) of our folding IT640 heavy lifter (E800 propulsion) causing us to make a lot of improvements quickly. The deal fell through but we are left with a very outstanding prototype outfitted with Lightbridge, 1cm resolution laser altimeter, room up front for prop free video using Zenmuse H43D, DSY 3 Axis or Stella 2 axis gimbals plus many more heavier brands I won't mention here. We were in the process of converting over to a gimballed 30x mechanical zoom camera that will fit in the front cage and output to a separate, on board, HD DVR but are holding off on prototyping that for the moment. This will be using the Pixhawk2 exclusively because we are also incorporating a HiDef OSD overlay into the finished recording.
I will post pictures when it's all tweaked and flying but in the meantime here is little brother IT540 (11" max props) with a few new ideas that have crept in from big brother's makeover. Everything except the 2 frame halves are now interchangeable between the large and small quads.
Paul
I will post pictures when it's all tweaked and flying but in the meantime here is little brother IT540 (11" max props) with a few new ideas that have crept in from big brother's makeover. Everything except the 2 frame halves are now interchangeable between the large and small quads.
Paul
Attachments
crayfellow
Member
Really nicely done, Paul! This could be an ideal platform for our conservancy project. Ultimate portability without sacrificing equipment flexibility, strength, or stability.
Do you mean the as-of-yet unreleased FC from the Solo? Do you have details that have not been publicly announced? How would the FC have an impact on the resolution of the OSD?
Cheers.
Do you mean the as-of-yet unreleased FC from the Solo? Do you have details that have not been publicly announced? How would the FC have an impact on the resolution of the OSD?
Cheers.
Earl E Adobtr
Paul
Pixhawk 1 and 2 both facilitate the overlay thru the in-outs. this is something my electronics guru figured out using a separate small board he found from a developer who sent him a pre release. We're still assembling and testing but I think it's going to work. Pixhawk 2 will give you 1080p 60 downlink in about 9 months - when first released end of May it will only be 720p which is Lightbridge quality thru the cinemizers. But our overlayed finished video will be assembled and recorded on-board - not thru the downlink. This kind of real time video quality is necessary for infrastructure inspections, wildlife counts etc. Just flying around it's nice but pretty pricey still At any rate the frame is a good platform for this kind of free flowing experimentation.
At any rate the frame is a good platform for this kind of free flowing experimentation.
crayfellow
Member
Sure. I don't know how the flight controller unit known as "Pixhawk 2" has any impact on video transmission, though. The original Pixhawk does indeed have multiple mavlink telemetry ports for OSD, rx telemetry, etc. It wouldn't make sense design-wise to have the flight controller manage video downlink or have any impact on its resolution; it's busy managing 2-3 IMU's (in recent fw the 3rd is disabled), GPS, stabilization, etc.
3DR suggests a separate system is onboard the Solo alongside the flight controller so that might be what you were looking at. This deals with the fancy cablecam, orbit, framing, and gimbal management. They hint it is a "1GHz Linux computer" so perhaps something like a Beagleboard Black. This could take the place of what is typically used for OSD/vtx on a Pixhawk today. Have you found any limitations in camera integration, if a platform had both a flight camera and a gimbal-mounted unit? Or would this use a dedicated fpv tx for flight cam?
Sounds like you guys are working on some cool stuff and in much the same domain as our R&D efforts!
Cheers.
3DR suggests a separate system is onboard the Solo alongside the flight controller so that might be what you were looking at. This deals with the fancy cablecam, orbit, framing, and gimbal management. They hint it is a "1GHz Linux computer" so perhaps something like a Beagleboard Black. This could take the place of what is typically used for OSD/vtx on a Pixhawk today. Have you found any limitations in camera integration, if a platform had both a flight camera and a gimbal-mounted unit? Or would this use a dedicated fpv tx for flight cam?
Sounds like you guys are working on some cool stuff and in much the same domain as our R&D efforts!
Cheers.
crayfellow
Member
I do wonder how an off-the-shelf unit would even do this, since 3DR uses their own transmitter with custom hardware and what appears to be a custom 2.4GHz protocol for both control and the video feed.
Earl E Adobtr
Paul
Just a few snaps of the 640. It's 1" longer than the 540. With no battery it weighs 1860 grams as pictured. As pictured it flies 30 minutes with an 8000mah Nanotech 6S but that doesn't leave much wiggle room to add additional gear. It's shown with E600 propulsion but takes E800 with no mods - that will give you your increased hauling capacity. I've settled on the BeStableCam.com SteadyGo3 3 axis gimbal with it's super strong motors. Works great right out of the box and has all the usual modes such as follow, lock, etc. I had actually tried Zenmuse H3D3 but gave up as motors are under powered. Those red discs imbedded in the gimbal plate are vibration dampeners usually used on tennis rackets. It actually outputs great video without them but I'm trying them out with out-of-balance props to see if it makes a difference in video. That pic of the folding GPS mount shows RF shielding fabric stuck to the bottom of the mounting disk instead of the usual copper.
Attachments
Earl E Adobtr
Paul
SteadyGo3 footage
Earl E Adobtr
Paul
The IT580 folder frame is designed for NAZA E600 Propulsion (12" max props). I have substituted Turnigy Multistar Slim 20 amp esc's which improve handling considerably. The base copter fully loaded with GoPro and SteadyGo3 gimbal + custom isolation weighs 1769 grams. With the 4000MAh Max Amps 6S is weighs a little over 2400 grams (DJI recommended weight for E600). It flies for 18 minutes in mixed conditions. I also run a Nan0tech 8000MAh 6S on this and get 25 minutes aggressive flying.
I've got enough in the field now that I'm getting stories back about crashes: "Ray" flew his into a wall at full speed and says he came away with 2 broken props to show for his trouble (he had it in NAZA "manual mode" by mistake). He replaced the props, straightened out the arms and motor blocks and was up and running. "Dave" dropped his from 50 ft and busted one folding leg (he was testing a beta version of Pixhawk firmware). He continued to fly it the rest of the afternoon, although the 3 point landings were a bit challenging. Your mileage may vary.
Paul
video from this morning 7-3-15
I've got enough in the field now that I'm getting stories back about crashes: "Ray" flew his into a wall at full speed and says he came away with 2 broken props to show for his trouble (he had it in NAZA "manual mode" by mistake). He replaced the props, straightened out the arms and motor blocks and was up and running. "Dave" dropped his from 50 ft and busted one folding leg (he was testing a beta version of Pixhawk firmware). He continued to fly it the rest of the afternoon, although the 3 point landings were a bit challenging. Your mileage may vary.
Paul
video from this morning 7-3-15