Tau Labs OP CC for camera mount stabilization

[Bartman]

I mistook the other OP camera thread believing that the video had a CC board on the camera mount as a standalone camera stabilizer. It was explained to me that the board was actually the FC for the quad AND was keeping the camera stable.
How hard would it be to screw an OP CC board to my camera mount and use it as a dedicated camera mount stabilization system? It's small enough and could be powered by the wireless video battery.
Thanks,
Bart

 

[jes1111]

That very idea is being discussed currently in the OP forum - it will probably take some time (lots of other priorities) but right now we're looking to build the spec/requirements doc.

 

[peabody124]

For holding a fixed angle it's basically trivial and would already do it.

 

[Pano-Dirk]

I'm also very interested.



I have the CC board here, but don't know how to configure it for only camera stabilization.

Dirk

 

[jes1111]

Hi Dirk,

I actually just linked to your APLanding thread about slew mode in the OP thread linked above.

(Sorry to be driving this thread away from here, but it's hard to hold the same conversation in two different places.)

 

[Bartman]

is there a wiki entry that addresses this? or will it be explained in the OP forum thread?
thx
bartman

 

[Bartman]

For holding a fixed angle it's basically trivial and would already do it.

i'd think the goal for camera mount control would be to hold level while also allowing the position to be adjusted via sliders and to have the board then hold the new position whether it's been tilted forward or rolled left or right. thinking about this a bit more it would seem that the cc board will require another receiver to do this, maybe linked to the flight radio, maybe linked to a camera only radio. with an MK based copter there wouldn't be a receiver to provide input to the CC board so a receiver would have to be provided.
then again, can two channels from the MK FC be fed into the CC board for hard roll (lunch time already?) and pitch inputs while the CC board provides stabilization?
hmmmm, maybe it's not so trivial after all?

 

[Pano-Dirk]

For professional working I want to use one transmitter and receiver for the copter and the camera man a second transmitter and a second receiver for the camera mount.

.

 

[jes1111]

Camera stabilisation is very new at OP, so no docs yet. However, if your happy to run it on a second Tx/Rx then it should be simple:

You'll need the latest GCS and firmware. I'm guessing: set up the board as if it was a basic quad (but just don't connect those outputs to anything). You'll see you can assign Accessory0, Accessory1 and Accessory2 to Tx/Rx channels. In the Aircraft/Mixer Settings tab, switch the Aircraft Type to "Custom" - then you can enter the Roll/Pitch/Yaw settings you want for the channels you assigned to the gimbal controller.

James might jump in and correct me here )

Try it and let me know how you get on!

 

[Bartman]

OP folks,
I'm going to try to do this with a new AverticalView camera mount and a CC board. I'll post videos to a thread here and will ask for your help to get it working. I'll rig the camera mount with the CC board, a JR 921 rx and satellite, a Mondo Stinger video TX and whatever battery I need to keep it all breathing through four or five flights.
Lastly, I've got to get this working flawlessly in about three weeks.
Ready to get to work? I'll order the camera mount tonight and try to have the copter done by the end of the week so we can get started.
Should be fun,
Bart

 

[Gary Mortimer]

Ok will keep a watch on this thread to nudge help where I can.

 

[Bartman]

Gary,
I asked this elsewhere but can the CC board take advantage of higher resolution digital servos so that the jitter seen with std res. digitals can be eliminated? I guess the board would have to have the capability to send higher res control signals?
Thanks,
Bart "Low-res brain" C.

 

[Gary Mortimer]

Yes the board can run upto 400Hz I think but could be wrong that digital servos run 240-260Hz and normal 50 of course.

Just did a quick search Futaba and JR do 333Hz

 

[Bartman]

when they talk about servo resolution do they mean a higher number of position points that the servo can be commanded to hold or are they talking about the number of control commands being sent to the servo per second?
thanks,
bart

 

[Gary Mortimer]

Both I think, I don't know much about digital servos. They are good for dual servo setups because if one fails they go slack and the other working one can still push or pull the surface. The big scale stuff and 3D use that I think.

 

[jes1111]

Analogue servos should be fed with 50-70Hz, never more! Most digital servos will accept up to 333Hz. Some gyro-driven tail servos go higher (around 500Hz), often in combination with a shorter pulse.

Raising the update rate makes the servo more "responsive" since you can issue 333 position change commands per second rather than 50, but it doesn't change the accuracy with which it can obey those commands (the resolution).

 

[Pano-Dirk]

@jes1111

I tried you configuration and it works. Thank you!
Now I have to do some fine tuning to find the best values and fix the board on the camera mount to test it.

 

[Bartman]

pano-dirk,
did you ever manage to get a CC stabilized camera mount up and running? I've just finished assembling my new mount so I'm getting started on adapting the CC board to run it.

Would it make any difference if I use airplane or multirotor mode? since there's no motors I thought maybe the airplane mode will be easier to set up using just pitch and roll. time to find out i guess.

bart

 

[Bartman]

Here's where I'm at...
I've got my JR 921 receiver connected to the CC board with a 2 cell A123 pack providing power via the Rx. The multi-color cable is plugged into the Rx using the two channels for pitch and roll (7 & 8) plus channels 1, 4, and 9 for throttle, yaw, and flight mode. The pitch and roll servos from the mount are plugged into the 1st and second positions on the CC board's outputs.
After setting this all up and attempting to configure it in GCS I'm able to make the pitch and roll servos respond via the Tx using the two sliders but I'm not getting any stabilization from the board to maintain attitude.
Here are the GCS screenshots.............help!

View attachment 639View attachment 641View attachment 642View attachment 640

 

[jes1111]

Sorry for misleading you on this - apparently the actual stabilisation part (in the firmware) is yet to appear in a binary release - but it will be in the next release, very soon.