Running Solo on Master

Pedals2Paddles · Mar 17, 2017

pyrate · Mar 17, 2017

I am really stoked they figured out the gimbal and smart shots
wonder how they manage that with no code release?

Pedals2Paddles · Mar 17, 2017

pyrate said:
I am really stoked they figured out the gimbal and smart shots
wonder how they manage that with no code release?

The incompatibility with the gimbal and smart shots was in Arducopter, not in the closed gimbal code. So Phillip was able to take that modification that exists on the solo version and put it into Master. I believe it was done during the early days of AC3.4.

Opening up the gimbal code isn't really needed for this. What that would allow is building a new gimbal to support different cameras. You could make a fully solo compatible gimbal that carries a professional cinema camera or DSLR. And put it on a heavy lift X8 or something.

cryhavoc38 · Mar 17, 2017

Pedals2Paddles said:
Perhaps you think it should be a charity? The developers that design and build this stuff should just give it all away for free and spend tens of thousands of their own money donating advanced hardware to people on the internet? When did profiting off your hard work as a small business building a good product become evil??

The notion that it's just a useless add on bilking people out of money for no actual benefit is completely wrong. It's an optional advanced upgrade for those who an advanced optional upgrade. Does MAS give away propellers for free? Does FPVLR give away antennas for free? Do you need any of them? No. But they're there if you want to buy them.

well yes, yes they do. The MAS free props promotion is now over, but they were running it for a good few weeks

bassam · Mar 22, 2017

I'm super glad you got solo working on 3.5! This is indeed great news.

That fall looks terrible, but hopefully you can use it for spare parts!

Is there anywhere I can follow your progress more closely? I.e. the changes you are making to the code (like your git?). I would be interested in that.

Pedals2Paddles · Mar 22, 2017

Nothing on github yet. But discussion underway on the Arducopter forum.
Testing 3.5 on my Solo - She flies!

speatuk · Mar 22, 2017

Pedals2Paddles said:
Nothing on github yet. But discussion underway on the Arducopter forum.
Testing 3.5 on my Solo - She flies!

I'm watching/reading avidly too.

I've even created a quick link to the AC post so I can keep right up with it.

Keep up the good work P2P I just wish I had the available free time to spend the time like are. I'm more than sure all your hard word and perseverance will be appreciated by all of us.

If there is anything I can help with, just ask.

[emoji106]

Pedals2Paddles · Mar 22, 2017

Back from the pile of rubble! All beeps and blinks are beeping and beeping as they should. Video is videoing. Motors are spinning, and even going the proper direction!

Motor pods, carrier board, pixhawk, and WiFi card all salvaged without damage.
Companion computer was damaged beyond repair. The companion computer in my spare parts solo was also inoperable. @Jubalr had a spare companion computer he sent out to me. Thank you for that!
Body, gimbal, legs, accessory port, and props to the trash.

While I had it taken apart, I put new external antennas on it. They're circular polarized 2.4ghz antennas. One is LHCP, the other is RHCP. The two reject each other very nicely. That cuts down on desense, and improves MiMo isolation. The circular polarization isn't affected by pitch/roll angle of the Solo. I expect they'll work nicely even with the stock controller antennas despite the 3db cross polarization loss. Once I know it works, I'll probably get an FPVLR for the controller, which has matching CP antennas.

Test flight tomorrow after work!

speatuk · Mar 23, 2017

Pedals2Paddles said:
Back from the pile of rubble! All beeps and blinks are beeping and beeping as they should. Video is videoing. Motors are spinning, and even going the proper direction!

Motor pods, carrier board, pixhawk, and WiFi card all salvaged without damage.

Companion computer was damaged beyond repair. The companion computer in my spare parts solo was also inoperable. @Jubalr had a spare companion computer he sent out to me. Thank you for that!

Body, gimbal, legs, accessory port, and props to the trash.

While I had it taken apart, I put new external antennas on it. They're circular polarized 2.4ghz antennas. One is LHCP, the other is RHCP. The two reject each other very nicely. That cuts down on desense, and improves MiMo isolation. The circular polarization isn't affected by pitch/roll angle of the Solo. I expect they'll work nicely even with the stock controller antennas despite the 3db cross polarization loss. Once I know it works, I'll probably get an FPVLR for the controller, which has matching CP antennas.

Test flight tomorrow after work!

Let us know how the antennas work. Untested (pigging spellcheck, "interested" was the word I meant) to say the least.

Well done on the rebuild. Shame you lost quite a lot of bits.

andrew.baker.142 · Mar 24, 2017

P2P,

Looks NICE!
Thanks for testing Master for us also!

pyrate · Mar 24, 2017

hell of a recovery

David Boulanger · Mar 25, 2017

I'll be curious how mixing LH and RH antennas works out when you put them on the controller also. When say a RHCP signal multipaths it becomes LHCP basically. It just seems like all should be RHCP or LHCP. Its amazing how much larger 2.4 antennas are compared to 5.8.

Is that with the stock WiFi card?

Pedals2Paddles · Mar 25, 2017

David Boulanger said:
I'll be curious how mixing LH and RH antennas works out when you put them on the controller also. When say a RHCP signal multipaths it becomes LHCP basically. It just seems like all should be RHCP or LHCP. Its amazing how much larger 2.4 antennas are compared to 5.8.

Is that with the stock WiFi card?

Yes, stock WiFi card.

The multipathing point is an interesting one. That is one of the many advantages of using CP for video transmitters and receivers. Using RHCP on both ends will be default reject multipath interference. Makes a big improvement in the video quality and reliability. I'm not sure how much of a factor that multipathing is with WiFi data packets compared to a straight up video transmission. It obviously still happens, but how much hard does it cause, I don't know. I'm about to find out!

The FPVLR and REXUAV style long range antenna kits use one of each RHCP and LHCP as well. But the vast majority of their users are running stock linear antennas on the aircraft. So having one of each allows it to pickup whatever ends up being best in either direction. In my case, I'll have one of each LHCP and RHCP on the aircraft as well, matching the FPVLR on the controller. Putting aside multipathing, that would be the most ideal scenario. The two reject each other, which allows the LHCP to talk to the LCHP and the RHCP to talk to the RHCP with very little desense or interference. That is huge boost to MiMO performance. It remains to be seen what effect multipathing will have on that.

Test flying today.

David Boulanger · Mar 25, 2017

I'll be looking to your results with great interest. Still wondering how MIMO will handle a multipath signal from a RHCP signal that gets received by a LHCP receiver antenna and the non multipath signal received by the RHCP antenna. Not trying to bust balls here, but just asking questions

andrew.baker.142 · Mar 25, 2017

I have a similar setup as P2P, but right now I'm running all RHCP antennas. Flew it today, but all line of sight so I don't have any range data to share.
Works great though! And don't forget that Chicks dig CP antennas!

Pedals2Paddles · Mar 25, 2017

I didn't get to test max range today. In a baseline test flight, I had regular Solo Arducopter 1.3.2 firmware loaded. I forgot to turn the damn max distance fence off so I was stopped at 3,200ft away. I still had very solid 30% signal. With the stock antennas on the solo, that's pretty good. But I need to do more real comparison testing.

drewjet · Mar 26, 2017

Interesting stuff on the antennas. What adapter did you use to go from the WiFi card to the Shell?

Pedals2Paddles · Mar 26, 2017

So many things going on in this screenshot! Arducopter master 3.5-RC3 Beta on the Solo. Holding steady in Fly mode (Loiter), leaning into the wind. Solo's video on Mission Planner's HUD with Solex up on the phone (video only to one or the other). Terrain awareness working. Auto mission waiting to begin. Today was a good day of testing. This time I only had one CFIT incident, and only broke one prop. I have a good set of PIDs that I think will be nailed down for good with one more test day. Almost all the other parameters have been worked out. Again one more day of testing should have that nailed down. Tested follow and zip line smart shots. Tested orbit smart shot a week ago. I'm presently documenting a repeatable process for installing and configuring. Which I also think I'm very close to completing. With the externally mounted CP antennas on the solo, and only the stock antennas on the controller, I has a solid stable connection out to 3,800ft in the country. I don't believe I ever got that far on stock antennas in this location before.

The only major incompatibility so far is with EKF3. It will fly just fine with EKF3 enabled. But the compass and level calibrations will not work with EKF3 enabled. It just craps itself and loses connection with the controller. Really doesn't make any sense, and I don't know why yet. So for the time being, I have EKF3 disabled.

David Boulanger · Mar 26, 2017

So you can put Solo's video on the HUD with just the UDP connection? In other words a live video on mission planners screen?

Pedals2Paddles · Mar 26, 2017

Yes. You just need to install gstreamer on your PC. MP will pick up on that video stream and use it. But as with anything else, the video pipeline can only be used by one device at a time. If you use video on MP, you will have no video on the solo or solex apps.