ArduPilot Helicopter Setup Video Series

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This is video 1 in a three-part series on helicopter setup with the ArduPilot flight stack.

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Hi Chris
What a turnaround since you are involved in the Trad.Helicopter development. Now this first setup-video - brilliant!
Also nice that you are giving the additional info for Mission Planer users.
I hope that we can see under your name Chris Olson - Heli-DEV soon, and Bill Geyer as well.

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This is video 2 in a three-part series on helicopter setup with the ArduPilot flight stack.

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This is really great. I’ll add to the wiki after the canberra unconference is over.

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Thanks @ChrisOlson :slight_smile:

Waiting for the sequels. Or prequels :wink: ?

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I am using MissionPlanner for about 8 years now. Just downloaded QGroundControl v.3.3.0 and looked through it. I believe now that you have done a good choice to demonstrate the Heli-setup with that GC-software. It looks to me it is easier than MissionPlanner for a beginner at the moment.
But I personally will stick to MissionPlanner which I know best.

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I really like QGroundControl - have gone to using it pretty much exclusively. Mission Planner’s one downfall is that it is not cross-platform.

Windows used to be the most popular personal computing platform and MP was developed for it, based on that fact. That is no longer the case. Android (which is based on linux) now holds that crown by a huge margin. More and more people continue to move to mobile computing platforms. So I see MP as eventually having to evolve, as being stuck on Windows in this day and age is pretty much a dead end street. Windows is still strong in the desktop computing space, but fewer and fewer people are using that anymore when we now have cell phones that have more computing power than most consumer PC’s.

I had a Windows 10 laptop here that our daughter gave me because she got a new Mac. I was going to put MP in it. But I couldn’t figure out how to use it because it thought it was smarter than me and constantly wanted to do different stuff than what I wanted it to do. I finally fixed it. I put Ubuntu 16.04 linux in it and it’s been working fine ever since. And I have MP running in it with mono, but I only use it for reference now and then.

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This is video 3 in what is now a four-part series on helicopter setup with the ArduPilot flight stack.

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Damn…

now I have to wait for the next sequel, because my 450’s don’t have governor :slight_smile:

This is getting worst than StarWars…

Thanks @ChrisOlson

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This is excellent because I am preparing the presentation for MODE 3 control with the new 5-point throttle curve with spline smoothing that will be PR’d to 3.6-dev. I will be doing a ArduHeli 3.5.5 build with that feature that you can fly. The testing of the new MODE 3 control is completed, it is just a matter of doing the PR. It will likely not be PR’d to Copter 3.5 backports because it is a significant change that will break existing MODE 3 setups, requiring fresh setup of the throttle curve.

I will explain all that in the fourth video, show how it works and how to set it. @bnsgeyer wrote the code for it, I put it thru the wringer to test it and I think the PR could be submitted at any time to 3.6-dev. It is a HUGE improvement over the old 3-point curve - one of the most significant improvements to the HeliRSC system since it was written. And since the code is contained in the HeliRSC library, it does not affect multi-rotors at all.

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Great Stuff , I think you set the standard for the WIKIs :wink:

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LoL @ppoirier… wise words my friend… Just let me think what we are going to ask you :slight_smile:

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Something like … What is a Designated Volunteer?

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Na… still a Volunteer Volunteer :slight_smile:

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I really like QGroundControl - have gone to using it pretty much exclusively. Mission Planner’s one downfall is that it is not cross-platform.

Chris,
thanks for the info. I did not know those facts in detail.

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It’s just kind of the way the personal computing business has gone, with more and more people that don’t even own a PC anymore. It is why I see Mission Planner, if it is to survive long term, as having to evolve. Or be replaced by something that fits on the more popular mobile computing platforms.

I do not think any polls have been taken of our users as to what is the most popular ground station application. But I suspect at this time it is probably Mission Planner, as it gets most of the focus in reference to setup and flying missions. But that will change with time, simply due to the market forces that drive personal computing.

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This is video 4 of the series.

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Absolutely brilliant series of video’s have really helped to clarify the setup of the Heli which in my case does work but could be much better. (Please make the spreadsheet available)

Thanks

David Ardis

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Well,

the easy part were @ChrisOlson tutorials…

Now comes the hardest part: How to get everything in place without looking too messed up…

IMG_20180215_205230.jpg3000Ă—2250 774 KB

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Reportedly the Pixracer has flown a micro for user @Dave_Smith and he has flown full-blown auto missions with it. I’m taking the liberty to post his photo here.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/tl82y7ubfsk94wa/IMG_5532.JPG?dl=0