@brad112358, I would venture that it isn’t “dead” but that tridge’s contract with SkyRocket for 2018 came to an end. Since he is the primary developer for that repo, he is the one that would handle any merges. (peterbarker has also done some work) That said, In the two years I’ve been watching the SkyRocket fork, I don’t think he’s accepted any community PRs on any of the repos…but i could be mistaken.
All that said, I’m happy to see SkyRocket embracing Open Source on some of their other products like the Recoil, which recently showed up within their repo. That’s neat. Unfortunately, I don’t think the Recoil sold as well as they were hoping. If there is one toy I can find at the “second chance store” shelves everywhere around here it is Recoils! That’s unfortunate, as it looks like a fun toy, but it just may have missed out on being “popular”…at least in my location. Which is interesting to note, because Matt has mentioned their constant struggles trying to get retailers to take their Sky Viper on their shelves, and yet there are dozens of un-sold Recoils every where i go.
I agree, it is fantastic that SkyRocket is using Ardupilot and other open source code in some of their products. I purchased 5 Sky Vipers specifically because of that fact. I encouraged some friends to buy one as well because of the potential Ardupilot gave it beyond the features advertised on the box. I’m also very happy the SkyRocket Ardupilot branch was merged into the Ardupilot project. This means new features can easily be made available.
I quite understand that @tridge and other Ardupilot developers are very busy. If the contract with SkyRocket is over, he and @peterbarker may not have time to maintain the Sonix code and @Matt_M / SkyRocket may consider the Sonix project completed and good enough for consumers and have no intention of maintaining or enhancing it. I’m not complaining if this is the case! But I’d say this is the definition of “Dead” for a github project. But even if it is dead, it has huge value to customers like us because it can be forked and we, the community, can carry on enhancing and maintaining it for as long as someone with the required skills cares. It would just be nice to know what the intention is so we don’t fork if we don’t need to. The Sonix project is a wonderful example of integration of Ardupilot with a low cost companion computer to add the many functions it provides. Even if SkyRocket doesn’t want to maintain it, perhaps Ardupilot should.
I do think there would be value for SkyRocket as well as the community if they were to maintain the existing project themselves and welcome community contributions beyond the initial development phase.
@Matt_M, What is the intention for the SkyRocketToys/Sonix project?
You’re exactly right, the SONIX was a GREAT venture into creating a cheap companion computer. Also, the APWeb is probably the best feature!
APWeb was ported over into the ardupilot repo…but i’m not sure how much it is being updated.
By “not dead” I mean that when SkyViper decides to start building their 2019 models, you’ll probably start seeing activity in their again. So, perhaps then tridge will evaluate PR ideas to incorporate, if it is within scope of the contract.
I hope to see a SkyViper/ArduPilot micro-FPV house-racer. That’s what I’m after next
One for the wife and I, where we can fall back to the EKF in Loiter/Stabilize if need be, and I can jump to Acro if I’m feeling squirrely. Even better, if we fly outside and lose control/video, we can just let it RTH.
That’s perfection, right there. Plus I can tweak to my heart’s content.
I don’t think you’ll ever get a micro with RTH…that’ll require GPS.
However, I would LOVE to see opticalFlow integrated into the Micro. Those micros can be so hard to control, I’d love one with the stability that they achieve in the Fury. Those sensors are getting so incredibly tiny and cheap, that is has to be possible.
A bit portly for a houseracer, but coming very close to the ideal mark.
I think you’re right, for a pure indoor racer, OF/Sonar is far more important. I was thinking of a hybrid indoor/outdoor micro, which can stray a bit larger than a pure indoor one should.
Hi guys,
Yes, there are some new lidar and OF sensors that are very small. Would fit on a micro. They aren’t great outdoors, but would be perfect inside. There’s some discussion about the min the 3.6 section of the forum. I’d imagine it won’t be long before similar sensors are released that do work well indoors and outdoors.
GPS is working great on my microcopter. I’ve been programming missions and having no problems. I usually have 12-18 satellites. More when I’m up high.
As far as micros being hard to control… I have been flying daily for the past year, and progressed from constant crashes and rebuilding, to now I’m flying through abandoned houses and into covered creeks (concrete creeks in urban areas) and all sorts of crazy places I could lose my copter, and don’t ever crash anymore. All manual flying. It just takes practice. Then once you can do it, it’s great fun! It really puts me in a good mood after I fly for 5-10 minutes.
I’m not going fast, but still, scary place to fly…
Move the components from a Nano SV over to the small Whoop frame. Stability gain and removable longer flight time battery make it worth the effort. I added larger motors and tri-blade props. One of my favorites to fly.
How about implementing a RTH feature by monitoring the radio signal strength. Sort of how Tridge implemented binding of nearby drone and receiver, just in this case the drone will try to move in the direction of stronger signal by flying in small circles / turning. When the signal is strong enough for reliable flying it will just stay there waiting for the input from the controller.
Could it work?
Okay, got a new journey. Flies great I have been all over my 60 acre farm with it all from the driveway. Can’t get the phone to show anything even though it connects, and when I get it back and pull the sd card, no movie. Any help would be appreciated.
While your flying, do you press the left shoulder bumper “video”?
Also have you done the initial firmware updates when you first started up the drone? If not that may be a very good reason to why you do not have video feed on your phone.
Another thing to check is if the sky viper 2.0 app has an update.
Aloha Matt_M! After seeing your Pioneer refit, have you ever seen the Wingsland S6? I’ve been playing w/them since they dropped to $129.00. It has a flowhold camera and ultrasonic sensors. Still a very small product but brushless. I wonder, could you do the same with it? Swap the DJI sensor and Wingsland VTX to use the app? IDK, but would be happy to use my own radio if necessary. Use the app for osd/vid/fpv? Just a thought. Happy New Year! se
Matt: When you get around to using waypoints, consider curved flight lines (Gently Curved, Convergent, Non-traditional Drone Flight Paths) to mitigate the systematic SfM doming (elevation) error. I’ll try to upload an example
Old Post, I know, but-flight conditions? Altitude of launch point? I have had the same issue. Losing GPS lock may be AFTER unit f/c forced into landing mode due to inability to provide sufficient power for hold. Try stabi mode if you can fly that way. Problem may still exist which means prop upgrade (inexpensive fix). se
Warranty? Oh that thing people keep hoping will bail them out? Rather than warranty I could use a pile of parts! Is there any way to get a complete set of internals (used, dead bird salvage, etc.) for a reframe? 2450 or 2700 F/C, GPS, baro, sonix board/camera? Or do I need to go the parts store? Thanks
^^ This! Also, if you have a choice, I prefer the V2450GPS electronics. Better processor, design, dual bus, Taoglas antenna, etc.
Just make sure to use the V2450GPS module with the same board. You CAN use the newer module on the old board (and old module with new board) but the wires on the harness of the GPS module need to be removed and reseated in opposite order.
I don’t think there will be much more Sonix development since it currently meets our needs for the product. It really didn’t change too much between the 2017 and 2018 modules, apart from the sensor cable going from parallel to MIPI.
The whole WebAP came about completely from Tridge. When we were waiting an extraoridinarily long time for the module supplier to get us the source code, Tridge got tired of waiting, kicked down the walls of the Sonix code and built up the WebAP for development purposes. It worked so well and was so helpful, we agreed to keep it in for release. SOOOOO glad we did, too! It’s helped us diagnose issues with Customer support as well as created an open door for the entire community who loves to tinker.
It would have been an outright shame for the V2450GPS to ship with that firmware on it and not have an interface like the WebAP to work with it.
100% agree. The WebAP made it possible for newbies like me to get in and figure this thing out before transitioning to using a real GCS for configuration…even still. When I’m “on-site” and I want to make a configuration change, being able to do that with my phone/tablet is incredibly useful!
I mean…really…a quad with a companion computer at sub $100!! Wah!?
