Testing position hold/loiter (via mandatory shaky phone-camera video):

Finally getting back to VRBrain testing. Just got it working with the latest MissionPlanner and AC2.6 that has some enhancements I am using for work. Originally developed and loaded via linux (OpenSuSE 12.2). Configured for a Y6 and Hexa. Hopefully will be flying by the weekend. Looking good!

Today we start our first Indiegogo campaign .After 1 hour we have our first bakers ... :)

That's very good :) Help us to share our campaign .

Our goals are:

• growing users of our network.
• improved version ready to fly VR Brain
• Improve our electronic design and firmware.
• Support the work of volounter developer. 

If you want help us to reach the target share this addres with your friends in your network :

http://www.indiegogo.com/vrbrain?a=206201

This last update  about VBRAIN add ON. In the picture you can see the first prototype of VR Neuron (Down) near the VR Brain (UP) . As you can see te board have the same mechanical design of VR Brain . The board is very compact 6x4 cm VR Brain 7x4 VR Neuron. You can put VR Neuron above and VR Brain up , connect the board by serial port and the use VR Neuron to connect the World :)

Above the board there is PAD for connect by an Header a breadboard or directly thw wire for add yor specific applciation. On the PAD there are available a lot of input output port 27 GPIO , SPI , I2C , Serial port .

In the next days will be more update until official presentation 9 November 2012 at Makers Italy .

In the last six month i decide to implement a new revolutionary design that could be usefull for add a lot on new functionality to our drones.

In the past we only work on micro controller : AVR , SAM3X, STM32 , great platform the last STM32f4 is best micro controller for manage our drone : acro and stable flight , loiter , waypoint navigation ecc ecc. But if i want to put on it a o.s. i start to have a lot of problem : small memory footprint available , not enough ram slow speed processor. So a lot of proposal .... ChibiOS , Nuttx . But what is better and opensource of the worlds ? No doubt It's Linux :)

In my professional work i used a lot of micro controller and micro processor , but all ,too complex to be hackable as a STM32. Until i start to play with a great Italian product , the first that put an Android on a wearable PC .

I like a lot the micro inside it and decide to use that microprocessor for my next opensource design.

I'm happy to present the first design of VR Neuron . It will be official present the 10 November 2012 at the Makers Italy exibithion so who would see our great new design are welcome to meet us at Makers Italy in Milan.

These are preliminary technical info about VR Neuron :

• Freescale Imx Arm9 microprocessor.
• 64 Megabyte Ram
• Flash until 32 Gbyte Flash on SDIO bus
• 456 mhz clock
• DUAL BEC 5V Input
• 1 for CPU
• 1 for USB channel
• 1 Pal Video Output
• 2 Audio Channel Output
• 1 Input audio channel
• 26 GPIO (LCD BUS)
• 2 i2c bus
• 1 SPI MISO MOSI SCK
• 2 serial Port
• 1 USB Host 2.0 channel
• Only 6x5 cm half of Raspberry PI

The operating system that i choose for my development is ArchLinuxArm , the powerfull of this design is incredible , i play a lot with the kernel and add a lot of usb device : wifi dongle , 3G dongle , webcam and install a lot of application and test it : apache2 , mysql , mjp-streamer .

So on this platform is possible to do anything of application , it's available python , gcc , i ply with mavlink_proxy and it work fine ... i connect the VBRAIN serial port to VNeuron and by wifi connect mission planner to VBRAIN and see live the telemetry of my quadcopter online.

With the PAL output could be possibile to develop a great OSD application or with oudio you can implement a tele presence systems ... the limit will be only fantasy :)

So i'm very exited about this project and i hope that you like it and join us in development.

Follow the evolution of project here :

http://www.virtualrobotix.com/group/armcopterdevgroup/forum/topics/penguin-project-introduction-and-started-the-developer-enrolment?xg_source=activity

Best

Roberto Navoni

This is Vbrain RTF with new enclosure the .stl file is available on thinkverse:

 http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:32321
This last revision of VBrain will be official presented to Makers Italy in Milan 9 November 2012 join us at the event : http://www.virtualrobotix.com/events/virtual-robotix-workshop-d-autunno-incontriamoci-a-makersitaly

Emile and Roberto are progressing on the port and test of the VRBrain with the Arducopter

code now we are working on rev 2.7.3-4.

In this video is possible to see the test of Emile Hexa . It's the first flight and we testing the stability , loiter and alt hold and return to land with approach activated.

We have succesfully flown and tested latest features and came up with some benchmarks to compare the different architectures using Arducopter firmwarre.

In this video is possible to see a vbrain installed on a custom frame that use great component : SmartDrone motors and propeller the time of flight is around 27 min.

This is the video of first flight of special revision of firmware for VBRAIN that use the FPU acceleration the benchmark is about this revision of code.

Roberto and Emile a FoxTeam Member .

Dear Friends,

after some months without my reprap prusa i start to doing new test. My Friends Simone told me interesting firmware for manage my 3D printer . 

The name of Software is Repetier-Hosts this is the link :

https://github.com/repetier/Repetier-Host

The big advantages of this firmware respect of other tested some month ago is that this is an integrated development suite. 

In one Software there is 3D visualization , support for Slic3r or Skinforce , and managment of printer.

So you have 1 enviroment that support also the simulation , so you can see before to print what could be the result of your printing using the Virtual Printer driver.

Now i found a nice Quad model and i would try to print it with my prusa.

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:26152

Best

Roberto

Dear Friends,
Some news after our first post : "A New Search And Rescue Project"
We finished our Ground Control Station this month ! The idea was to have a mobile station to use the drone in a car or in a control center. The GCS consists of 2 computers (for eventually future ROS deployment), the first and the main is for all without logging details (and, further for important calculations with kinect(r), single camera, etc. if we need) which is done by the second.

The PC uses a DiyDrones 3DRRadio 433MHz for telemetry data but the RC control is done by a hand assembled RC inspired from here with a computer joystick, an arduino card and a V8HFR transmitter from FrSky.
The GCS soft used is principally Qgroundcontrol but we use also APM Mission Planner from Michael Oborne. Both of them are Open Source and very customisable for sending commands with the joystick's switchs.
Our next post will be consecrated on the Drone's construction.

Imax B6 Charger integrated in the Flight Case.

Emergency stop. It kills the drone stopping all the motors immediatly with a MAVLink command or starts the emergency land.

The main computer with his KVM switch

The starting switches of the RC, fan regulator, Video receiver, etc.

Next post coming soon, we have finished the first drone today, we just have to put the magic card (with NAVY2012) and it flies !
Best,
Stynes and Lichard Torman

/**************************** ENGLISH *******************************************/

After struggling with strange wobbling without being able to find correct PIDs, I have finally found the source of the problem.

This problem is affecting all MP32F1 users using either VRIDE or VRIDE PRO.

The bug was related to the micros() function of the Maple libraries.

To correct this before the latest relaease (currently under testing) unzip the attached file and replace the files in:

vrobotix-ide-x.x.x.x\hardware\leaflabs\cores\ for the VRIDE installation.

vrobotix-ide-pro\workspaces\MP32F1xx\ACopter32-0.0.5.7.0-WIP\wirish\ for the VRIDE PRO installation.

This is quite critical, so please take the time to upgrade it before next flying.

The zip is here:

http://code.google.com/p/multipilot32/downloads/detail?name=MP32F1-...

/************************ ITALIANO **********************************************/

Dopo diversi tentativi per capire cosa stava affliggendo il mio quad che nonostante PID tuning non smetteva di oscillare (piccoli scatti), finalmente sono riuscito a trovare la sorgente del problema.

Questo problema affligge tutte le piattaforme basate su MP32F1 sia che usino VRIDE che VRIDE PRO

Il problema era nella funzione micros() delle librerie MAPLE.

Per correggere il problema prima della prossima revisione del Firmware (che attualmente sto finendo di testare)  scaricate lo zip in allegato e posizionate i file nel seguente percorso relativo a quello di installazione:

vrobotix-ide-x.x.x.x\hardware\leaflabs\cores\per la VRIDE .

vrobotix-ide-pro\workspaces\MP32F1xx\ACopter32-0.0.5.7.0-WIP\wirish\ per la VRIDE PRO.

La modifica è abbastanza radicale, quindi consiglio a tutti di aggiornare la vostra installazione prima del prossimo volo.

Lo zip si trova al seguente indirizzo:

http://code.google.com/p/multipilot32/downloads/detail?name=MP32F1-...

Dear Friends,

after 2 month of test I'm happy to inform you that the VBrain is ready to fly.

The platform is a result of 4 years of work on ARM autopilot platform. It's last evolution of Multipilot32 platform. I'm very happy that this is the year of ARM and we are here to present our last creation : Simple , Smaller and Ready to Use.

VBrain is a good choose for OEM ready to use hardware platform.

The VBrainautopilot features include:

• 168Mhz ARM CortexM4F microcontroller with DSP and floating-point hardware acceleration.
• 1024KiB of flash memory, 192KiB of RAM.
• MEMS accelerometer and gyro, magnetometer and barometric pressure sensor.
• 8 RC Input standard PPM , PPMSUM , SBUS
• 8 RC Output at 490 hz
• 1 integrated high speed data flash for logging data
• 1 Can bus 2 i2c Bus
• 3 Serial port available  one for GPS 1 for serial option 1 for serial telemetry.
• 3 digital switch (ULN2003).
• Jtag support for onboard realtime debugger.
• 1 Buzzer output.
• 1 Input for control lipo voltage
• Include in the standard Vbrain Package there is VBrain GPS module , the module support MTEK 3329 gps , Ublox module , Fastrak IT600. On the module is available optional magnetometer. You can disconnect the board and put it far from brushless motoros to solve the problem of noise on mag signal.
• Physical Dimension 6x4 cm
• Will be available a case

It's first Universal Arm hardware platform . On it is available different kind of firmware : Open or Closed source . The main firmware available is Arducopter32 , last revision is 2.7 In the next day will be available a full fly test.
This platform is fully compatible with different kind of RTOS : FreeRtos , ChibiOS , Nuttx , CooxOS .

Our first target when start to develop our hardware platform 2 years ago was to develop a simple and powerfull ide.

We develop VRIDE PRO that is a special distribution customize by FoxTeam and LaserLab guys. The Ide use Eclipse as Editor, GCC as compiler , GDB and OpenOcd as Debugger.

This is the link of ready to use Ide:

http://code.google.com/p/multipilot32/downloads/detail?name=vrobotix-ide-pro-0.0.5.7.0-WIP-Angerl%20Loiter-F1-F4.part1.rar&can=2&q=#makechanges

The ide support different kind of workspace and library. Our first target was porting all arduino and APM api to ARM platform.

The supported firmware are Arducopter32the last revision available is 2.7 the status of firmware is ready to fly .

The Workspace with last revision of code is available here :

http://code.google.com/p/multipilot32/downloads/detail?name=ACopter32_2.7_Beta1_VRBRAIN.rar&can=2&q=#makechanges

Our Team are working also on PX4 enviroment , first target was to port Arducopter32 on PX4 and PX4 enviroment to Vbrain and MP32Fx platform.

The hardware is compatible also with other opensource firmware as AutoQuad AeroQuad and OpenPilot. A lot of work are doing on IDE and firmware to share it on our platform.
We try to work to a new Opensource Standard based on high performances STM32F4 micro controller.

The price for VBRAIN with GPS Board (MTEK 3329 rev) developer revision  is 199 euro.

It's also available a ready to use board with 3 days of support by team viewer at 270 euro.

There is also available a oem version of product.

We are Ready for pre order the first batch of production will be available in 3 weeks some sample is yet available.

For more info about VBrain  contact us at virtualrobotix@gmail.com or by skype our nick is virtualrobotix

Best

Roberto

My wife was nice enough to let me bring my quad and FPV gear on vacation :)

This is the result.

http://youtu.be/pYzNKglo5os?hd=1

Had dozens flights using Multipilot32 with MPU6000 and latest ported Arducopter32 2.6 firmware.

Unfortunately the quad had some vibration problems and wind was always quite strong.

I think is time to change motors and frame....

Had a lot of fun. This is my first edited video so please be nice with comments :)

Cheers,

Emile

Thanks to Roberto for his MP32 + NAVI2012

and thanks to the Arducopter dev team for their great work!

http://youtu.be/pYzNKglo5os?hd=1

Unfortunately the quad had some vibration problems and wind was always quite strong.

I think is time to change motors and frame....

Had a lot of fun. This is my first edited video so please be nice with comments :)

Cheers,

Emile

Thanks to Roberto for his MP32 + NAVI2012

and thanks to the Arducopter dev team for their great work!

Dear friends,

Today we’ll present you our project.

    As we can see in standard rescue, the first and major step is the localization’s step. And this localization could not be always easy in some cases. Indeed, a lot of hostile environments areas like flooded areas prevent a satisfactory location of victims. So, it would seem necessary to find a localization system adapted and efficient for rescuing and avoiding a possible risk for humans.

    Our project was born from the idea that a UAV system is cheaper and smaller than helicopters, and so it could me deployed in a most important number. The project consists of creating a fully functional system (Ground Control Station, Quadcopter and maybe auto-charging system) for Search in hostile environment. The Ground Control Station is an equipped flight case with a computer for data logging, video and telemetry displaying and sending MAVLink commands; the UAV will be a MultiPilot32F4 and Navy 2012 system, with FrSky RC and 3DR 433MHz Telemetry and fiberglass Quadcopter, with a video camera and his gimbal. The auto-charging system is just an idea for the moment and had been inspired by induction and wireless energy transfer to avoid connectors (the drones should just land on an area to charge) but we’re thinking on the potential risk of interference on the radio link.

    We’re going to do some posts in July to present you the construction of the project which have been created for French physics contest and which will be probably exposed on the National Physics salon of the contest.

Best

Stynes and Lichard Torman

This is today video update , new Automatic mission with more detail during the flight. This video is better of first doing yesterday :)

In my test i using MP32F4 + NAVY2012 (ARM rev.) the revision of code is 2.5.5 Mission planner is 1.1.9

My quad is a 330x is not so good for fly in the wind :( But i fly well my first automatic mission :)

This is the discussion thread : http://www.virtualrobotix.com/forum/topics/how-work-and-setup-of-automatic-function-altitude-hold-loiter-aut?xg_source=activity

I doing the recording of waypoiny using the switch that is possible configure on mission planner on channel 7.

Before to start to recording is possible to delete the waypoiny in eeprom with Disarmed Motor , then switch in AUTO mode and selected then switch channel 7 the same that you use for add new waypoint.

So then you go in stabilize mode and fly where you want to put first point , second ecc until last.

When you switch on eeprom write lat lon and altitude for every point. Keep atention that in first point the quad doing a strange roll fasta change ready to controll the quad.

When you put in Auto Mode , the quad rotate his noose towards the next waypoint , don't worry :) The important is that you know how control the quad if you need to return in stabilize manual mode :)

This is the quality of auto navigation in a windy day on waypoint i see an max error of 2-3 m

At the end of flight i download my log and convert it in KMZ file and check it in Google Earth. For check the quality of flight i save the waypoint and then i prepare manually a KMZ and import it in the Google earth.

In my test i verify that hit waypoint with an error 2-3 m . I think that it's good :)

Dear Friends,

our lab continue to work and improve our platform , we are working on next generation RTF and OEM platform.

The new brand will be VR BRAIN 4.0 the revision of produvt will be MP32FX V4. Put a BRAIN in your DRONE :)

The new design will be based on experience doing with MP32FX V3 and NAVY 2012 . Same great sensor MPU6000 , HMC5883 , MS barometer and STM32F1 or F4 as micro controller and Data Flash onboard for save realtime data logging .

The design will be more compact , only  1 all in one board with put a gps on it or connected by a cable

There are also interesting news about new exclusive ST MEMS sensor supported by VR Brain but will be more news available in the future :)

For special low consuption application will be available also L1 revision of micro.

So with this new boar will be available also the new VR IDE PRO .

The main adavantages of this new ide is the direct support of .PDE file  so will be more simple mantain the aligment of arducopter project  and support of relative path  so will be more simple de zip and use enviroment without need to redefine the path ecc ecc in the eclipse.

This is the link of new VRIDE is 4 part download all then dezip it.

http://code.google.com/p/multipilot32/downloads/detail?name=vrobotix-ide-pro-0.0.5.7.0-WIP-Angerl%20Loiter-F1-F4.part1.rar&can=2&q=#makechanges

See last video doing with the hardware that will be used also in VR BRAIN

The precision of loiter is around 2 meter

New developer and user are welcome , this will be ideal platform also for oem developer : Autopilot and Gimbal Control systems :)

Best

Roberto

Ciao a tutti!

Incidente mortale per un ingegnere austriaco in Sud Corea durante una prova di un drone militare.

Si dice nell'articolo che sarebbe dovuto ad un interferenza (voluta o no, Nord-Coreani ...) sul GPS.

E impressionante i danni che ci sono stati oltre la morte di un uomo (150 kg di drone in un camion...)

Cliccare su Link per l'articolo completo.

Fa riflettere sul rapporto costi/sicurezza di questi mezzi ...

Buon voli

Touch

First early Flight Video only for test that all work fine ... a windy day and need to setup PID because with more power the old one is not good:

Dear Friends,
i'm happy to inform you that our new product Multipilot32F4 and NAVY 2012 is ready
for beta testing for a special price of 199 euro.

We presented it at the beginning of year .We finish to port low
level library from STM32F1 to STM32F4: We rewrite old libmaple for STM32F1 by scratch porting
all lib to STM32F4. (thank's Alberto V for his work on library)
So the AP_LIB have same interface of standard AP_LIB for arduino and
the Arducopter32  is very similar to original revision for Arduino
platform , share 98% with original code.

The firmware that i using in my fly test is Arducopter 2.5.4 so it's last available.

I'm doing my first fly test in these day with success . A video will be availabe in the next days

The characteristics of Multipilot32F4 are:

Hardware:

• ARM Cortex-M4 processor STM32F407VET6. 168 Mhz
• Flash 1024 Kbytes RAM 196 Kbytes
• 16-bit Timer 4
• SPI 2 (ADC Interface , MicroSD connection Option)
• I ² C 2 (First I2C (sensor), Second I2C control until ESC 12)
• USART 5 (GPS, DEBUG Console, XBee Pro Telemetry)
• USB 1 (Upload Firmware, Debug Console, Power Board for Debug)
• CAN 1 (Interconnection with Professional ESC 1 Mbit update rate)
• 8 PWM Output Bit 16 (ESC / Servo Control)
• 7 PWM Input 16 Bit (RC Input Channel, accept PPM SUM)
• 8 Analog Input 12 Bit.
• Professional 4 layers PCB.
• DC: DC 30 V (6s Lipo): 5 volts and 3.3 volts
• MPU6000 Imu Sensor 3 gyro and 3 acc on board

The NAVY 2012

• HMC5883 3 axis magnetic sensor
• EEPROM for data storage
• MS6511 high precision barometer
• MTEK GPS with custom firmware for arducopter.
• Dataflash on board.
• SDIO SD Card
• SPI SD Card that support FAT file systems. (Optional)

More info about the boards are available here :

http://www.virtualrobotix.com/page/multipilot32f4-v3-0

The board is yet in production and available the next stock could be
available in the middle of may.

There are a lot of tool for development :

• A very light toolchain for peolpe that like command line ... a lot in hard developer community.
• A VRIDE Pro that is an eclipse with support for JTAG debugging .. we using ST-LINK.
• An VRIDE Std that will be available in some week for end user .

Is possible to use the DFU on usb for upgrade firmware without problem.

This is the link for download last revision of  enviroment :http://code.google.com/p/multipilot32/downloads/detail?name=VR%20MP32F4%20%20IDE%20LIB%20FIRMWARE%2001-5-2012%202.6%20%20beta.rar&can=2&q=#makechanges

This is the link of the thread on virtualrobotix forum:
http://www.virtualrobotix.com/forum/topics/multipilot32-v3-f1-f4-and-new-vr-ide-pro

In our test we found more of 12x respect to standard Arduino Mega hardware platform.

The spare time cicle in 5 second is 3610 for APM and 42321 for an Multipilo32F4. 


In this test is not yet available the FPU acceleration only by different clock 16 mhz for arduino , 168 for Multipilot32F4



In this video you can see the different whe use FPU ON or FPU OFF math acceleragion going up 17x

This is the new benchmark   

Arduino APM1 e APM2  

PerfMon:            cpu%          mils #called Hz 

loop                     33.45%  96 3614 0hz 

read_AHR             34.09%    98       29 0hz 

FiftyHZ_Loop         2.88%         8        15 0hz 

Update_GPS           0.56%                  1       15 0hz 

setupA                   0.00%              0   0 0hz 

unexplained         29.03% 83  



STM32F1                        MP32F1  

PerfMon:                       cpu%        mils #called    Hz 

loop                            35.81%  112     18357   0hz 

read_AHR               23.53%  73      130             0hz Fif y

FiftyHZ_Loop   H           7.54   54      15              0hz 

SuperFast_Loop         3.04%   9       392             0hz 

Update_GPS             1.10%   3       15              0hz 

ReadBarometer          0.07%   0       3               0hz 

setupA                 0.00%   0       0               0hz

unexplained             18.91%  59    



STM32F4                 MP32F4 ( NOW I2C IS OK )  

PerfMon:                 cpu%    mils    #called Hz 

loop                       46.88%             131 42321 0hz 

read_AHR               11.01%  30      138     0hz 

SuperFast_Loop         8.45%   23      519     0hz 

FiftyHZ_Loop           3.00%   8       15      0hz 

Update_GPS             0.13%   0       15      0hz 

ReadBarometer          0.04%   0       3       0hz 

setupA                 0.00%   0       0       0hz 

unexplained            30.49%  85

So if someone would join the development is welcome :)

Best

Roberto Navoni

Today I had my second test flight with the latest Firmware.

The results are incredible. The quad was very stable and solid also on very hard manouvres.The improvements are beyond my expectations.
You judge:

The Board tested was the VRIMUFULL with the MP32V3F1 and the BMP085 barometer.

Recent changes include:

- Updated default values for Stabilization
- Changed main loop timing.
- Fixed a memory bug.

This is the port of the Arducopter 2.6 firmware. Thanks to the original developers.

Still ALT_HOLD and GPS must be improved.
To choose your board in the config.h fie you have these options
(please comment with // what you don't need):

BOARD selection:
#define CONFIG_APM_HARDWARE MP32V1F1 //old board (rev. 1)
#define CONFIG_APM_HARDWARE MP32V3F1 //new board

GYRO and ACCELS selection:
#define INS_VRIMUFULL //standard sensors
#define INS_MPU6000 //new MPU6000 sensor

BAROMETER:
#define CONFIG_BARO AP_BARO_MS5611 //new barometer
#define CONFIG_BARO AP_BARO_BMP085 //old barometer

SENSOR BOARD:
#define CONFIG_MAG MP32NAVYSENSOR //standard board
#define CONFIG_MAG MP32NAVY2012 //new board with GPRS and dataflash
Once uploded please follow these steps:

1. In CLI mode SETUP --> erase and Reset.
2. Calibrate Radio
3. Calibrate compass by arming (without propellers!) and turning the copter on all axes.
4. Level and check that all variables are consistent.

The default parameters are based on my quad and my experience.

Please tune for your copter.
This firmware was tested with VRIMUFULL + MP32V3F1 + MPU6000 and VRIMUFULL + MP32V3F1 + STANDARD SENSORS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SczauszAlbA

 Today I found in a drawer of my old lab this board, and memory began to go into the past.  Was 1996 , 16 years ago this is  my first board based on a 16 bit micro controller that used 'C' firmware that i called VR1000 (see on the bottom layer) .

I developed that board for a BUS Fleet Managment application .

That board was based on Siemens 80c166 in future that was the base for ST 10 a  father of STM32.

The specification of this board was :

• Microcontroller Siemens 80C166 .
• 20 Mhz oscillator.
• External muxed PROM and RAM (muxed mean that the address and data bus was shared so you need a component that with a pin automatically choose to use address or data bus for parallel comunication with Prom and RAM)
• 64 kbyte EEPROM (Electri Erasable PROM) normaly before every reload of firmware i use UV Lamp for delete the firmware in the EEPROM.
• 32 Kbyte static RAM
• 8 Mbit Intel parallel flash . (Was first Flash available on the market , normally that component need 12 volt for write data in the flash and use 5 volt

With this kind of board was possible to fly a drone 16 years ago but the main problem was the sensor

In this sensor is possible to see the VR1000 (1996) and VR Brain MP32F4 IMU (2012)

VR1000 CPU

80c166 (16 bit micro controller)

VR BRAIN MP32F4

STM32F4 (32 bit micro controller)

VR1000 RAM and PROM

64 Kbyte EEPROM and 32 Kbyte Ram (external)

VR BRAIN MP32F4 RAM and PROM

1 Mbyte Flash and 192 Kbyte Ram

VR1000 vs VR MP32F4 speed of processor

20 mhz vs 168 mhz

Advanced feature available only in MP32F4 :

Internal FPU - DSP floating point processor.

MPU6000 3 gyro 3 acc

I am very curious to know how will the new micro controllers for DIY applications in 2028 :)

 Building and testing platform for transport and recovery sensors in sensitive area, remember, this is only a game!

This project was born from the need to provide my aircraft with a RF system
transmission autonomous to identify their location in emergency condition,
this condition must be remote and connected only failure all the systems on board.
The area where I work does not allow to rely on the GPS system,the signal of this
is not sufficient in a large area when the aircraft is grounded.
For this reason I decided to develop a low cost Beacon that allows me to
identify the exact point of transmission to more than 2km from the starting position
in the worst condition, for example the source transmission located in dense forest.
The natural history of this project required me to build a system
economical to transport this system in a point of 2km away and not accurate position.
so I decided to build a replica of the V2 missile with release system parachute
assisted with barometric system.
The platform used for transportation is a Aeroplane, the model is FunCub Multiplex.

Design and construction of the beacon system :

 The important objectives of this system is:
 1) Reliable
 2) Light
 3) Resistant to mechanical stress
 4) Significant autonomy
 5) Powerful
 6) Must not interfere with the avionics of the model

 I tested many different MCU and RF modules to minimize consumption.

 Some photos of the construction phase ...

Power system used was composed of 3 cell Li-Po with a capacity of 150 mA / h for a verified autonomy of 12 h
from the beginning of the RF transmission.

The total weight of battery unit is 12g.

Assembled battery pack.

The MCU is a PIC16F88, a microcontroller that I had in my lab.
You can use a wide variety of MCU depending on what resources
are required and available in your laboratory. The main problem is to reduce
consumption, which is essential use a proper method of programming.
In my case, the MCU is used to analyze the condition of aircraft avionic
and in case there is an emergency condition after a certain time enables the transmission of the RF module.
On board of the V2 the MCU ( Atmega ) communicates with the MCU beacon system
and generates the control signals. The unusual construction technique ensures a low weight Hardware

and a high resistance to mechanical stress. The box is constructed of a Depron multilayer material.

In the other side is located the modulated AM Aurel RF module also decided about this for low power

and wide range of supply voltage. The complete system weighs only 22g with battery and has

transmission capacity for 12h at 50mW RF power.

The complete system on the balance.

The directional antenna is derived from this project : http://www.missilistica.it/laserteam/yagi1.htm This antenna is homemade and designed originally for use with radio localization systems therefore suitable.
Is compact, robust and with proper RF band. I use a scanner ICOM as a receiver but also in this case

depends what comes in the laboratory. Certainly there are reception systems with greater sensitivity.

I consider it very convenient to use the internal system of RF attenuation and the frequency shift

when close to the source. This allows me to find the source, starting from several kilometers and approach until a few meters with correct direction.

Construction of the V2 :

The following pictures of the various phases of construction, the materials used are

balsa wood and paper to the tube of the parachute containment.

V2 completed ready for testing on the air.

The realization of the parachute requested further study and testing to verify the falling speed calculated and the components used.

Following the graphs recorded by the logger in the first launch without using system of expulsion.

- Time Vs. Altitude

- Time Vs. Speed

The video of the first test and second test with ejection system with barometric control :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbsQHrNRASs&list=UUrnWHoLed2O112VUSQ8XhxA&index=1&feature=plcp

The barometric ejection system is very important to reach the ground in the shortest time possible

without drift due to wind, the falling speed is calculated 1.5mt/sec.

The section rx assembled and ready.

The full retail platform ready for mission.

The final video in the laboratory :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Jp04Df8z4s

Day of the mission :
For the mission I identified suitable area and made several expeditions.

The target area was guarded by my two friends to prevent access by unauthorized parties. Was prepared a list of tasks and controls to be performed to leave nothing to chance!
Any problems would abort the mission!

My friends were ordered to keep clear of the area and tell me order of release

when the aircraft was flying so as to avoid any mistake on my part evaluation in an instrumental. After release and landing these were to go to a meeting area where I met after the rescue mission,
this is the only support at my mission.

Video of the Day :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgAZF4FNwuk

Luckily I prepared a list of checks to execute before the flight!!!

Some photo of damage after the rescue mission :

I like the results of the mission, the V2 is now repaired and working perfectly!

Some photos are seen previously after repair of V2.

Thanks for your attention and sorry for my bad English!

They finally managed to produce a small manual to compile the source and program the board Multipilot32 F1 (V1 and V3) and F4 with vrobotix-ide-pro (Eclipse based).

The manual describes how to configure the environment, how to compile the sources and how to program the board. To program the board I took into consideration the following tools:

• Multipilot32F1 (V1 and V3): DFU and ST-LINK/V2
• Multipilot32F4: DfuSe and ST-LINK/V2

During this holidays i finish the port of HIL functionality on Multipilot32 .

On the picture you can see my hil configuration :

MP32 + VRIMU FULL

FOX 5 Frame.

Serial interconnection with my PC

On the Pc there is Mission planner rev 1.1.18 and AerosimRC or Xplane.

This is the first video tutorial of first flight this revision is in Italian , but is simple to understand what i'm doing .. i hope to have some times for recording an Eng. revision , or if a member of our community would doing his video is welcome :)

I use Camtasia to video screen capture . It work fine and not change performance of simulator.

The code is available on repo this is the direct link :

http://code.google.com/p/multipilot32/downloads/detail?name=Firmware_AC32_Hil_rev_ok.rar&can=2&q=#makechanges

This revision of code is the ACopter 2.1.1r7 derived from 8 bit revision Arducopter 2.1.1r7

Enjoy with your MP32 and Happy New Year :)

Best

Roberto