Dear Friends,

I'm very happy to present the result of latest VirtualRobotix's development: the new VRX GPS NEO-M8 .

I'ts the first Virtualrobotix's Multi Constellation GPS (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS and SBAS),  engine, using Ublox NEO-M8 receiver.

The NEO-M8 is a 72-channel high sensitive engine that boasts a Time-To-First-Fix (TTFF) of less than 1 second.

The dedicated acquisition engine, with over 2 million correlators, is capable of massive parallel time/frequency space searches, enabling it to find satellites instantly.

Innovative design and technology suppresses interference sources and mitigates multipath effects, giving NEO-M8 GPS receivers excellent navigation performance even in the most challenging environments.

VRX GPS NEO-M8 is  equipped with a Panasonic Amplifier for better reception and a backup battery for quicker warm restarts.

The VRX GPS NEO-M8 also integrates Honywell's latest high precision digital mag (HMC5983). 

The HMC5983 can be used either in SPI or in I2C (selectable via a solder Jumper), it has a 200Hz output rate and it's temperature compensated, giving the best experience for our vehicles. 

The VRX GPS NEO-M8 is fully compatible with APM:Copter's  firmware and it's plug and play on VRBRAIN5, VRuBRAIN5, APM 2.5+, PixHawk and all boards that mount the DF13 connectors.

If you don't have a DF13, you can easly solder standard servo pins on the exposed pads.

The preorder is available at:

VRX GPS NEO-M8: http://www.virtualrobotix.it/index.php/en/shop/accessories/gps-ublox-8-detail

VR uBrain 5:  http://www.virtualrobotix.it/index.php/en/shop/autopilot/vrbrainmicro51-detail

If you are interested in the product click on notify me on the website to reserve the product.

Reservation is not binding.

The VRX GPS NEO-M8 has been tested in the field with our VRX300 "Personal Fly Robot SDK Platform"  here are some photos and  graphs from latest flights.

Flight Controller: VR Micro BRAIN

GPS: VRX GPS NEO-M8

Compass: HMC5983 mounted on GPS board

ESC: 12 A Kiss ESC

Motors: RCX - ZMR 

Propellers: APC 6x4

Lipo: 2200 mAh

Radio: Taranis with SBUS receiver X8R

These are the vibration graphs on the VRX300 

The number of satellites during this flight started at 11 and arrived to 15, the hdop was  from 1.3 to 1.5.

During my tests we have seen up to 18 satellites with an hdop of 0.7 .

With standard GPS module some times it is possible to see only 5 with an high HDOP

Here is possible to see the Altitude from Baro vs Altitude from GPS is not so bad :) 

Some RTL and Loiter tests in the Field with precision of less than 1 meter.

Features and Specifications:

• ublox NEO-8 module
• Concurrent reception of GPS/QZSS, GLONASS, BeiDou
• Industry leading –167 dBm navigation sensitivity
• 3,3V or 5V Inputs, with low noise 3.3V regulator.
• 5 Hz update rate
• Rechargeable 3V lithium backup battery for high efficient warm start
• Panasonic Low Noise Amplifier for antenna signal with high gain (19dB)
• EPCOS SAW high quality low-loss RF filter for GPS application
• 25 x 25 x 4 mm ceramic patch antenna
• Dedicated I2C EEPROM for receiver configuration storage
• High resolution compass (2 milli-gauss) and high speed (2 milli-gauss)
• Power and fix indicator LEDs
• ArduPilot Mega compatible 6-pin JST connector
• Exposed pads for simple soldering connection
• 38 x 38 x 8.5 mm total size, 19 grams.
• Receiver type NEO 8
  • 72-channel u-blox M8 engine
  • GPS/QZSS L1 C/A, GLONASS L10F
  • BeiDou B1
  • SBAS L1 C/A: WAAS, EGNOS, MSAS
• Navigation update rate: 
  • Single GNSS up to 18 Hz
  • Concurrent GNSS up to 10 Hz
  • Position accuracy: 2.0 m CEP
• Acquisition (NEO-M8Q/N)
  • (Default mode, GPS/SBAS/QZSS+GLONASS with TCXO)
  • Cold starts: 26 s
  • Aided starts: 2 s
  • Reacquisition: 1.5 s
• Sensitivity 
• (Default mode, GPS/SBAS/QZSS+GLONASS with TCXO)
  • Tracking & Nav: –167 dBm
  • Cold starts: –148 dBm
  • Hot starts: –156 dBm
• Connector : Serial Bus , I2C Bus and SPI as option plug and play fully compatible with : VR Brain , APM 2.x , PX4 and Pixhawk Flight Control . Available also solder pad for OEM Application .

Best

Roberto 

We are working on our new store and website . We are working hard on new and exting technology for advanced next generation drone.

On our website you can found a lot of information and detail about our product : BOD a new concept of customizable drone ...

Gola-kele  a great and professional frame for advanced waterprof application.

Will be available minisite with tutorial and a lot of video from our community .

A lot of info about our great 32 bit advanced Flight Control VR Brain , fully compatibile with Arduplane , Arducopter and Ardurover firmware with different option and special add on for have on your drone a real advanced linux pc based on 454 mhz arm cpu.

We have inside our catalog a lot great product ad also resell and support 3DR product like a GPS , Telemetry module and a lot of new advanced MADE IN ITALY products :)

if you would buy our product , need more info or would became a partner send us a mail at : info@virtualrobotix.com

if you would buy using our new ecommerce website going here : 

http://www.virtualrobotix.it

Best

Roberto Navoni

Here is a picture of my quadcopter in its current setup.

Hi,

I just signed up for an account on this page. Roberto has asked me to write a bit about my quadcopter project and perhaps help out with some of the ChibiOS related aspects of his MP32 project. I have written about this on DIYDrones in the past, but I will try and highlight some of the main aspects here.

The hardware setup is as follows:

• Homemade aluminium frame consisting of u-channels and a CF base plate with bent wire hangers as landing gear
• Alpha 370 size motors (HobbyPartz), bolted directly to the frame
• Salvaged 6dof sensor board from a Walkera XUFO 5 (4?) OR homemade sensor board made of unsoldered HobbyKing HBK401(sp?) gyros and a Sparkfun 3-axis accelerometer
• 2-axis magnetometer (I know, 3 axes would make my life a little easier)
• Maxbotix sonar range finder for low-altitude hold
• Locosys LS20031 GPS or DIYDrones Mediatek GPS
• Modified ADNS2620 optical mouse sensor for low-altitude position-hold
• 72Mhz RC gear (Futaba TX, generic RX)
• XBee telemetry downlink
• Oh, yes: taped on keychain-camera for onboard video ;-)

The electronics setup consists of an ETT STM32 stamp module (Futurlec) which runs custom flight software written in C. The board contains an ARM Cortex M3 microcontroller with 64K of RAM and 512K of flash rom. The board itself runs at 3.3V, but the inputs are 5V tolerant. Here is a picture of the chaotic electronics setup:

The flight software makes use of ChibiOS for setting up the hardware and implementing multithreaded control and navigation tasks. In particular, the current version runs 4 threads concurrently:

• A high priority thread which runs the main loop generating the attitude estimates from gyro, accelerometer and magnetometer readings and generates the PID controls. The inner loop runs at ~400Hz - this is with a 2ms sleep cycle included (i.e. it could run at most @500Hz)
• A lower priority task which reads and parses GPS data (NMEA for the Locosys GPS, binary for the Mediatek unit) and generates high level navigational commands for the main loop
• A lower priority task which reads serial data from my custom-built mouse-sensor optical flow detector - this also generates navigational commands for the main loop
• A lower priority task that reads pressure data from an I2C based BMP085 barometric pressure sensor

The attitude estimation is done using quaternions and a DCM-like algorithm for drift compensation (it is not exactly DCM  - there is no cosine matrix with the quaternion approach; the underlying idea for drift compensation is similar, however). Other things that happen concurrently (in a preemptive sense) with the 4 threads above, but which are not implemented as ChibiOS threads, are:

• Gyros, accelerometers and magnetometer are sampled via the ARM's ADC circuitry. The readings are filled into a circular buffer via DMA (this is easy to set up with ChibiOS) and averaged over in the main loop as a crude low-pass filter
• The RC receiver pulses are read via pin-change interrupts to measure the PWM pulse lengths (I am using a bit of a hack here by reading 6 channels with only 4 pins - this relies on the fact that the pulses of most RC receivers are spaced concurrently in time, so one can infer every other pulse, e.g. number 2,  by looking at the end of, e.g. pulse 1 and the beginning of pulse 3)
• The sonar readings are also read as PWM via a pin-change interrupt.
• The PWM outputs for the 4 motors are hardware-generated (the ARM core can generate up to 4 independent PWM outputs per timer) - this is also set up via ChibiOS.

The way in which the 3 navigational threads communicate with the main loop thread is rather crude at the moment by setting global variables for pitch and roll of the quad. Most of this code is more of proof-of-concept quality rather than trying to make a generic code framework. The code itself is developed under Linux using a gcc cross-compiler toolchain compiled from sources. I also wrote a very simple graphical ground station software in Perl/Tk which displays a 3D model of the quadcopter and some other debugging info. The telemetry link at this point is a downlink only, in order to change anything the quadcopter has to be plugged in and a new firmware has to be uploaded.

Here is a video of the quad flying, demonstrating the position-hold capability via the mouse optical-flow sensor:

Anyways, that's all for now, let me know if you have any thoughts/questions.

Marko

This is main board normally put on Gimbal frame near the Quad . 

This is the two options imu available normally is on camera module: 

2 axis with 3 accelerometer and 3 gyroscope 3 magnetometer in one version we use mpu6050 and in other we use mpu 9150 1 chip 9 DOF sensor.

Some friends start to design different kind of gimbal for our new board. The main difference respect of standard gimbal is that the mechanical frame need to be develop for each video sensor that you would like to use for your video. This frame is for Gopro Hero 2-3 in the design is important to move CG of camera for obtain better result during gimbal stabilization :)

This is the caratheristics of our : VR Gimbal :

Micro Controller is STM32F1 at 72 mhz.

3 Axis Brushless Direct Drive gimbal :

• Roll    (MOT1)
• Pitch  (MOT2)
• Yaw    (MOT3)

For each channel we have 3 high power pwm output .

I2C IMU that support 3 axis . It  is on camera module , so we can know exactly the position of camera and control in realtime the 3 Brushless motors.

We are developing two option :

• more traditional approach : MPU6050 (6 DOF) + HMC5883 (3 DOF)
• new sensor from inversense MPU 9150 (9 DOF)

1 USB port.

1 Serial port that support mavlink protocol.

1 Power module that support until 3S battery.

4 Radio RC Input for :

• Control ROLL Setup.
• Control Pitch Setup.
• Control YAW Setup.
• IR control repeater.

4 Analog Input 0-3.3v

1 IR Out , so is pssible to control a remote camera by its ir receiver.

The first batch of production will be available in 3 week it's better to reserve your board because there is a big request of this gimbal.

for more info send a mail to info@virtualrobotix.com

Best

Roberto Navoni

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

Dear Friends,

thank for join our presentation  . I'm very happy that you like it .

This is a good starting point for Multipilot 32.

Dear Friends ,

I'm happy to present the new revision of Multipilot32.

This new revision of product use STM32F4 as micro controller.

The VR Ide Pro is available and downlodable here :

http://code.google.com/p/multipilot32/downloads/list

In the framewark is available :

• Eclipse IDE.
• GCC compiler that support MP32F1 and MP32F4.
• Debuger that use ST-link v2.

The library available for MP32F1 are :

Maple first revision and last revision that support DMA and new timer functionality as timer capture.

The library available for MP32F4 are :

ST std library and ChibiOS operating system complete with an example of makefile and firmware.

We open a developer group on virtualrobotix website:

http://www.virtualrobotix.com/group/armcopterdevgroup?xg_source=activity

the next step is porting all available APM library for MP32F1 to MP32F4.

The board is available for pre order :

MP32F4 95,00 euro

MP32F1 85,00 euro 

* this revision use STM32F103 the firmware is yet available.

The MPU6000 Option is available as option at 35,00 euro

send a mail to virtualrobotix@gmail.com for info.

Hardware:

• ARM Cortex-M4 processor STM32F407VET6. 168 Mhz
• Flash 1024 Kbytes RAM 196 Kbytes
• DSP + MCU + FPU - Hardware floating point -
• 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)
• 6 PWM Output Bit 16 (ESC / Servo Control)
• 8 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

We integrate on same board the MPU6000 that use SPI bus and DMA to transfer data between the micro and imu sensor.

in this sensor is available:

• Tri-Axis angular rate sensor (gyro) with a sensitivity up to 131 LSBs/dps and a full-scale range of ±250, ±500, ±1000, and ±2000dps
• Tri-Axis accelerometer with a programmable full scale range of ±2g, ±4g, ±8g and ±16g 
• Digital Motion Processing™ (DMP™) engine offloads complex MotionFusion, sensor timing synchronization and gesture detection

Check this link for more info about the product :

http://invensense.com/mems/gyro/mpu6000.html

For MP32FX is available the VR Navi Board :

VR Navi board Option :

• 1 Magnetometer 3 Axis HMC5883 compass functionality.
• Barometer : BMP085
• GPS Mediatek all in one (Default) protocol MTK16 10 Hz update integrated Aerial.
• GPS Battery Backup.
• 1 FET for ON / OFF subsystems.

Input Output:

• 6 12 Bit analog input available for Board Setup or for interconnect accessories.
• 4 Digital Output
• 3 Status Led available

Price 70 euro.

Complete Kit STM32F4 + Navi Option 199 euro.

Preorder Open Today !!!

Original link  for more info : http://www.virtualrobotix.com/profiles/blogs/arducopter32-and-multipilot32-11-11-project-update

Il VR Spark 350 è nato da un anno denso di attività sperimentali , dove abbiamo lavorato al miglioramento delle tecnologie elettroniche , del design meccanico, alle usability da parte dell'utente finale  e alla possibilità che il drone fosse utilizzabile per impieghi di tipo commerciale rispettando le normative degli enti che regolano l'impiego dei droni civili nel mondo aeronautico .

Caratteristiche tecniche  VR Spark 350:

• Frame configuration : Multicopter Quad .

• Propeller:  9x4.5

• Motors:  980 KV

• Time of flight 18 min.

• Peso : 1.6 kg al decollo.

• Flight Control : VR Brain 5.2 PRO ( VR SPARK CUSTOMIZATION)

• GPS : VR GPS 8 GNSS dual mode navigation system GPS / GLONASS.

• Flight Termination System : VR Flight Stop PRO Power Cutoff + Parachute. (option)

• Integrated FPV camera .

• Radio Link:

  • Primario: SBUS FRSKY X4R

  • Secondario: Terminatore di volo : PPMSUM FRSKY D4R

• Telemetry:

  • FRSKY S.PORT.

  • VR Link 868 / 915 (Mavlink telemetry module)

  • VR OSD ( Video overlay main telemetry information : attitude , GPS , Battery)

• Standard Payload 2 Axis Brushless Gimbal + GoPro 4 Hero Black.

• PAYLOAD Option Max Weight ( 500 gr)

• Battery 3S 4000 Mah.

Abbiamo implementando sistemi di controllo e di terminazione del volo che garantiscono il rispetto delle norme per ottenere  elevati livelli di sicurezza ed affidabilità.

VR Spark 350 nasce per l'impiego in diversi  ambiti :

• filmografia low budget.

• della sicurezza e del soccorso.

• delle applicazioni di video  ispezione.

• In applicazioni di marketing (droni brandizzati per promozione - delivery - )

• Funzionalità automatiche di follow me tramite piattaforma VR Leash. (Action Sport)

• fotogrammetrico.

• nelle scuole di formazione per piloti professionisti .

• Adatto alle startup nel mondo dei droni , in progetti di ricerca (es H2020).

Può essere impiegato come La macchina multi ruolo per poter entrare da protagonista nel business dei servizi con drone.

Ha tutte le caratteristiche necessarie per ambire ad essere la risposta italiana al  DJI Phantom.

Il progetto nasce grazie al lavoro di una community ampia fatta di esperti di grande competenza , passione  e capacità tecnologica. Un grazie al DEV Team di APM Copter e di Virtualrobotix che negli ultimi anni ha fatto un lavoro eccellente,  portando a livelli  elevati una piattaforma che agli esordi era alla portata  di pochi esperti , ora dopo un profondo lavoro sulla semplificazione e usability in molti possono godere della flessibilità e potenza di questa nuova generazione di APR.

La presentazione ufficiale di VR Spark 350 avverrà al DroneShow di Ferrara 28/29 Marzo 2015

In forma riservata alla convention 2015 di F.I.A.P.R. verranno presentati ad alcuni selezionati beta tester le ultime revisioni di VR Spark 350 attualmente in fase di certificazione. 

Per info di dettaglio rispetto al prodotto ; tempi di rilascio ,  versioni personalizzate per i differenti settori d'interesse, promozioni e prezzi inviate una mail di richiesta ad info@virtualrobotix.com il nostro personale è a vostra disposizione per ogni chiarimento.

Salve a tutti,

mi sono iscritto a questa comunità, anche se non so ancora bene come funzioni… Perdonatemi se faccio qualche CZ ! ;-)

Comunque, vorrei apportare un piccolo contributo con la mia modesta esperienza.

Qualche anno a dietro, andando in villeggiatura in auto, ero in coda sotto il sole rovente,

mi scatta l’ispirazione del volatile !

I quad erano agli albori, qualcuno osava mettendo insieme qualche giroscopio, altri deviavano verso un tricottero…. Tutto molto affascinante per me che stavo cominciando la mia carriera da modellista!

Di mestiere faccio e ho sempre fatto il tecnico AF, ma la micro-meccanica e l’elettronica ha sempre rapito la mia attenzione.

In quella calda giornata di Luglio, chiamai al telefono il mio amico Gianni, modellista veterano, mente brillante con nozioni di fisica, scatta la prima domanda… perché i quad sono così goffi e instabili? Analizzando le caratteristiche, attribuimmo tutto ai giroscopi e soprattutto alle latenze nella correzione d’assetto, dovute all’inerzia del blocco motore/elica.

Come migliorare tutto questo… un quad a passo variabile?, Si...

Lasciando giri costanti si poteva variare il passo, per correggere non bisognava aspettare che i rotori prendessero giri, ma avendo già il motore a regime, si aveva una riserva di energia “Pronta” per essere convertita dalle eliche a passo variabile, fin qui tutto filava come l’olio, anzi si poteva usare un solo motore per la propulsione, con tutti i benefici che ne potevano derivare.

Facendo due conti con le rotazioni e le coppie, cominciarono i primi problemi che aumentarono quando entrarono in gioco le miscelazioni … Il progetto fù abortito sul nascere….

Nei giorni a seguire, dagli e ri-dagli il quadricottero a passo variabile non voleva abbandonare la mia mente, e pian pianino, furono superati tutti quei lati oscuri che almeno teoricamente trattenevano a terra il quad.

Risolti, anche se con qualche riserva da verificare in seguito, tutti i problemi legati alla gestione meccanica, decisi di provare ! Investendo tempo e denari nella costruzione di un simulacro, per verificare la teoria.

Cominciai a buttare giù qualche appunto sulla costruzione, e a disegnare i vari pezzi del corpo centrale, cominciando dalla scatola cambio, dove avviene la riduzione e l’inversione delle rotazioni

Cercai di ridurre al massimo i costi, anche perchè c’erano quei dubbi purtroppo fugabili solo con un test-fly…

Qualche mese, e…Meccanica pronta, alimentata da due motori elettrici … mancava il “pilota”.

Cominciai una nuova avventura cercando qualcuno che mi facesse un software dedicato per il mio maxi-quadricottero !

CARATTERISTICHE HG3 :

4 eliche di 70 cm ciascuno è possibile utilizzare elica fino a 120 cm.

Dimensioni: 2,50 x 2,50 mt

Alimentazione: 12s Lipo

Motori 2 Potenza totale sono : 4400 W

Peso 6,5 Kg al decollo

Tante persone si spaventavano vedendo quella macchina che aspettava solo un po di software, un progetto senza dubbio molto impegnativo, ma non impossibile, comprai un po di hardware e sistemi di sviluppo, preso dalla disperazione, tentai il fai da te, ma ovviamente non sono programmatore e a 45 anni non si può imparare, tra una prova e l’altra, il quad è rimasto appeso al chiodo per circa due anni, fino a quando non mi sono imbattuto in un forum, e in un certo REDFOX… Il nome non ispirava molta fiducia, ma dopo tante, decisi di provai anche questa.

Contrariamente al suo nick Roberto, per quanto mi riguardi, è una persona simpatica, molto disponibile, competente e umana!

C’è stato da subito un certo feeling, ed insieme in poche settimane abbiamo messo a punto un hardware capace di pilotare la mia macchina, che da allora ho battezzato HG3.

Pochi test sono bastati a capire che poteva volare, e dopo il terzo tentativo ecco i risultati.

Uno dei test

HG3 Willy

HG3 è servita a testare il mio progetto e la scheda di controllo, adesso ha lasciato il tavolo per essere riappesa al chiodo, lasciando il posto al suo successore HG3.2

Riguardo HG3 troverete info anche qui.

HG3.2 sarà una macchina ideata per “alzare peso” e sperimentare altre fonti di propulsione…

Per ora è tutto

Giuseppe D’Angelo

(Pipposoft)

HG3 l'era del quad a passo variabile è iniziata !

Dear Friends,

in the last Months FoxTeam are working to develope some new exciting update of our project.

We're working on Hardware:

• VR Brain MP32V3F1-IMU
• VR Brain MP32V3F4-IMU
• VR Distribution Board.
• VR Telemetry Board.

We implement two kind of ide for develop our project :

The VR IDE  use:

• Standard Processing IDE same of Arduino.
• Complete integrated Eclipse IDE for editing , building and debug project (better for professional development)
• We are using OpenOCD Jtag Debugger for realtime inline debugging.

The Library :

• FoxTeam port and support Maple Library on all our platform.
• We port all standard APM library developed by DEVTEAM to MP32V3FX .

The Operating Systems :

We port on our platform different kind of Operating systems :

• FreeRtos
• ChibiOS

Firmware :

We porting on Multipilot32 the last revision of Arducopter 2.0.49 -50 firmware we try to mantain similar architecture of original Jason development but put inside same upgrade that is possible using the power of our platform.

Is available also professional support for develop custom application for different kind of application also for professional application .

After one year of experience on Arm Platform we are ready to present the new platform that will be available in the next months and in the new year.

News about Hardware :

Is available the new revision of Board the Multipilot32V3FX 

It's will be available in different configuration :

MP32V3F1 - IMU

use the same micro of MP32V1 but have some upgrade for improve the quality of pcb and some news about the onboard peripherals :

• support SD using SDIO bus that is more fast of standard SPI port.
• We add also the support of USB as serial debug port.

The micro that we use is STM32F103 .

512 kbyte Flash and 64 Kbyte ram 72 Mhz cpu speed.

12 bit analog input.

16 bit PWM output.

The platform is available to end user.

MP32V3F4 - IMU

is the first low cost autopilot platform board that support powerfull STM32F4 Arm Cortex M4 micro .

1024 kbyte Flash and

196 Kbyte ram.

168 Mhz cpu speed.

USB Host OTG

Standard Video Input interface.

Integrate FPU (Floating Point Unit) for example the SQR function on STM103 is doing in 1200 cycles on STM32F4 it doing in 196 cycle. 10x fast

Integrate DSP hardware unit good for hardware matrix transformation , DCT and IDCT functionality.

12 bit analog input.

16 bit PWM output.

more detail on micro architecture :  http://www.emcu.it/STM32F4xx/STM32F4xx.html

check the official ST video presentation for more info about the new micro.

I'm very happy to choose 1 years ago to invest on ST micro instead of SAM3U Atmel micro . ST doing us a big opportunity with this new microcontroller.

The platform is yet available for developer for more info about it contact me at lasernav@gmail.com

Is available the IMU revision of MP32V3FX .

We integrate on same board the MPU6000 that use SPI bus and DMA to transfer data between the micro and imu sensor.

in this sensor is available:

• Tri-Axis angular rate sensor (gyro) with a sensitivity up to 131 LSBs/dps and a full-scale range of ±250, ±500, ±1000, and ±2000dps
• Tri-Axis accelerometer with a programmable full scale range of ±2g, ±4g, ±8g and ±16g 
• Digital Motion Processing™ (DMP™) engine offloads complex MotionFusion, sensor timing synchronization and gesture detection

Check this link for more info about the product :

http://invensense.com/mems/gyro/mpu6000.html

With this kind of architecture is posible to fly without any other kind of board. Is a good and powerfull RTF board.

To be continued ... :)

Original Post : http://www.virtualrobotix.com/profiles/blogs/project-update-mp32v3f4-arm-cortex-m4-available-fpu-and-dsp-on-bo

These are the board developed by VR Lab available in the store : VR micro Gimbal , VR Multi Constellation GPS 8  ,VR Micro Brain 5 and plug and play VR micro telemetry board  . The VR Brain 5.2 is in pre order.

Example how is possible to assemble  the boards togheter , the form factor is very small and lightwheight . 

In the picture below is presente the VRX Radio Module lite , Standard and Advanced ( OSD support ) 

This is a very exclusive video  example of fully autonomous fly using VR Leash experimental kit . You can set the position where put the drone by VR Leash natural reposition system or by PAD / Smartphone user interface available in VR Pad Station Pro.

These electronic component is in the stock on the store and with the Black Friday coupon you can obtain a discount of 20 % for Friday 27 November 2015 :) and for 28 November 2014. You need to insert the coupon during the checkout process.

The Standard Coupon is : 20%VRBlackFriday2014

The "Secret" Coupon is :  20%VRBlackFriday2015

VR micro Brain 5 : http://www.virtualrobotix.it/index.php/en/shop/autopilot/vrbrainmicro51-detail

VR GPS 8 : http://www.virtualrobotix.it/index.php/en/shop/accessories/gps-ublox-8-detail

VRX uBrain Telemetry module lite option 433 : http://www.virtualrobotix.it/index.php/en/shop/accessories/vrx-ubrain-radio-module-lite-433-mhz-europe-38-61-detail

VR uBrain Telemetry module lite option 868 : http://www.virtualrobotix.it/index.php/en/shop/accessories/vrx-ubrain-radio-module-lite-868-mhz-europe-38-61-62-detail

VR radio module lite option 433: http://www.virtualrobotix.it/index.php/en/shop/accessories/vrx-radio-module-lite-433-mhz-europe-38-detail

VR radio module lite option 868: http://www.virtualrobotix.it/index.php/en/shop/accessories/vrx-radio-module-lite-868-mhz-europe-38-61-detail

VR micro Gimbal Board :  will be available at december 

VR Leash : available for OEM and Pro project.

About VR Brain 5.2 

http://www.virtualrobotix.it/index.php/en/shop/autopilot/vrbrain5-detail

today we officially open the pre order for VR Brain 5 sorry for delay but we did some update to the project now the current release is VR Brain 5.2 we add some new connector respect of rev 5.1, more detail came on wiki in the next days .

The delivery will be from 18/12/2014 if we have some update about new early dates will inform you by broadcast mail on virtualrobotix.com so you register on it please.

We decide to open today so you can use the VR Black Friday coupon .

Best

Roberto

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

Dear Friends,

yesterday we start to delivery the VR Brain Micro 5 pre order. Thanks to all guys that join the preorder in last month . I think that the first user start to receive it in the next days . We are working to update the wiki with the updates for quick start FAQ for use our new board.

The info will be update in the next hours on : vrbrain.wordpress.com 

If you need support write down in this blog post.

best

Roberto 

This video is doing by our VRGimbal user VR Gimbal with Sony 3D HXRNX3D1U ( 720 gr)  in handeld mode

This is a video using complete VRGimbal with Panasonic GH2

..and this is another video of the same copter (in HD)

Dear Friends,

These are specification of our : VR Gimbal :

Micro Controller is STM32F1 at 72 mhz.

3 Axis Brushless Direct Drive gimbal :

• Roll    (MOT1)
• Pitch  (MOT2)
• Yaw    (MOT3)

For each channel we have 3 high power pwm 5 Amp output .

I2C IMU that support 3 axis . It  is on camera module , so we can know exactly the position of camera and control in realtime the 3 Brushless motors. MPU6050 (6 DOF) + HMC5883 (3 DOF)

1 USB port.

1 Serial port that support mavlink protocol.

1 Power module that support until 3S battery.

4 Radio RC Input for :

• Control ROLL Setup.
• Control Pitch Setup.
• Control YAW Setup.
• IR control repeater.

4 Analog Input 0-3.3v

1 IR Out , so is pssible to control a remote camera by its ir receiver.

On new revision 2.0 we add :

• customizable push buton.
• support for motors ampere  monitor for each motors.
• Very intuitive Firmware update tools.
• Simple and powerfull VR Gui for VR Gimbal configuration.
• Serial driver on USB port.
• A complete and updated wiki repository with media gallery with last video from our user.

In this video is possible see the utility available for measure the current used by different kind of motors. This feature is very usefull for evaluate the specification of motors.

Is available a new tools for firmware update you can found more detail here  :

https://vrgimbal.wordpress.com/quick-start-guide/firmware-upgrade/

We release a Major release 1.0.9 we add a lot of new functionality and full support of pan stabilization with 1 IMU sensor  or two sensor .

rev 1.0.9

• Experimental Stabilize mode on Yaw (good with small pitch values)
• Experimental Follow mode on Yaw (need motor steps calibration and PID reconfiguration)
• Experimental support for second IMU for precise Yaw measurement (contact us for more info)
• Added support for analog/digital input (like joysticks and buttons) to be used in alternative to RC:
  • configure channel 100 to 105 to use analog input 1 to 6;
  • use the “JYC” serial command and follow the instructions to calibrate the inputs.

rev 1.0.5

• Completed PID mode on Roll and Pitch, with support of RC commands.
• Manual (RC) mode (to be used on Yaw for now) working but requires improvement.
• USB serial support (see vers. 1.04)

more info is available here :

http://vrgimbal.wordpress.com/download/vrgimbal-1-09/

The firmware is opensource the repo is available here :

http://code.google.com/p/vrgimbal/

So if you want to join in development you are welcome .

This is a screenshot of VR Gimbal Gui developed using .net technology, so could be work also using mono on mac and linux , test on that platform is welcome ,you can connect directly by usb to VR Gimbal or by radio link as 3dr module , blueetooth or other ttl wireles adapter :

We Upgrade also the VRGui with new functionality , slider full support of Pan axis and Full Frame.

With VRGimbal is possible to control this kind of gimbal ;

Handheld and Air Drone Gimbal 2-3axis Entry level gopro gimbal.

Handheld and Air Drone Gimbal 2-3axis Heavy dslr gimbal.

This is an example of video doing by our user of VRGimbal on heavy dslr gimbal :

This is official thread in virtualrobotix community is here join us for have more info and support :

http://www.virtualrobotix.com/group/vr-gimbal-user-group?xg_source=activity

For reserve and pre order your VR Gimbal 2.0 board send a mail here :

info@virtualrobotix.com

Is possible to buy our board on our new ecommerce store here :

http://www.radionav.it/vrshop/index.php/en/167/frame-gimbal-2/vrgimbal-3-axis-detail

or if you prefer you can contact us at : info@virtualrobotix.com

We can also support our user in custom development  on oem - odm gimbal hardware or firmware contact us for more detail.

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

The VR Gimbal DEV Board #1 is going in germany :)

Ludwig Färber will be the developer that will receive the first VR 3 axis Gimbal is  this is our donation for his great work on :
http://code.google.com/p/brushless-gimbal/
What there is in kit :
Hardware :

VR Gimbal :
Micro Controller is STM32F1 at 72 mhz.
3 Axis Brushless Direct Drive gimbal :

•     Roll    (MOT1)
•     Pitch  (MOT2)
•     Yaw    (MOT3)

For each channel we have 3 high power pwm output .

1 USB port.
1 Serial port that support mavlink protocol.
1 Power module that support until 3S battery.
4 Radio RC Input for :

•     Control ROLL Setup.
•     Control Pitch Setup.
•     Control YAW Setup.
•     IR control repeater.

4 Analog Input 0-3.3v

VR 9DOF I2C IMU

Inside the VR IMU there are :  MPU6000 (6 DOF) + HMC5883 (3 DOF)

I2C IMU that support 3 axis . It  is on camera module , so we can know exactly the position of camera and control in realtime the 3 Brushless motors.

Cable for inteconnect the VR Gimbal Board with VR 9DOF I2C IMU

A Jumper for put the VR Gimbal in bootload mode.

Firmware :

The bootloader we use maple bootloader ported on VR Gimbal board.
On board we put first 32 bit release of BruGi 049B r69 (Martinenz board's firmware) . This version of firmware ,  support only 2 axis gimbal , the 3axis version is coming. All the boards is yet ready and tested for 3 axis managment.

Software :
We develop a VRGimbal Gui .net it's compatible with Windows 32 and 64 bit.

What do you need :

You need to download the Universal ide  follow this link  :

https://vrbrain.wordpress.com/installing-and-compiling-the-code/

And also need a ttl <-> usb converter

as this one :

https://www.olimex.com/Products/Components/Cables/USB-Serial-Cable/USB-Serial-Cable-F/

We are working on usb serial will be available in the end user product. The hardware will be the same will be only update the serial library.

Today we open pre order for first 20 pcs  of board . We'll send a  mail to first 75 developer that ask me to reserve the VR Gimbal.
The revision for end user will be available in some weeks a new batch is in production .

Some usefull link :

The code repository here you can find workspace with library and code and also VR Gimbal GUI.

http://code.google.com/p/vrgimbal/source/browse/#svn%2Fbranches

This is official VR Gimbal User Group join us for updates about the project:

http://www.virtualrobotix.com/group/vr-gimbal-user-group

for buy or reserve your VR 3 Axis gimbal send a request here : info@virtualrobotix.com

You will be inform about the status of the stocks .

The price for developer is updated to a promotional price of  95 euro for fist 20 VR Gimbal Dev Kit .

The end user price will be for 2 Axis Gimbal of 120 euro and for 3 Axis Gimbal of 165 euro.

Best
Roberto Navoni

In last two months we are working to new special console for control our drone , gimbal , rc models ... we develop a special application on android and some hardware interface for interconnect different kind of tx radio module. Our idea is to virtualize the hardware interface and have a flexible enviroment for control different kind of application.

This is only a preview of our work in the picture above is possible to see the direct interface with Jeti radio tx module.

In this kind of configuration the VR Droid PAD connect directly by a custom hardware the Jeti Tx module.

So is possible to use same reciver on your drone without change it. 

Description

News on revision 1.4 27/03/2013

1) New name , we change the name to application the old was VR DROID RC Trasmitter , we change it in VR Radio RC , more simple , we change also the link in google play:) 

2) We deactivate the limit inside the application and add some special function for customize the widget available on main screen , we prefer mantain priority on control of drone . So on the scrreen you choose to have only virtual stick.

3) Add the configuration of radius of virtual stick it's customizable directly inside the option pannel.

4) Improve Option pannel its more simple and better organized.

5) Add the Expo control for the stick.

5) Add feeback on 3 channel : gas ( on 1 speaker channel) and pitch  (on vibro) is fixed and you can add 1 other feedback and decide if is on yaw or roll on vibro . 

This is the link at : Vr Radio RC rev 1.4 in  google play :

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.laser.VrRadioRC&feature=nav_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDMsImNvbS5sYXNlci5WclJhZGlvUkMiXQ..

Try it and send us some suggestions for improve the application and the interface.

Best

Roberto Navoni

Hello everyone,
a year and a half ago came Multipilot 1.0 an inertial platform for applications and semi-professional hobby. After the excellent results obtained from the marketing of these cards, and participation in development projects as open source and Aeroquad Arducopter and 'born www.virtualrobotix.com community.
Today our community is proud to present the evolution of our project: Multipilot 2.0 ST.

The characteristics of Multipilot 2.0 are:

• Hardware:
  • Arm 3 Cortex processor STM32F103VET6. 72 Mhz
  • Flash 512 Kbytes RAM 64 Kbytes
  • 16-bit Timer 4
  • SPI 2 (ADC Interface, MicroSD connection)
  • 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)
  • 6 PWM Output Bit 16 (ESC / Servo Control)
  • 8 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
• Sensor Board:
  • Diydrones OilPan . (High quality entry level board)
  • LN Professional Sensor Board: 3 Axis Accelerometer, 3 Axis Gyroscope, 3 Axis Magnetometer , 10 HZ Gps , High Quality Sensor for certify professional application.
• IDE and Development tools:
  • Arduino IDE.
  • Arm GCC Toolchain.
  • Fully compatible with arduino wiring language.
• Firmware:
  • On this platform will be available a lot of RC library developed by Virtualrobotix and Diydrones community.
  • Standard software will be an improved revision of Arducopter , Ardupilot , Multiwii , Aeroquad . The first revision of code will be Arducopter NG .
  • MultiFox Rev 4 special Arm Edition.
• Special Feature :
  • Multipilot 2.0 is fully compatible with ArduPilotMega DiyDrones Board.
  • OEM revision of Multipilot 2.0 available.

Official Thread : http://www.virtualrobotix.com/forum/topics/multipilot-20-sample-will-be

if you need more information or want support this project contact me by pm or in skype at contact virtualrobotix

VRBrain 5.0 Light
The entry level revision of our new board . It's real DIY , cheap and affordable as 8 bit platform with the power of next gen autopilot technology , and a lot of great improvment . Keep in touch for more info ..
It support APM Copter, APM Plane and Rover in last revision.

VRBrain 5.0 NuttX O.S.
After 4 revisions of boards without full support for a Operating systems it's the time to fully support NuttX O.S. on VRBrain , ew features that are coming.

VRBrain 5.0 PRO
In Europe there are some country start to certify UAV technology for Commercial application , In USA in 2015 the market will be open . VRBrain 5.0 Pro it will be right platform for H2020 research project , Virtual Robotix will be technical support for develop affordable and powerfull UAV technology. Can Bus , Fault tolerant solutions , Advanced hybrid configuration ... a lot of impressive new opportunity to develop the UAV of your dreams.

These picture take yesterday in VRLAB the first RC1 VRBrain 5.0 is ready and under test ...

on our repo appear first release of code for the last revision of VRBrain Board ...

For more info about new product or H2020 research project send a mail to r.navoni@virtualrobotix.com

 https://code.google.com/p/vrbrain/source/detail?r=7949ddc60c1916753c3c69554b968fe2410ac8a8&name=VRBrain50