Arduino based Arducopter UAV, the open source multi-rotor - Arducopter Quickstart Guides

Using a Joystick/Gamepad with Ardupilot instead of RC transmitter

Sun, 24 Mar 2013 10:19:04 GMT

ArduCopter allows you to fly with a computer joystick sending commands via 3DR radio rather than a regular RC system. To use it, you must have the following:

Wireless telemetr ardupilot telemetry kit (3DR Radio or Xbee)
A USB joystick or Gamepad
A laptop computer running the mission planner software

The Mission Planner makes it easy to setup up your joystick/gamepad control. We recommend that you continue to have your RC gear connected, since it’s possible to lose the Xbee connection sometimes in flight and you’ll need to be able to fall back to regular RC control or switch to “hardware manual” in the case of an autopilot failure. However, in most cases you can use the joystick/gamepad for all manual flying, never touching the RC transmitter.

To set it up, do the following: Once the controller is plugged in, just select “Joystick” (circled in red) and it will open a screen that will allow you to assign functions to different joystick/gamepad buttons.

Instructions:

Click “Auto Detect” and move the stick or button on your controller that you want to assign to that function.
You can reverse any control direction by clicking the “Reverse” box.
When you’re done, if you click “Enable”, the Mission Planner will start using the joystick/gamepad for manual control. All other functions will work as usual.
You can add exponential control just like a RC transmitter by entering a value in the “Expo” field shown above.
If you press “Save” your settings will be saved for future use.
You can assign autopilot modes (Auto, RTL, Stabilize, etc) to the joystick/gamepad buttons, as shown above.

Arducopter 3DR Hexa-B Assembly Guide

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 08:31:58 GMT

This guide will walk you through the assembly process of your Arducopter 3DR Hexa-B Frame.

The 3DR ArduCopter Hexa is a stable and supported multi-rotor frame in the ongoing development of the ArduCopter codebase on DIYDrones. It features a very durable Aluminum and G10 FR4 frame that can withstand hard impacts. The wide legged stand allows for more stable takeoffs and landings and provides an unobstructed view for a bottom mounted camera.

The main features of revision B, is that it has shorter arms which reduces the weight.

Hardware Included with the Arducopter Hexacopter.

Screws and other hardware included with the hexacopter frame. Take note of the colours of the screws as they help when looking at the assembly pictures below.

Soldering the Power Distribution Board

The Hexacopter power distribution board arrives as shown in the image above.
To begin assembly, start by laying out the six female dean’s connectors in the appropriate spots around the PDB.
They will be soldered at an angle so each lead makes contact with the pads on opposite sides of the board.
Make sure you’re matching up the right pads by laying them all out before you start soldering.
There should be exactly enough pads for the six connectors.
Be careful to match up the positive and negative contacts properly as well. The connectors have raised lettering on the back that shows which tap is which.

When you are sure of the proper positions, solder each connector in one by one.
One technique that helps if you don’t have three hands is to orient the connector then superglue it in place before soldering, making sure not to superglue over the pads or metal tabs.

Please note that depending on supply the colours of the cables may vary, just make sure you keep the same order so you know what colour should go to which motor.

Next insert the 4-wire cable into the holes shown above taking special care to do it in the right order. It should be Orange, White, Red then Black for motors 1-4 respectively.
Solder the wires in from the back side.

Next solder in the two wire connector, wires Yellow and White for motors 5 and 6 respectively

Now attach the 3x4 right angle headers to the holes at the edge of the board

Then add in the 2x3 pin right angle header next to it.

Depending on supply a pre-soldered cable may come with your kit so you don't need to do this.

Now take the 10AWG wire and strip both ends about 0.2 inches or 5mm.
Then solder the wires to the tabs on the back of the male Dean’s connector.
Make sure again to wire the red wire to the + tab and the black wire to the – tab.
Slip the heatshrink on the back and heat it to cover the solder joints.

Now solder the loose ends of the 10AWG wire into the large holes on the board marked “+” and “-“.

Finally solder in the small two-wire cable into the small holes marked “To APM” “+” and “-“, again with the red wire into “+” and the black wire into “-“.
That’s it, your Power Distribution Board (PDB for short) is now complete!

Soldering the motor/ESC connections

If you purchased the kit from Unmanned Tech, the motors and ESCs will come pre-soldered so you just need to connect them. If that is is the case you can skip this section

First solder the male bullet plugs to the three motor wires. Add heat shrink to cover the connector from the solder joint up to the lip where it meets the female side when connected

Repeat the same setps for the ESC connections with the female bullet connectors. Cover with heatshrink covering all of the exposed metal tip.

Choosing your Hexacopter frame orientation

Arducopter Hexa +

Arducopter Hexa X

Something to keep in mind during this build is which conﬁguration your vehicle will be ﬂown in. This is later chosen when setting up your APM in the Mission Planner.
There is no effect on performance it is just a matter of personal preference. Both the + (Top) and X (Bottom) conﬁgurations are pictured above. The blue arms indicate the front of the vehicle.
This manual will continue building the vehicle in X conﬁguration. Please adjust accordingly

Notice which color arms have legs mounted on them for each conﬁguration

Assembling your arducopter arms - x6

Arducopter Leg Assembly - click for larger view

Please note that only 3 legs will have legs on them. Refer to the pictures above to select which color arms will have legs on them

Attach the motor to the arm using two M3x5mm screws (Blue) and two M3 lock washers (Orange) making sure the screws go into the threaded holes in the motor and not the ventilation holes. (If the motor is screwed using the ventilation holes, it will not spin freely)
Route the motor cables through the hole on the side of the arm.
Use two M3x25mm screws (Green) and two M3 metal nuts (Pink) to fasten the legs to the arm using the indicated holes.
To provide rigidity to the legs attach two M3x18mm spacers in between the legs and secure with four M3x5mm metal screws (Blue)
Repeat for all 6 arms.

Building the central part of the arducopter Hexa frame

Arducopter Hexa Frame Assembly - click for larger view

Attach the bottom and top plates to one of the black arm assemblies using two M3x25mm screws (Green) and secure with two M3 metal nuts (Pink).
Attach a black arm in the same manner directly opposite to the first one.
Attach the remaining four arms using an M3x25mm screw (Green) and an M3x35mm screw (Red) , secure with two M3 metal nuts (Pink)

The screw closer to the center of the vehicle is longer. You will end up with four longer screws that will be used to attach the PDB cap

Slide the two velcro straps through the slots on the bottom plate.
The velcro straps will be used to fasten the ﬂight battery under the vehicle

Wiring everything together

Connect the three male bullets from the motors to the three bullet connectors on the ESCs
Repeat for all 6 motors

Its a good idea to wait before you secure the ESC too tightly with a zip tie. When configuring arducopter you will need to make sure the motors are spinning in the correct direction. To change the direction you swap the two outer wires of the ESC around. If it has already been secured this might be difficult.

Place the PDB in the center hole of the vehicle as shown in the picture above

Although orientation does not matter, some orientations might allow you to route wires more neatly. It is recommended that the PDB pins face the same direction as your APM output pins to minimize the distance between them

Connect the Deans plugs on the ESCs to the PDB

The order does not matter, this is just so the motors can get power from the battery

Label the arms of the vehicle to correspond to your frame orientation/config as shown

Finally connect the 3 wire cables from the ESCs to their respective spots on the PDB signal pins.
Match the arm number (lthat you labeled before) to the respective signal number (“S#”) on the PDB.
Remember ground is down

The ESCs are currently left dangling and unattached to the frame. This is because later on we will start up the vehicle and verify the motors rotate in the correct direction. To reverse motor spin direction, swap any two of the three wires connecting the motor to the ESC. Once all the motors spin in the correct direction use the zip ties included to mount the ESCs to the vehicle’s arms

Mounting your ArduPilot Mega board to the Hexacopter

APM can be mounted using double sided tape (3M Scotch Exterior Mounting Tape is recommended) or it can be bolted to the carrier plate (but you need to use some anti vibration mounts).
The series of slots on the carrier plate allow your APM to be bolted in both + and X conﬁgurations

In + mode the front of the APM should face arm 1. In X mode the front should be between arms 3 and 5

For more details on connecting your ardupilot mega board, have a look at the guide on connecting arducopter

Assembling the arducopter hexa Stackup plates

Arducopter Stackup Assembly - click for larger view

Starting from the top of the diagram shown, use four plastic M3x5mm (Light Blue) screws to mount four M3x18mm spacers on one of the stack-up plates.
Mount the second stack-up plate to the bottom of the previous assembly using four M3x30mm spacers (longest)
Attach the stack-up assembly put together in steps 1 & 2 to the carrier plate where your APM is mounted using four plastic M3x5mm screws (Light Blue) from the bottom.

The diagram illustrates the X conﬁguration. For + you will have to shift the stack-up assembly 60º to provide clearance for the APM

Slide four rubber washers (Pink) onto the four screws sticking out of the Main Frame Assembly
Place the stack-up assembly through the four M3x35mm screws. Make sure the motor signal cables from the PDB are out and have enough room to reach the APM outputs
Secure the stack-up assembly using four M3 thumbnuts

Attaching the propellers to your arducopter frame

To attach the propellers use the collets included. Cut the plastic ring included with the propellers that ﬁts snug around the threaded collet and insert it into the slot in the back of the propeller.
Place the collet on the motor shaft and tighten to keep the propeller in place.
Make sure the writing on the propeller is facing up. Refer to the diagram for correct prop rotation direction.

We hope that you enjoy fling your Arducopter Hexa Frame, if you have any questions please feel free to ask below.

Planning a Mission for your Arducopter

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 12:18:17 GMT

The Mission Planner, created by Michael Oborne, does a lot more than its name. Here are some of the features:

Point-and-click waypoint entry, using Google Maps.
Select mission commands from drop-down menus
Download mission log files and analyze them
Configure APM settings for your airframe
Interface with a PC flight simulator to create a full hardware-in-the-loop UAV simulator.
See the output from APM's serial terminal

If you haven't done so already, download the Mission Planner here (it will be called APM !Mission Planner x.x.xx.msi).

Mission Planner Overview

Mission Planner Overview - click for large image

A few tips:

The map will only show current position when you have GPS lock or are using a flight simulator
Remember how artificial horizons work: when the aircraft tilts to the right, the horizon tilts to the left. (Just tilt your head and you'll see what I mean). This is normal! Please don't tell us it's reversed ;-)
For AutoPlane status, the output meaning is as follows:

"WPDist" : Distance to next waypoint in meters
"Bearing ERR": How far your UAV is from the perfect line to the next waypoint
"Alt ERR": How far your UAV is from the target altitude
"WP": Next waypoint to hit
"Mode": Current autopilot mode.

"ArduPlane output" means the autopilot's outputs on the first four channels
You can issues mode changes and other action commands in the air with the Mission Planner and other GCSs, but note that you must be under autopilot control for them to take effect. When your RC toggle switch is in the Manual position, you are no longer under autopilot control and no commands will take effect. You must be in one of the other positions (Stabilize, Fly-by-Wire, Auto or any other autopilot-controlled mode) for MAVlink commands to take effect.
You can change the voice used in the speech synthesis in the Ease of Access center in Windows Control Panel. Go to the "Text to Speech" options.
If you double-click the HUD it will popout, allowing you to run the hud full screen on a second screen.
If you double-click on the Speed Guage you can modify the max scale you want to display.
If you enable the Tuning checkbox and double-click tuning you can graph any data that is available in the status tab. This means you can have alt, attitude, or many other options in real time.
You can use custom imagery instead of Google Maps. Press control-F. This allows you to upload your own orthophotos. Use will require Globalmapper, as this is currently one of the key steps in exporting in the required format for use in the planner.

Guided Mode

Arducopter Guided Mode

On the GCS map, you can right-click on the map and just select "Fly To Here". The UAV will fly there and loiter until you give it another command. We call this "Guided Mode".
Note: Guided is a separate flight mode. If you enter it you will remain in it until you do something to change modes. So if you tell it to "go here now", once it arrives there it will loiter at the Guided waypoint till you tell it to do something else. Something else could either be going to another Guided waypoint (staying in Guided mode) or changing to some other flight mode. If you change to Auto your mission will resume where it left off.

Planning A Mission

You can plan missions on the Flight Planner Tab

You can plan missions on the Flight Planner Tab
Add waypoints by simple double clicking on the map where you want to add a waypoint, the table on the bottom of the screen can be used to change the waypoint or command type
You can enter waypoints and other commands (see below for the full list). In the dropdown menus on each row, select the command you want. The column heading will change to show you what data that command requires. Lat and Lon can be entered by clicking on the map. Altitude is relative to your launch altitude, so if you set 100m, for example, it will fly 100m above you.

You can set a home position by clicking on the Home lat or lon and then clicking on the map. Or, if the map is not already centered on the field you're going to be flying at, you can search for it by clicking on the "Zoom To" button and entering your location in the search box, as shown:

Default Alt is the default altitude when entering new waypoints. It's also the altitude RTL (return to launch) mode will fly at if you have "Hold Default ALT" checked; if you don't have that checked, your aircraft will try to maintain the altitude it was at when you switched on RTL.

Verify height means that the Mission Planner will use Google Earth topology data to adjust your desired altitude at each waypoint to reflect the height of the ground beneath. So if your waypoint is on a hill, if this option is selected the Mission Planner will increase your ALT setting by the height of the hill. This is a good way to make sure you don't crash into mountains!

Once you are done with your mission, select "Write" and it will be sent to APM and saved in EEPROM. You can confirm that it's as you wanted by selecting "Read"

You can save multiple mission files to your local hard drive by selecting "Save WP File" or read in files with "Load WP File" in the right-click menu:

Auto Grid

You can also have the Mission Planner create a mission for you, which is useful for function like mapping missions, where the aircraft should just go back and forth in a "lawnmower" pattern over an area to collect photographs.

To do this, in the right-click menu select Polygon and draw a box/shape around the area you want to map. Then select Auto WP, Grid. Follow the dialog box process to select altitude and spacing. The Mission Planner will then generate a mission that looks something like this:

Configuring your Radio Transmitter for Arducopter

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 11:34:32 GMT

If you want to have six modes, you'll probably have to configure your RC transmitter to do this. That's usually accomplished by mixing a two position switch and a three position switch on your transmitter. Set your switch(es) to (ideally) produce PWM pulse widths of 1165, 1425, and 1815 microseconds or 1165, 1295, 1425, 1555, 1685, and 1815 milliseconds. (You can also do this with an analog dial, if you have one, but it's hard to reliably turn it to just the right position for six distinct settings).

How to configure your Radio for arducopter

Click on one of the images below to see how to configure your radio

Turnigy / Imax 9x

Spektrum DX6i

Spektrum DX7

Spektrum DX7s

Futaba T8FG

Turnigy/Imax with ER9X firmware

Spektrum DX8

Hitech Aurora 9

Futaba T6EX

JR XG8 DMSS

Complete List

This list shows all of the radios that have tutorials on how to set them up with arducopter, but if you cant find your radio here it does not mean that it will not work

Adding an On-Screen Display (OSD) board to arducopter

Sat, 23 Feb 2013 17:05:52 GMT

Arducopter has an inexpensiveOSD board called MinimOSD. It reads all the MAVLink data in the APM telemetry stream and overlays it on the video stream if you're using an on-board camera and wireless video transmitter. This is useful if you're flying in First Person View (FPV) mode or don't want to use a laptop at the field to see your telemetry data in the Mission Planner.

Basic Connection to arducopter

How to connect MinimOSD to arducopter, click for full size image

The orignal MinimOSD's power setup provides two stages to avoid noises coming from servos attached to your ArduPilot boards. Those noises could introduce some glitches on video signal. The independent analog powering from a dedicated battery will heat the board considerably, but the video is the most clean as possible from MAX7456.
Maybe you don't need to use the two stages. The way those noises would impact on the video signal will vary depending on a chain of aspects like servo's brand, model, cables length, etc. So, try yourself and see if it's important for your setup.
Here is the basic diagram which uses two stages approach of MinimOSD board:

Optional setup for optimum cooling (older minimOSD boards)

The second stage regulator from the MinimOSD boards earlier than V1.1 gets too hot on 12V video setups. If your frame has not a good air flow for cooling the OSD board you may want to feed the OSD entirely from APM. Probably it will add some noises from servos, but you'll be more safe by this way:

I want to use minimOSD at the same time as a telemetry link with my APM board

MinimOSD's TX is NOT connected if there is also a "wireless serial link" in parallel (E.g.: XBee) in order to use a Ground Control Station simultaneously.
To use a wireless serial link and MinimOSD at same time, you need to make an "Y" cable or prepare your APM board to have a parallel "mirror" connection from the telemetry port. so essentially you will connect both the minimOSD and modem to the same connectors except for the minimOSD TX output.

MinimOSD config tool

Thanks to Michael Oborne, we have now an incredible customization and the easiest setup of all MinimOSD's resources.
With ArduCAM OSD Config you can do all the job in just one place.
Everything, from update firmware or charset to enable/disable and positioning panels.
You can download it here
More details for the application can be gound here

Configuring your WFT07 radio gear for Arducopter

Sat, 23 Feb 2013 16:39:07 GMT

This guide will show you how to configure your WFT07 radio gear for arducopter

Configuring your WFT07 radio gear for Arducopter

Arducopter flight modes setting screen

Arducopter has many different flight modes that you can choose and use when you are flying.
In order to change the flight mode you will need to toggle a switch on your transmitter.
This can be fairly straight forward if you want to use the channel 6 knob on your transmitter.
However because this knob requires you to twist it, if something goes wrong it can take some time to switch back to a manual flight mode.
Using the V1 knob allows you to enable all 6 flight modes if you require.

Alternative Configuration

The alternative configuration only allows you to use 3 or 4 flight modes, but allows you to quickly flight a switch to return to stabilise mode if you need to in a hurry. A situation might occur if you set a wrong way-point altitude that is heading straight for a tree or building.

Open the menu on the radio screen, and navigate down to option 15, Advanced.
Then under the Advanced menu scroll down to option 5, PROG.MIX1
For CTRL, choose the switch K2, or K1 (whichever you are comfortable with)
Under Mix, choose K2 -> Ch6 (if you chose K1 above choose K1 ->Ch6
Leave RATE+ and RATE- at 0%
Change POSI to -100.0%

Now you will need to go to the APM mission planner software and re-calibrate your radio, and choose the bottom 3 flight modes to be Stabilise, and the top 3 you can choose to be whatever you want.
When you are flying and you want to a flight mode other than stabilise you would toggle the switch (K1, or K2) to activate the various flight modes that you can choose by turning the know V1.
If you quickly want to go back to stabilise mode you simply toggle the switch K1 or K2 to quickly switch back.
You can easily see how this works in the mission planner by moving the switched, the current selected flight mode is highlighted in green.

Configuring Arducopter

Sun, 03 Jun 2012 21:19:10 GMT

This guide will show you how to configure the settings and calibrate arducopter so that you are ready for your first flight

Configuring Arducopter

Warning: Before you configure your arducopter please make sure that you remove the PWM cable from your ArduPilot mega board. This is for your own safety, if the motors start spinning by accident they can cause serious damage

When you connect the motors (for some testing functions/calibration please make sure you are alert and take the relevant precautions like removing the propellers.
Reset the board: This just clears the EEPROM and otherwise ensures a clean setup. In Mission Planner click the Terminal tab, type 'setup' & hit Enter, then type 'erase'.

First Time Setup

Click on the APM Setup button to run the first time setup

Once you click on the APM Setup button a new window will open, that will guide you through the set-up process

Once you have loaded the firmware onto your board and connected everything, the next step is to run the First time setup. This is done with the mission planner that you installed earlier.
On the mission planner make sure you have selected the correct COM port and baud rate 115200 (57600 if using xbee/radio modules). The com port will usually be the highest number and should say arduino mega.
Then you must go the the Firmware tab, and click on the APM setup button as shown in the image
Note: with APM 1 you MUST have a LiPo plugged in to your power distribution board to power your RC receiver. USB power does not power the RC receiver. If you do not separately power the RC system, APM will be unable to read any signals on its RC inputs and may freeze. With APM 2 this is not necessary.

1. Setup and Calibrate Radio Transmitter

Caution: This section assumes you have set up and programmed your RC transmitter and receiver correctly. This might be a good time to review the manual that came with your RC controller system. Pay special attention to the sections on:

Channel reversing and mixing
"expo" modes which change the responsiveness of your controls according to a curve
failsafe modes for signal loss. An RX that "remembers" the last throttle setting if it loses signal, will cause a plane to "coast", but will cause a heli or multi-rotor to continue climbing forever, rapidly so if you lost signal during an aggressive ascent. (this is known as "not good").

Instructions for setting up the WFT07 transmitter are can be found here

Please refer the your Radio Transmitter radio manual. In general make sure your radio is set to Airplane/ fixed wing mode (helicopter mode uses mixing which is not required for Arducopter).

The First Tab will allow you to calibrate your radio transmitter with your arducopter

The first tab that will open will be the radio calibration screen. Please make sure that your reciever has power (via APM), and your transmitter is on. Make sure your radio is turned on and the receiver is connected to the ardupilot mega board.
When you move the sticks on your transmitter you should see the green bars move accordingly. If they are not, please make sure your receiver has power. If you notice that any channels are reversed, you can either tick the reverse button on the planner, or change the settings on your radio (suggested)

Here is how the outputs should be setup for each channel:

CH 1: Roll Left = low PWM – Roll Right = High PWM
CH 2: Pitch Forward = low PWM – Pitch Back = High PWM
CH 3: Low Throttle = low PWM – High Throttle = High PWM
CH 4: Yaw Left = low PWM – Yaw Right = High PWM
CH 5: Flight Mode
CH 6: up to you
CH 7: not engaged = low PWM – engaged = High PWM

2. Choosing your Flight Modes

You can choose up to 6 flight modes with arducopter

You can choose different flight modes that you can change while you are flying with your RC transmitter (channel 5). Some radios dont have a 6 position switch, so you may only be able to use 2 or 3 modes. If you mix some channels you can use more flight modes. Toggle your channel 5 switch to see which mode you are currently in (indicated by the green highlighted mode)

Make sure that you have at least one mode as stabilise so you can take control of your arducopter if things are going wrong

3. Configure additional hardware

Hardware Options screen allows you to choose which extra sensors you are using

With Arducopter, you can use extra sensors like sonar, or an optical flow sensor. This screen allows you to enable them. Since the compass is build into Ardupilot mega v2, this is enabled and you will need to set the compass settings.

To manually enter a declination for your geographic location, you can find the correct value by clicking on the link to open a web browser. Enter your location and it will give you a declination, as shown above. For the example image, you would then enter a deglination of -1.48 in your mission planner.

For the magnetometer (compass), you have a choice of calibration options once you enable the sensor:

You can do nothing, and the code will try to figure out all the offsets and declination by comparing the compass readings with the GPS and IMU readings over time in flight. Pro: No user effort. Con: It takes a few minutes of flying to get right, so the compass is inaccurate at first launch.
Manual calibration in the Mission Planner. You can enter your Declination as instructed below and then press the "Live Calibration" button and move and rotate your aircraft around for 30 seconds while it records the data and does some math to calibrate the sensor. Pro: It works. Con: it's a little awkward, especially for big aircraft. Also it doesn't reflect the magnetic interference that can occur when the motors are going in flight. Do it outside, away from metal Ideally, do it while connected via wireless telemetry (3DR radios or Xbees). If you don't have that, you can do it while connected via USB, but you'll have to reverse direction with every step of the "calibration dance" or you'll get all wound up in your cable!

Replay a flight log. This is a very cool option, shown above as Log Calibration, where you can just replay a previously recorded flight log (.tlog) and the code will compare the GPS and IMU readings with the compass reading and make the necessary corrections. Pro: Works great. Con: You must have already flown, if you load a .tlog file where you didn't actually fly you'll mess up your calibration and will have to do it again or risk poor flight performance.

4. Choosing Frame Orientation

This screen is used to calibrate your sensors, and choose your frame configuration

This screen allows you to set your Arducopter orientation. Before you start you must first Level your arudcopter. Make your your arducopter is on a level surface, and click the Level button to calibrate the sensors. Now you can choose between an X or + orientation of your frame by clicking on the image that is the same as your arducopter frame

5. Calibrate the accelerometer (level arducopter)

Place your copter a level surface and press the "Calibrate Accel" button to begin the accelerometer calibration procedure
Follow the short instructions which appear just below the button which ask you to place the copter in 6 different orientations. Please be sure the copter does not move as you click the button during each step. Once you see the text "Done" on the button it is finished (don't press the "Done" button).
Note: the final accelerometer offsets and scaling are stored in the INS_ACOFFS_X, Y, Z and INS_ACCSCAL_X, Y, Z parameters. The values are board specific so you can complete this procedure before placing APM on the frame.
Note2: Except for the first step of the calibration process, it is not critical that the APM is held at exactly the angle requested. In fact, with the exception of the first position (level) even the order is not important, the calibration procedure just needs 6 points and it works best if they are as different as possible (thus the 6 positions all at 90degrees from each other). Keeping the board completely still at each step is important however.

6. Calibrating your ESC

There are two ways to calibrating your ESC's for Arducopter. An easy was and a longer, but better way.

Automatic ESC calibration
This method works once you have all the ESCs connected to the power distribution board and have connected all your RC cables as instructed earlier in the manual and otherwise set up your quad.

Safety First! - Remove the props!

Disconnect USB
Put the throttle high and connect the Lipo to power the APM
When the APM boots the lights will cycle continuously
Disconnect the Lipo and reconnect it. High PWM will be sent to the ESCs triggering calibration
Drop your throttle stick to the lowest position. You should hear a confirmation/arming beep or two. Move the throttle to confirm all ESCs are armed and working in sync.
Unplug the battery. Your ESCs are now calibrated. No further action is required.

Manual ESC calibration
Make sure your transmitter end points are set at +100%/-100% if using a programmable transmitter.

Safety First! Remove the prop from the motor you're calibrating.

With NO BATTERY CONNECTED, plug the three-wire plug of the ESC you want to calibrate into the throttle channel of your RC receiver.
Turn on your transmitter and push the throttle stick to full up.
Plug the ESC into the LiPo battery
You will hear a musical note and then 2 beeps. After the two beeps drop the throttle to full down. You will then hear a number of beeps (3 beeps for 3 cell LiPo, 4 for 4 cell, etc) and then a single longer beep indicating the end points have been set and the ESC is calibrated and ready to fly. You may now disconnect your LiPo.
Repeat for the other three ESCs.
If it appears that the ESC's did not calibrate then the throttle channel on the transmitter might need to be reversed

Once you have calibrated your ESCs, you can test your APM by turning it on (pluggin in the battery). Once APM boots up, arm your ESCs by pushing the yaw stick all the way to the right for at least four seconds. You can then give a small amount of throttle (stand clear of the props!). All motors should spin about same speed and they should start same time. If not you may need to try re-calibrating your ESC.

If you have any questions or comments please add them below or ask them on the forums

Connecting everything for Arducopter

Sun, 03 Jun 2012 20:59:09 GMT

Before you can configure your Arducopter, you will need to first connect everything together. This guide will show you all the cables and parts that you will need to connect to your arducopter.

Typical Quadcopter Layout

Please note the illustration Below highlights a (TYPICAL) installation. It contains optional equipment including a Camera Gimbal and a Battery Monitor and it utilizes an ESC wired "Y" power connection rather than the power distribution board common to many MultiCopters.

1. Connecting your motors and RC gear

Overview of connections on the Ardupilot Mega v2 board

Note: the instructions below are for regular RC receivers with PWM output (one cable per channel). If you're using a "PPM" receiver (one cable carries all channels), follow the instructions here.

Before you can configure your Arducopter, you will need to first connect everything together. This is quite easy. You need to connect your RC receiver to the Input side of the board. You can use the cables included with your Arducopter Kit, or if you are using another frame, you can use jumper cables, or female to female servo cables

Connections between RC receiver and Ardupilot Mega v2 board

If you are using female to female servo cables, the ground (black) side of each connector must be on the outside for the board, the signal (white/orange) needs to be on the inside as shown below.

Connecting with straight connectors

Connecting with right angle connectors

If you are using a multi-pin connector that was included with your Arducopter Kit, connect them as shown below

Input Side for RC reciever

Output side to PDB

Please note, that your ESC, connectors should be plugged in the the output side, it is suggested that you only use power from one of your ESC's. This can be dune by cutting the red wire on all but one of the ESC's, or by using a special adaptor.

2. Connecting ArduCopter motors

Once again if you are using an Arducopter Kit, with the PDB, then you dont need to worry about this if you soldered everything correctly as the motors are assigned to the correct pins with the cables you plugged connected in the previous step. However you will neet to make sure your motors are spinning in the correct direction. The images below show the possible arducopter configurations with correct motor orientation

Quick Tip: If your motor is not spinning in the correct direction, simply switch the position of any two of the ESC-motor wires.

Arducopter Quad

Arducopter Tri

Arducopter Hexa, Octa, and Y6

Arducopter OCTA QUAD (X8)

Connecting a Roll-Tilt Camera mount

3. Connecting Optional Sensors

Sonar - Ultrasonic Rangefinder

AC2 supports the MaxSonar line of sonars for low level altitude hold and in the future collision avoidance. Below 10 meters sonar is primarily used for altitude hold. Above 10 meters, the barometric sensor is used. GPS is not required for altitude hold.

Connect your Ultrasonic Sensor to the A0 port of your Ardupilot Mega v2 board

The sonar sensors are quite sensitive to noise, adding something like a ferrite choke to your cable could help. The most important is to mount your sonar away from other electronics like ESC, or wireless telemetry modules.

Possible Causes of sonar Interferance

Electrical noise caused by ESCs, Servos, or switching BEC's on the same circuit as the Sonar
EMF radiation from motors, motor wires, ESC's or Xbee.
Acoustic noise from propellers
Vibration from motors, props, etc.

Optical Flow Sensor

The optical flow sensor is used to improve the position hold accuracy of your arducopter. This sensor is supported from Arducopter 2.6 and above.

Connecting the optical flow sensor to APMv2

Power, GND, NCS pins should be attached to A3
MISO, MOSI and SCLK pins should be directly soldered to the pins shown above
Default mounting is lens pointing down, pins forward

Its a good idea to secure the wires with some cable ties so they dont break off over time

How to connect the optical flow sensor to your ardupilot mega board. Make sure the pins are facing forward

Now that everything has been connected everything the next thing to do is configure arducopter firmware for your frame.

If you have any questions or comments please add them below

Installing ArduCopter Software (Mission Planner and Arducopter Firmware)

Sun, 03 Jun 2012 20:38:29 GMT

This guide will show you how to quickly install he required software for arducopter. Once the software is installed you will then load the firmware onto your arduopter flight controller board

1. Download and Install Mission Planner

Click for larger image

Go to the Arducopter Downloads page here. and download the latest version of the Mission planner installer. It will be called APMPlanner.msi, download the 32, or 64 bit version depending on which windows you are using.

Click for larger image

Once you have downloaded the installer, run it and follow the on screen instructions.

Please note that the mission planner installer will also install all of the system drivers required by arducopter, if any warning messages appear, please select "Install this driver software anyway" button

2. Connect ArduPilot to your computer and open Mission Planner

Once the install has completed, you can now plug in your ArduPilot Mega board to your computer. Wait a few moments while windows recognised and installs the drivers for the board.

Dont connect your APM board via a USB HUB as it might not get enough power

Now you can open the mission planner software, but do not click the connect button,you must first load the correct firmware.

To do this click on the firmware icon as shown, and select the relevant code you want to load. In this case, load the Arducopter Code that is relevant to your frame.

When you click on the relevant icon to load the code, a progress bar how the firmware update is progressing, you may also notice many lights flashing on your ardupilot board. Once the firmware has loaded the bar will be completely green.

The firmware upload status bar will be full once the arducopter firmware has been loaded onto your board

APM should now be recognized and show up in your Windows Device Manger (which you can find in the Windows Control Panel)

On the mission planner, go to the firmware tab to upload the arducopter firmware onto your board

Congratulations, you have now loaded the latest firmware onto your ardupilot mega board. The next guide will show you how to connect everything on arducopter together.

If you have any questions or comments, please add them below.

Frames for Arducopter

Sun, 03 Jun 2012 20:20:20 GMT

Before setting up your ardupilot mega board (the brains of your arducopter), you will need a multi-rotor frame. There are many choices available to you and a couple are listed below.

Official Arducopter Frame

Currently there are two official arducopter frame variations. A quadcopter and a hexacopter. These can be purchased in kit form that include all the motors and ESC that you need. Or if you prefer you buy the frame and choose your own motors and ESC

Buy Arducopter frames / kits

DIY Frame

Another option is to build your own frame, you can use wood, a 3D printer, or any other material you can think of, your imagination is the limit!

3rd Party Frames

There are many other frames that are designed and manufactured by other companies, some of them include mounting options for ardupilot mega. However it is still easy to mount your autopilot to a custom frame by either drilling some holes, or by using double sided tape.

Buy other frames/ kits here