X-3D-BL ResearchPilot User's Manual
Contents
1. mag_x ID R AW MAG X 2 0 mag_y ID_RAW_MAG_Y 2 0 mag _z ID KR AW MAG Z 2 0 pressure ID R AW PRESSURE 4 temperature ID R AW TEMP 4 Calculated data Angles 90000 90000 1 1000 90000 90000 1 1000 angle_pitch ID_ANGLE_PITCH angle_roll ID_ANGLE ROLL angle_yaw ID_ANGLE_YAW 0 360000 1 1000 angle_pitch_acc ID_ANGLE_PITCH_ACC 90000 90000 1 1000 angle_pitch_roll ID ANGLE ROLL ACC 4 l 90000 90000 1 1000 Angular velocities angvel_pitch ID_AV PITCH 0x11 4 int 512 4512 angvel_roll ID_AV ROLL 0x12 4 int 512 4512 angvel_yaw ID_AV_YAW 0x13 4 int 512 4512 Accelerations ID_ACCX 1500 1500 ID_ACC_Y 1500 1500 ID_ACCZ 1500 1500 ZS SE E trans_acc_x ID_TRANS_ACC_X S pseudovalue trans_acc_y ID_TRANS_ACC_Y SC pseudovalue trans_acc_z ID TR ANS ACC Z SE pseudovalue mag_x ID MAC XS l 512 512 no unit mag_y ID_MAG_Y 512 512 no unit mag 2 ID MAC 4 l 512 512 no unit mag_heading ID_MAG_HEADING 0 360000 1 1000 height filtered ID_HEIGHT E mm relative dheight filtered ID_DHEIGHT l gt mm s height_reference ID_HEIGHT_REFERENCE l mm relative dheight ID DH RIGHT REFERENCE l 2 mm s speed_z ID_SPEED_Z l pseude Z speed Ascending Technologies GmbH 16 www asctec de Keo X 3D BL ResearchPilot User s Manual x Cl channel ID_RC_CHANO channell ID_RC_CHANI channel2 ID_RC_CHAN2 channel3 ID_RC_CHAN channel4 ID_RC_CHAN4 channel5 ID_RC_CHANS2. oL L Ascending Technologies GmbH 14 www asctec de xeago X 3D BL ResearchPilot User s Manual x EM Alternatively you can use the pin as an input for a radio modem s CTS Clear To Send pin The X 3D BL ResearchPilot will only send data if the CTS pin is pulled low by the connected device It will stop sending data if the Pin is pulled high by the modem to prevent data loss during the transmission 4 2 Data protocol 4 2 1 Data output The data output protocol is a very flexible user programable serial protocol By sending a configuration packet to the ResearchPilot the data packet can be changed to a user configuration Through the command data packet the desired data rate can be set in 5Hz steps from 5Hz up to 300Hz which is automaticly handled by the ResearchPilot The data packet can be configured to contain any arbitrary combination of the values from the following table The standard packet is configured as ID_ANGLE_PITCH ID_ANGLE_ROLL ID_ANGLE_YAW ID_AV_PITCH ID_AV_ROLL ID_AV_YAW ID_ACCX ID_ACC_Y ID_ACCZ ID_HEIGHT ID_RC_CHANO ID RC CHAN ID_RC_CHAN2 ID_RC_CHAN3 The configuration packet is descriped in Section 4 2 1 Ascending Technologies GmbH 15 www asctec de Keo X 3D BL ResearchPilot User s Manual x Cl Raw data gyro_pitch ID_RAW_GYRO PITCH 2 0 gyro_roll ID_RAW_GYRO ROLL 2 0 gyro_yaw ID R AW GY RO YAW 2 0 acc_x ID R AW ACC X 2 0 acc_y ID_RAW_ACC_Y 2 0 acc_Z ID_RAW_ACC_Z 2 0
3. 3 2 Hints for using the X ACC mode e In the X ACC mode it is particularly important that the vehicle is not moved at all during the initialization Calibration errors caused by sha king during startup will influence the performan ce much more than in the heading hold mode If the vehicle tilts more and more after starting the motors it is very likely that it was moved during the initialization In this case please turn it off and on again and make sure that it 19 not mo ved until the X 3D displays the green yellow or green light pattern www asctec de e If your X 3D BL has the X ACC module and the X ACC firmwares installed it behaves different in case of a reception loss If there is no R C si gnal it will activate the X ACC mode try to get to a horizontal orientation and start to sink with 1 3rd of full throttle It will keep this state un til it regains reception If one of the propellers is blocked after the landing the X BLDC control lers will turn off the connected motor after 10 tries to restart it Attention With the X ACC in stalled there is no audible signal if reception is lost as the motors are used to do a safe landing instead of playing signal tones e If the ambient temperature changes rapidly for instance when you leave a warm room the angles measured by the X 3D and X ACC might not be totally correct That means that your ve hicle may be tilted a bit even with the pitch and roll stick centered
4. s Manual 24 CST 5 2 Setting up the X BLDC brushless motor controllers The X Base will not recognize all motors before they have been set up correctly This is absolutely normal Not until a successful configuration the X Base will recognize all X BLDC controllers and the X 3D BL UFO will signal ready to fly Connect the battery to the X 3D BL turn it on and connect the USB adapter with your computer and then with the X Base Open the X Control software and click on X Base Choose the correct COM Port normally Autoselect COMxx and click on Connect Chose X BL Setup and click on start search After several seconds four brushless controllers with different serial numbers should appear in the list If less than four controllers appear turn of your X 3D BL check all solderings and connectors and repeat the previous Steps If all four controllers have been found click on config and follow the instructions given by the software in order to tell each controller its own position and the appropriate turning direction After that click on Disconnect to complete the controller setup Optionally a startup melody can be installed using the X BL update function A detailed description of how www asctec de xeago X 3D BL ResearchPilot User s Manual to do this can be found in appendix B 5 3 X 3D Parameters If you connect the X 3D to the X Control software without t
5. channel6 ID_RC_CHAN6 channel7 ID_RC_CHAN valid Values Controller Data control outputs ID_CO_PITCH 0x24 4 u 0 200 100 middle ID_CO_ROLL D 0 200 100 middle ID_CO_YAW ae 0 200 100 middle ID_CO_THRUST 0x27 4 l RC data short unsigned short unsigned short unsigned short unsigned short unsigned short unsigned short unsigned short unsigned short ID RC LOCK LA AA EA EA EA EA EA FA E EE EE ID_UPTIME int 0 2 seconds ID_VOLTAGE int 0 255 battery voltage in 1 10V ID_CURRENT unsigned short 0 65535 current in 1 100A cpu_load ID CPULOAD unsigned short 0 1000 cycles per second The Researchpilot also outputs a status data packet ones every command packet is send which has this struc ture Struct SCIENTIFIC _STATUSDATA alway PD_SCIENTIFICSTATUS define PD_SCIENTIFICSTATUS 0x18 unsigned char packetdescriptor flags Bit 0 5 represent the actual status of the ResearchPilot if the interface is disabled by the remote all bits are 0 Bit 0 0x01 Pitch control through serial interfacae enabled Bit 1 0x02 Roll control through serial interface enabled Bit 2 0x04 Thrust control through serial interface enabled Bit 3 0x08 Yaw control through serial interface enabled Bit 210x210 ACC Mode on off Bit 51020 Height control tie only with ACC 7 Bit 6 0x40 unused Biv 70x80 1 Interface enabled control through serial link O interface disable
6. 3D BL UFO The booms which are made of a rigid carbon fiber balsa wood sandwich material can be replaced individually The central unit of the frame called the X CSM Core is made of light weight laser cut magnesium parts Being built out of these state of the art materials the X CSM is a very robust high tech basis for your quadrotor aircraft 1 1 2 X Base The X Base is the central control unit which is connected to and communicates with all active elements of the X 3D BL Next to the battery the motor controllers the X 3D gyro and the receiver www asctec de xan you can also connect several LEDs to the X Base to give your X 3D BL a unique fancy look X 3D Anschluss Bootloader Jumper Motorregler Anschl sse W 6 D DAT EK Ai ale at Ir SS ATMEGA 88 20AU 0628 Eu u TH 0 DE GER S MNMuTE CTR le gt XK Base vo D AscTec Babi N X ACC Anschluss ACT Empf nger USB Modul Anschluss Front LED Front LED An LED connected to the Front LED Pads on the bottom side of the X Base will always be on as long as the X 3D BL s turned on Such an LED can be mounted to the very front of your vehicle to make it eas er for the pilot to know where the front side is Ascending Technologies GmbH X 3D BL ResearchPilot User s Manual huuu auto shop d X Base V1 6 a nar Ter Bab 1 BL controllers brushed motors 2 BL controllers 3 B
7. and on again The startup sequence is completed once the motors start playing the preprogrammed music Please be www asctec de weer aware that the first been after turning the vehicle on is part of the startup process Once the music has been played the X 3D will light the green and yellow LEDs if the transmitter is turned off and only green if a valid signal is detected Now the vehicle is ready to fly To start the motors you have to move the left stick to the very left or right whilst holding throttle in zero position If it is the first flight after a while or the first flight at all hold your X 3D BL ResearchPilot down to the floor You can grab the center part of the frame but make sure that you don t touch any of the rotors In case it tries to tilt in any direction and one or more of the propellers are going crazy Please read the troubleshooting section of this manual Angle stabilization in pitch and roll is active even when the propellers are running idle Use this fea ture as you hold the vehicle from below and tilt it carefully to check that everything works As you tilt it to one direction you must feel some counterforce from the motors if everything is o k You can also try to steer the pitch and roll axis and see that you can directly steer the angles Please check if the vehicle is leveled in your hand with the pitch and roll stick in neutral position If not correct any undesired tilt with the pitch an
8. component including mechanical parts and electronics In this case the model can rapidly move towards any direction Make sure you always keep a safe distance to people animals obstacles or things of any kind traffic roads etc There are country specific laws regulating the operation of model aircrafts that definitely have to be obeyed Furthermore we strongly recommend to effect a liability insurance for model aircrafts The manufacturer and your dealer of the X 3D BL do not have any influence on nor can they monitor the correct assembly and proper operation of your model aircraft Always be aware of the dangers mentioned above and act accordingly There is no liability of the manufacturer nor the retailer at all as far as legally approved Our products are designed for the civil market only It is strictly forbidden to use them in any military en vironment or to retail them to any military or military related organization Using any of our components for larger scale flying objects is also not allowed SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE Ascending Technologies GmbH X 3D BL ResearchPilot User s Manual ECS 1 1 System overview In this section you find some information about the subsystems used in the X 3D BL ResearchPilot The se components are also used in the hobbyist version of the X 3D BL however the X 3D BL Research Pilot on board software is different 1 1 1 X CSM The X CSM is the mechanical frame of the X
9. easy Just push up the stick to full throttle until the UFO rea ched it s desired height Then put the stick back in the middle The UFO will try to hold it s height as good as it s possible This mode is more meant for outdoor usage The controller characteristics are calm and not very agressive so it s possible and normal that the UFO doesn t climb to the desired height completlty again afer a disturbance Light and other air flows can decrease the performance of the sensor Using a air filter is recommanded see It s better to use a spring on the throttle stick as well if you fly often with the height control Otherwise it can be hard to find the middle of the stick The deadzone can be n creased in the parameter settings if it s necessary The thrust pulsing battery warnung should be switched off for the height control if you still want to fly with it at empty battery conditions 3 3 First flight We recommend to do the first flights on some big grassland as the soft ground will soften possible crashes If you have never controlled an R C aircraft before you will have to practice a bit until you re able to fly inside your lab Make sure that the battery is fully charged connected and mounted correctly Switch on the vehicle and be really careful during the startup phase The vehicle must NOT be moved during startup as the gyro sensors are being initialized If the vehicle was moved during startup simply turn it off
10. to change them Nevertheless if you want to change them connect the X USB module to the X 3D Rese archPilot switch on the UFO and start the PC softwa re Full Throttle Click on FP OSP and on connect to connect to the X 3D ResearchPilot Click now on OSP Flight para meters By clicking Load or Save parameter sets can be stored on or loaded from the PC The button trans mit transmits the actual parameterset but doesn t store the setting on the UFO Only a click on Write parameters writes the setting n the permanent me mory of the UFO Click on Ready and Transmit and disconnect af ter you done www asctec de X 3D BL ResearchPilot User s Manual x Salt 4 On Board serial interface 4 1 Physical interface The interface is a serial uart link with 3 3V TTL levels which is 5V tolerant at 57600 baud 8 bits one startbit one stopbit To connect a PC a bluetooth link or a high level processor to the ResearchPilot you can use the same interface as the USB interface GND GND RXD input NC TXDe output CTS input VCC 4 3V VCC 4 3V Be carefull with the VCC power supply It s connected to the analog supply of the pressure sensor and is very sensitive to noise Depending on the needed power it might be neccessary to connect the power of your transmitter directly to the battery power 12V pins on the X Base Tie CTS to GND for continuous data transfer
11. 47 E Mail team asctec de Web www asctec de CEOs Michael Achtelik Klaus Michael Doth Dipl Ing Daniel Gurdan Dipl Ing Jan Stumpf Handelsregister Miinchen HRB 166748 Ust ID DE254728199 Ascending Technologies GmbH 26 ES www asctec de SES A Troubleshooting This chapter holds solutions to problems which might occur during the operation of your X 3D BL UFO A 1 Slight tilt in pitch roll with the pitch roll stick in neutral position Due to unavoidable measurement errors it s perfectly normal that your X 3D BL is not always flying exactly leveled in the X ACC mode However a slight tilt can easily be compensated by the trimmers on your remote control A 2 Considerable tilt in pitch or roll There are some situations where the measured angle can considerably differ from the real angle which re sults in big tilt angles in pitch and or roll while the pitch roll stick on your remote is centered This can have the following reasons e Shaking during initialization In the X ACC mo de it is particularly important that the vehicle is not moved at all during the initialization Cali bration errors caused by shaking during startup will influence the performance much more than in the heading hold mode If the vehicle tilts mo re and more after starting the motors it is very likely that it was moved during the initialization In this case please turn it off and on again and make sure that it is not move
12. Batteries LiPo can be very dangerous if not handled correctly Please read and follow the instructions of the battery and charger manufacturers Do never short circuit a LiPo battery and use safe connectors 2 3 Teach in of your transmitter If you want to use your own transmitter which you did not purchase bundled with the X 3D BL ResearchPilot please follow these steps First of all you need to install the X Control PC Software If you didn t receive a copy of it please con tact us by e mail Connect the USB adapter to your PC and to the X Base turn on your UFO open the X Control software and click on X Base and then on Connect Then choose Receiver setup and Au tomatic calibration and follow the instructions given Ascending Technologies GmbH X 3D BL ResearchPilot User s Manual X ESM by the software You can freely choose a stick on your R C for eve ry function If you are used to a certain configuration you should definitely continue using this one If you haven t flown other model aircrafts before we recom mend the following configuration Mode 2 Throttle The X 3D BL ResearchPilot works with any R C with at least five channels Make sure that all chan nels work independently and that no mixers are active in your remote Please make sure you assign a switch on your R C transmitter to the SW 1 function as you will need this channel to activete the serial interface onb
13. X 3D BL ResearchPilot User s Manual V1 3b Ascending Technologies GmbH ws N nn nn nn nn xeago X 3D BL ResearchPilot User s Manual Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Introduction 1 1 System overview LII SM sa kee wate ew thew tee Paes eee ees I ABe bw che eho ee ee an beheben 1 1 3 ResearchPilot ER 658 4 u 8 4 a u 4848444 8 NN MOOS resres ea iea ea aa a a a a a e 1 1 5 X BLDC brushless motor controllers 0 0 1 1 6 X ACC nn L2 K c Le serari ad E ce Se eee ES ee SSE ES 2 Things to do before the first flight 2 1 22 2 3 Mounting the propellers 2 22 CC Em mo nenn Preparing your own battery 22 2 CC 2 Teach n of your transmitter 2 CC mm Operating the X 3D BL ResearchPilot 3 1 32 3 3 Important things to keep in mind oaoa ne Hints for using the X ACC mode 3 2 1 Trim memory function oaa 0 000084 3 2 2 Optimisation of the pressure sensor 2 2 2 22 3 2 3 Control modes X 3D ResearchPilot 324 Heer se sir cua eee i dead e amp bE AS Ow Lake 1 ss as su Bee RR ERR ERR OER OER EDR OER OES 3 3 1 X 3D ResearchPilot Parameter On Board serial interface 4 1 4 2 4 3 4 4 Physical interface e a a 2 wwe be ede ew bee ben ba ebanvda es Data protocol s ss s sss eat deo bee ROE aD ERE REE DSS 4 2 1 Dataoutput 0 0 sbe tot eee ee 42 2 Commandinput 0 0 0 0 ee eee eee TROEDEC 0 000 e Ee eee dee E deed wan
14. and the SW1 function see Receiver Setup in the X Control software with the X Base connected must be gt 128 to activate the commands from the interface This is a safety function as well A skilled pilot should always be ready to take over by setting the SW1 function back to U e g with a switch to take control if your high level control is not functioning as desired The pilot also has to steer all functions that are not activated in the channel select byte Consequently you can activate one function after another which makes setting up and tuning high level control loops much easier Ascending Technologies GmbH 22 www asctec de X 3D BL ResearchPilot User s Manual X ESM 5 Software updates and system configuration changes The X 3D BL is shipped with a fully functional firmware installed on all components Please do not upload any code from our public servers as these versions do not offer the additional features of your X 3D BL ResearchPilot You only need to do a software update if you receive a new version from us To perform a software update you need the X Control PC software If you did not receive a copy of it please contact us via e mail 5 0 1 Software update of the X 3D FunPilot Connect your X USB module with your PC After wards click on FP OSP in the X Control software and then on OSP Firmware Upgrade on the left Now connect your X 3D FunPilot with the X USB module Connect the batter
15. and the trimmers in the right position In this case we recommend to wait a few minutes until all sensors have adopted to the ambient temperature You could also fly using the Heading Hold mode during that period as it is more robust against changes in temperature 3 2 1 Trim memory function The X 3D and the X 3D ResearchPilot are able to sa ve the actual trim setting on your RC transmitter to enable smooth switching between X ACC and hea ding hold mode Two functions can be selected with the RC transmitter A simple method to correctly calibrate your trim me mory e Reset trim memory Motors off full throttle full yaw to the right e Fly in the X ACC mode and trim the UFO e Land stop motors and save the trim Motors off full throttle full yaw to the left e Set the trimmers on your remote to U and start flying normally Ascending Technologies GmbH X 3D BL ResearchPilot User s Manual 11 x cem 3 2 2 Optimisation of the pressure sensor The pressure sensor of the X 3D ResearchPilot is sensitive to light and air movements perpendicular the the sensor opening e g by wind during a forward flight Therefore it s recommend for the best perfor mance especially outdoor to add a small air filter to the pressure sensor A prooven technique uses some schrinking tube and some foam e g foam from the X 3D ResearchPilot box Shrinking the schrinking tube around the pressure sensor pin and carefully add s
16. d control through RC Bit 8 15 sendrate of the scientific packet in 5Hz O off 1 5Hz 20 100Hz 200 1kHz Scientific packet is send for three seconds max after the last command_data packet Scientific interface enabled by Remote unsigned short flags Ascending Technologies GmbH 17 www asctec de X 3D BL ResearchPilot User s Manual x Salt 4 2 2 Command input All packets send to the X 3D ResearchPilot have the following frame format Startbyte 1 gt Startbyte 2 x Startbyte 3 gt Length of dat in bytes high byte Length of data in bytes low byte DATA CRC16 of data high byte CRC16 of data low byte Length and CRC16 are unsigned short types For calculating the CRC16 of a packet you can use the following algorithm update crc with data unsigned short crc_update unsigned short crc unsigned char data data cre amp 0xff data data lt lt 4 return unsigned short data lt lt 8 crc gt gt 8 amp Oxff unsigned char data gt gt 4 unsigned short data lt lt 3 calculate the CRC16 of an array of bytes with the length cnt unsigned short crcl6 void data unsigned short cnt unsigned short crc 0xff unsigned char x ptr unsigned char zl data int 15 for i 0 i lt cnt i ere cerc_ update crc ptr E Ee rerurn Cre Sending the packet in pseude c code would look like this struct SCIENFITIC_COMMANDDATA scien
17. d roll trimmers Now give a little throttle and the vehicle should ho ver Try hovering in a height of about Im and con centrate on the red marking which is the front of your vehicle Try to compensate for any movement in yaw by moving the yaw stick n the opposite direction It is much easier to control the vehicle if red is facing away from you as in this case it will move away from you if you push your pitch roll stick away It is per fectly normal that the vehicle drifts slowly in all direc tions As long as you have not installed any external tracking for position control you have to compensa te for these movements manually After a few battery charges you will able to fly in any room and with so me more practice you can even fly in small spaces and land on tables etc Good luck Ascending Technologies GmbH X 3D BL ResearchPilot User s Manual 213 L 3 3 1 X 3D ResearchPilot Parameter The X 3D ResearchPilot offers four onboard stored parameter sets which can be selected my the RC To select a setting make sure that the motors are swit ched off and the UFO has RC reception The setting is selected by giving full throttle and moving the pit ch roll stick to one of the four corners for a second The UFO acknologes the selection by 1 4 beeps The following image shows the stick positions for the dif ferent settings The factory set parameters are already prepared for the X BL Ufo Therefore there is no direct need
18. d until the X 3D displays the green yellow or green light pattern e Teach in of your transmitter was not correct To check if your transmitter was taught in correctly please connect the X Base to your PC using the Ascending Technologies GmbH X 3D BL ResearchPilot User s Manual DT X ESm USB adapter and open the X Control software to check if all channels are detected as centered if the sticks on the R C are centered If this is not the case repeat the teach in of your R C follow1 ng the instructions given by the software e Faulty calibration of the accelerometers If af ter restarting the X 3D BL the unwanted tilt is still there and cannot be compensated using the trimmers on your remote please check the cal bration of your X ACC et GAN e Rapid change of the ambient temperature If you notice a considerable tilt in pitch or roll direct ly after you leave a warm room in winter or an air conditioned room in summer please wait a few minutes until all sensors have adopted to the new ambient temperature Alternatively you can use the Heading Hold mode during that period as this mode behaves much more robust during fast temperature changes e Extremely fast maneuvers Also fast maneuvers which result in high accelerations interacting with your aircraft can cause faulty measure ments If you fly several circles in a row in high speeds it can happen that the measured angle differs several degrees from the real a
19. da cs General hints for using the serial interface Software updates and system configuration changes 5 1 2 5 3 5 4 5 0 1 Software update of the X 3D FunPilot Software update of the X Base oaoa 00000002 0G Setting up the X BLDC brushless motor controllers X D Parameters sss saw 00 0 eae ede EE e Be eH a en a Calibration of the acceleration sensors Ascending Technologies GmbH 2 X ESm ORDRHEIEIREIS opp oppe www asctec de Sr xeago X 3D BL ResearchPilot User s Manual 6 Contact Information A Troubleshooting A 1 Slight tilt in pitch roll with the pitch roll stick in neutral position A 2 Considerable tilt in pitch or roll A 3 Bad reception during flight 0 AA The red LED on the X 3D keeps blinking after the startup A 5 The X 3D BL turns itself off during flight B User programmable startup melodies Ascending Technologies GmbH 3 www asctec de Eso 1 Introduction Thank you for purchasing the X 3D BL Research Pilot Please read this manual carefully before you start to work with your new vehicle WARNING A motorized model aircraft is not a toy It should only be flown by adults Improper assembly or operating can lead to severe injuries and or damages Trouble with your remote control due to interferences can occur any time without prior notice Sometimes a model aircraft can suddenly become uncontrolla ble due to a failure of any
20. e current limit of your X Base is set to 35 A To do so please connect the X Base to the X Control software and click on parameters The value of the edit field designated with Current must be 35 Once you are done click on Finished and then on Transmit and disconnect www asctec de B User programmable startup melodies The X 3D BL ResearchPilot is capable of playing preprogrammed melodies directly after the initializa tion To upload a melody please connect the battery to the X 3D BL turn it on and connect the USB adapter with your computer and then with the X Base Open the X Control software and click on X Base Choose the correct COM Port normally Autoselect COMxx and click on Connect Chose X BL Se tup and click on start search After several seconds four brushless controllers with different serial num bers should appear in the list If all four controllers have been found click on Firmware upgrade then on Select all controllers and open the Select firm ware dialog Select X BL Startup melody snd on the lower right of the window and open any snd file you like for instance from the subdirectory X BL Sounds in the X 3D BL software package Then press Upload After the upload is completed click on Finished and turn your X 3D BL off and on again After initiali zing it should play the new sound Enjoy it Ascendi
21. e in pitch and roll The datafusion is done with an update rate of 1kHz to guarantee good stability As a consequence the heli copter is able to come back to a horizontal orientation on its own In the X ACC mode the pilot or your own add on electronics command an absolute angle The further you push the pitch or roll stick the bigger the tilt angle of the X 3D BL If you leave the stick cen tered the helicopter will come back to horizontal In this mode you are not able to do loops or flips howe ver hovering and all 2D maneuvers are much easier to do The X ACC is also a great help for beginners In addition the vehicle can be position stabilized by a simple PD Loop 1 2 Transmitter Any five or more channels R C transmitter can be used to operate the X 3D BL ResearchPilot Even if it is controlled autonomously by your own controller board the transmitter 19 required as a backup As a sa fety measure the X 3D BL ResearchPilot is not able to launch without a valid signal from the R C trans mitter Pitch Throttle Ascending Technologies GmbH 7 X ESm www asctec de ses X 3D BL ResearchPilot User s Manual x Cl 2 Things to do before the first flight The X 3D BL is shipped completely assembled and tested You only have to do the following steps to ma ke it work with in combination with your equipment 2 1 Mounting the propellers To improve the durability of the propellers during a The propellers ca
22. he bootloader jumper set you can change all parameters influencing the system behaviour You can also save a set of parameters to port it to a second vehicle or you can upload a set of parameters which you received from us 5 4 Calibration of the acceleration sensors The X 3D BL ResearchPilot comes fully calibrated However if something goes really wrong and for so me reason you need to recalibrate the accelerometers here is what you have to do Connect the X Base with the X Control software open the X ACC setup and follow the instructions given by the wizard To achieve the best performance it is very important that the calibration is done very precise Please check that after the calibration the X and Y outputs are roughly zero and the Z output is roughly 1000 if the X 3D BL is standing in a horizontal orientation The automatic calibration gives usable results but sometimes the values can still be optimized manually Please also check the scale factors 1 e see if all sensor outputs are about 1000 if you hold the vehicle with the respective axis in a vertical orientation If everything seems o k you can finalize the calibration by clicking on Finished and on Transmit and disconnect Ascending Technologies GmbH 25 X ESm www asctec de xeago X 3D BL ResearchPilot User s Manual 6 Contact Information Ascending Technologies GmbH Graspergerstr 8 82131 Stockdorf GERMANY Phone 49 89 899498
23. length 4 unsigned char length flexible data field Maximum 32 integers or 64 shorts unsigned char data 128 bi The data field contains the data in any arbitrary order descriped in chapter The data bytes are distributed according the order and length of the requested data fields A byte uses one byte of space whereas a short uses two bytes and an int uses 4 bytes 4 3 Test software There is a graphical user interface X 3D BL_ResearchPilot_Testsoftware exe to visualize the data packets described above You can use this program to better understand the serial interface and to check if everything is working correctly Ascending Technologies GmbH 21 www asctec de xeso X 3D BL ResearchPilot User s Manual x Cl I X BL Scientific Testsoftware c 07 Ascending Technologies GmbH Whe Bele 512 S e 0 Connected RX TX COM1 X Raw values 1023 _pit 0 angvel_roll 0 angvel_yaw 0 acceleration x 0 0 acceleration y 0 cc Z 0 angle_nick 0 angle_roll 0 Options D 300 0 Thru est Functions z ist Nick 0 U 127 M h Front h wW Left Right n ol l gt 127 5 p a en Left Right Min A J If you did not receive a copy of this software please contact us by e mail 4 4 General hints for using the serial interface To enable the command interface the vehicle must have a stable link to a normal RC transmitter green light on the X 3D
24. n be slid over the axles and be faste crash you can optionally add a cable tie e g 2 5 x ned using a plastic nut Do not fasten the nut too tight 100 mm as seen in the following picture as this would bend the propellers Please note that there are two types of propellers One 2 2 Prepari ng your own pair of propellers is spinning clockwise the other pair is spinning counterclockwise The propellers spin battery ning clockwise must be mounted to the front and the rear motor whereas the counterclockwise rotating You need a 3s three cells 11 1V Lithium Polymer propellers must be mounted to the left and to the right LiPo Battery We recommend capacities between motor 1500 and 2100 mAh With a state of the art 2100 Ascending Technologies GmbH 8 www asctec de mAh battery the vehicle is able to hover up to 23 mi nutes without any payload and up to 12 minutes with 200 g of payload C aed Make sure you mount your battery such that it can definitely not get damaged by hitting the frame even in a crash Otherwise the battery could explode Here is an example of how to mount a battery correctly The black foam on both sides hinders it from being hurt by the magnesium parts of the frame The woodden plate on the bottom makes it stick to the screw holding the bottom plate of the frame Of course there are many different ways to prepare your battery for a safe operation This is only an example Lithium Polymer
25. ng Technologies GmbH 29 X 3D BL ResearchPilot User s Manual NES www asctec de
26. ngle If this is the case you simply have to fly gently or ho ver for a few seconds until the unwanted tilt 19 gone A 3 Bad reception during flight If the X 3D BL does not react while it is airborne please check if someone else uses the same channel Make sure your TX battery is fully charged and that the antenna 19 fully extended If you are still having trouble you can to the following test to check the range of your R C system www asctec de XS During the range check all other transmitters should be switched off The best location to do the test is a big open field as metallic objects like cars or wire fences could influence the result You need a helper who holds your transmitter with the antenna as close to vertical as possible Turn the X 3D BL on and wait until only the green LED on the X 3D is on signali zing ready to fly Then walk away from the trans mitter until the yellow LED starts flickering At this point you should be at least 100 m away from your TX Repeat the whole procedure with the motors run ning at minimum throttle If at a distance of about 100 m the signal is still ok i e only the green is LED on your reception is totally fine Due to the size of the aircraft and the associated visibility you will ne ver fly any further away than that If the yellow LED comes up randomly at shorter distances your TX RX combination is to weak In this case you can try ex tending the antenna of the X 3D BL by
27. o the very right whi le your throttle stick is in zero position There is no flight maneuver where one would use this control input and thus you will not accidentally turn off your motors during flight For safety re asons you should turn off the motors immediate ly if one of the propellers touches the ground or any other obstacle and hence the X 3D BL Re searchPilot is not able to take off 10 X 3D BL A low battery is signalized by a pe riodic simultaneous tremor of all motors This is hard to see but it can be heard Depending on the battery you use there is about a minute of flight time left after the low battery warning is activated Lithium Polymer LiPo batteries are very vulnerable to deep discharge That is why the X 3D BL turns off completely if the volta ge drops under a programmable threshold You can adjust the thresholds for the low battery war ning and the low battery shut down using the X Control software Therefor you have to connect the X Base to your PC using the USB adapter and click on X Base Connect and then on Parameters If the ambient temperature changes rapidly for instance when you leave a warm room the angles estimated by the datafusion algorithms might not be totally correct As a consequence your vehicle would be tilted a bit even with a neutral pitch and roll command In this case we recommend to wait a few minutes until all sen sors have adopted to the ambient temperature
28. oard your X 3D BL ResearchPilot www asctec de SES X ESM X 3D BL ResearchPilot User s Manual 3 Operating the X 3D BL ResearchPilot 3 1 Important things to keep in e There is a battery warning implemented in your Ascending Technologies GmbH mind e Directly after turning the X 3D BL on the mo tors produce a short beep It is perfectly normal that the propellers move slightly during that to ne Keep the X 3D BL totally still after turning it on until the X 3D shows the yellow green no reception or green ready to fly light pattern Otherwise the sensors can not be calibrated cor rectly and the vehicle might go crazy after tur ning on the motors If you accidentally moved the system during startup simply turn it off and on again If only the green LED at the X 3D board is on the vehicle is ready to fly A yellow green light pattern means no reception In this case plea se check that your remote control is turned on and fully functional that the receiver crystal is installed in the receiver and that the receiver is connected correctly After the startup phase the motors are still tur ned off and secured To turn them on you have to move the yaw stick to the very left or to the very right while your throttle stick is in zero position The motors will then start and keep running at their minimum speed To turn the motors off you have to do the same procedure again Move the yaw Stick to the very left or t
29. ome super glue to make it hold better Attention It s very important that absolutly NO superglue get s into the sensor Otherwise this very expensive part can ta ke damage An alternative are sinter filter which you can get in your modell store The following pictures show both variants www asctec de 3 2 3 Control modes X 3D ResearchPilot The X 3D ResearchPilot has three different control modes e Heading Hold mode HH e X ACC mode e X ACC height control Modus Switching between the modes can be done in two dif ferent ways e 3 step switch teached in to channel 5 SW1 in the X Base configuration e 2 step switch teached in to channel 5 to switch between X ACC and HH mode A second switch teached in to channel 6 SW2 for enabeling the height control in X ACC mode The recommanded default setting is the 3 step switch Use the second mode RC transmitters wi thout 3 step switched The mode can be changed with the PC Software seperately in every setting in datafusion misc Ascending Technologies GmbH X 3D BL ResearchPilot User s Manual _12 ES Attention It s very important to teach in the chan nels 5 and 6 in the X Base receiver configuration Otherwise the UFO can get uncontrolable as it s switching modes undefenately 3 2 4 Height control The height controller is programmed as sink and fall rate controller Stick in the middle means hold height Starting from the ground is very
30. ough serial interface enabled ACC Mode on off Height control on off only with ACC Ascending Technologies GmbH 19 www asctec de Keo X 3D BL ResearchPilot User s Manual X EN Bit 6 0x40 overwrite ACC Height mode control 0 mode selected by RC 1 mode selected by Bit 4 and 5 Bit 7 0x80 Trigger Scientific status packet triggers a response with the actual scientific state Bit 8 15 sendrate of the scientific packet in 5Hz d A Ue EE e 1 5hzZ ZU L00HZ 200e1IkHz Scientific packet is send for three seconds max after the last command_data packet unsigned short flags by Explanation of the command packet e packetdescriptor Packet identifier must always be 0x17 e pitch pitch value 0 4095 2048 middle e roll roll value 0 4095 2048 middle e thrust thrust value 0 4095 e yaw yaw value 0 4095 2048 middle e flags Flags Bit 0 0x01 Pitch control through serial interface enabled Bit 1 0x02 Roll control through serial interface enabled Bit 2 0x04 Thrust control through serial interface enabled Bit 3 0x08 Yaw control through serial interface enabled Bit 4 0x10 ACC Mode on off Bit 5 0x20 Height control on off only with ACC Bit 6 0x40 overwrite ACC Height mode control O mode selected by RC I mode selected by Bit 4 and 5 Bit 7 0x80 Trigger Scientific status packet triggers a response with the actual scientific state Bit 8 15 sendrate of the scientific packe
31. rushed motors Left Right Back Front 4 PPM Receiver Input Signal from lower to upper connector 5 LEDs Left Right Rear Front 6 LEDs 5V 7 Power connector and marked on the upper s de of the board The key below the power connector 7 turns the X 3D BL on and off A short press is enough to turn the vehicle on To turn it off the key has to be pressed for at least 200ms The brushed motors connectors of the X Base 3 are not required as the brushless motors are driven by independent controllers and thus the connectors can be used to drive peripherals like for instance a night flight kit Connector L is switched on and off by R C channel 5 connector R by R C channel 6 The connectors can sink currents up to 5A if they re ena bled That means that the input of a peripheral has to be connected to the L or R pad and the input has to be connected to connector 1 Be aware that in this configuration your peripheral will be supplied the whole battery voltage If this not what you need make sure you use a suitable voltage regu lator www asctec de 1 1 3 ResearchPilot The ResearchPilot is the sensor unit of the X 3D BL With three piezo gyros a high precision pressure sensor and highly optimized control loops it does the actual flight attitude control All parameters influencing the in flight behavior can be tuned by connecting the ResearchPilot to a PC u
32. sing the USB adapter that came with your X 3D BL and the X Control software Once you are on the field for flying you can select four different parameter by stick commands LED patterns of the X 3D ResearchPilot e red Initialisation e red yellow blinking X Base or X BL motors not detected X 3D BL ResearchPilot User s Manual Zeckt Sil 1 1 4 Motors The X BL 52s motors by HACKER Motors Germa ny are custom built for the X 3D BL The motors are perfectly suited for the application in this vehicle 1 1 5 X BLDC brushless motor controllers Every motor is controlled by an independent X BLDC brushless motor controller The controllers are highly optimized for the X BL 52s motors and thus ensure the highest efficiency possible Please note that for this reason the controllers might not work with a different motor type E A TH c gt SOT ae po RIIN 5 SIR 25 8822 9 9 ee 1 1 6 X ACC e red yellow and green blinking No RC recepti The X ACC is a tiny add on module comprising a on and ne setting selected e yellow and green blinking No setting selected e yellow blinking green Ready for flight e yellow blinking X Base is in setup mode e yellow red trim reset e gelb trim saved Ascending Technologies GmbH triaxial accelerometer www asctec de e x X 3D BL ResearchPilot User s Manual Using the acceleration data the X 3D can compute the absolute orientation of the vehicl
33. t in 5Hz O off 1 5Hz 20 100Hz 200 1kHz Scienti fic packet s send for three seconds max after the last command_data packet The pitch and roll value can be converted to absolute angles m the ACC Mode by the following formula Ascending Technologies GmbH 20 www asctec de xeago X 3D BL ResearchPilot User s Manual X EN angle value x K _stick_X X X X in 1 1000 For the yaw the following formula can be used to calculate the desired angular velocity angle_vel value x K _stick_yaw 2048 in s In heading hold mode the K_stick_XX_expo parameters should be set to zero for a linear output equation angle vel value x K_stick XXX X_H H 65536 in 1 1000 s As a safety precaution the vehicle will switch back to the transmitter and thus manual control after 100ms not receiving data from the serial link The scientific config packet is used to set the desired data structure The packet structure is L EL SCLENTIPIC CONFIG always PD_SCIENTIFICCONFIG define PD_SCIENTIFICCONFIG 0x20 unsigned char packetdescriptor Unsigned char data seleer 123 data_select holds a list of up to 128 ID Values which define the data which s included in the scientific data structure The scientific data structure send out by the ResearchPilot 1s struel SCIENTIFIC DATA always PD_SCIENTIFICDATA define PD_SCIENTIFICDATA 0x19 unsigned char packetdescriptor length of data field in bytes Packetlength
34. tificCommandData void sendCommandPacket Ascending Technologies GmbH 18 www asctec de unsigned short Ore unsigned char b X 3D BL ResearchPilot User s Manual x Salt unsigned char ptr unsigned short length ptr amp ScientificCommandData packetdescriptor length sizeof scientificCommandData check if serial link is open if UartInitialized ealoulate CRC recur ere crel6 ptr Length send p acket WriteStringToUart LT gt gt js WriteByteToUart length gt gt 3 WriteByteToUart length amp 0 xff WriteArrayToUart ptr length WriteByteToUart crc gt gt 8 WriteByteToUart crc amp 0xff All WriteXToUart functions have to be replaced by user specific access to an open serial link With the command protocol a single or all control channels can be taken over by the serial interface Therefore the X 3D BL ResearchPilot must receive the following command data packet with an update rate of at least 10Hz to 20Hz up to 200Hz over the serial link struct SCIENFITIC_COMMANDDATA always unsigned EE unsigned unsigned unsigned unsigned Bit 0x17 char packetdescriptor roll short short short short thrust yaw commands 0 4095 2048 middle PLEEG TOL EChr ust yaw Pitch control through serial interfacae enabled Roll control through serial interface enabled Thrust control through serial interface enabled Yaw control thr
35. using a longer plastic tube or stick which holds the antenna A ful ly extended antenna works definitely better than one which 19 wound around a stick as described in this ma nual If you use a stub antenna at your TX this could also be the reason for a bad reception as such an tennas do not transmit the full power In this case try using a standard telescopic antenna instead A 4 The red LED on the X 3D keeps blinking after the startup If you have not configured your X 3D BL using the X Control software as described above this behavior is normal In this case please follow the instructions given in If the configuration of your vehicle was completed successfully the blinking red LED means that one of the motor controllers or motors was not detected Please check if all four cables in black and blue color between the X Base and the motor control lers are connected correctly If all connections are o k please verify that all motors produce a short beep di rectly after you turn the X 3D BL on If one of them does not play the sound check the power connection of the affected motor controller Are all wires ok Are all soldering points clean and correct If you Ascending Technologies GmbH X 3D BL ResearchPilot User s Manual _ 28 X ESm connect the X Base to the X Control software it will show you which of the motors is not working correct ly A 5 The X 3D BL turns itself off during flight Please make sure that th
36. y to the UFO To update the X 3D FunPilot software you need a jumper to activate the boot loader mode of the X 3D FunPilot Bridge the bootloader contacts and switch on the UFO Ascending Technologies GmbH 93 Not click on Connect in the PC software then on Choose firmware and seleect the file X 3D FunPilot VX X hey Click on upload and wait until the uploaded s finished Disconnect the USB module remove the bootloader jumper and click on Ready The software update is finished 5 1 Software update of the X Base Again you need a jumper to activate the so called bootloader Set the jumper as seen in the following picture www asctec de Open the X Control software click on X Base and then on X Base firmware Upgrade on the left hand side Turn on the X Base In this case the battery has to be connected to the vehicle and connect the USB adapter to the X Base Choose the serial port normally Autoselect COMxx and click on connect Select the ACT receiver xbs firmware file if you are using an ACT receiver 35 or 40 MHz or select the PPM receiver xbs if you are using a different receiver Then click on Upload wait for the upload to be completed disconnect the USB adapter from the X Base remove the bootloader jumper and click on Finished The X Base software update is now completed Ascending Technologies GmbH X 3D BL ResearchPilot User
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