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USER MANUAL md4-200 Version 2.2

1. A AAA A AAAS Pid ms pos Suchen in MD_Dialog_12_Nov_06 c H pid gps vel serial numb flight time j take off co Zuletzt init file s PEE init io con init motors amp me nay reset mc reached Desktop rejenterin Waiting for S Eigene Dateien r Arbeitsplatz ic Netewerkumgeb Dateiname fici _6 061110 fcf Dateityp flight controller firmware files fcf T After having selected a file and confirmation of the selection by the open button the file in question will be checked for validity Update Flight Controller FC Update Navigation Controller NC Verily new firmware Updatenennimwae Verify new firmware Update new firmware MD _FC_1 6 Build 061110 system clocks 12000 60000 15000 dinv height 8 000000 4 000000 dinv roll pitch 150 000000 35 000000 dinv yaw 150 000000 35 000000 id gps position 0 120000 0 000000 0 000000 id gps welocity 0 130000 0 000000 0 000000 serial number 00083 tlight tims 2 06 24 53 ake off counter 00022 init file system ok init io controller ok Se DOGOS sai ok nay reset reached flight mode rejentering main loop iting for valid re signals 0 Having finished the check successfully the GUI prompts with an OK message box The button Update new firmware for the flight controller FC is enabled in this case copyright microdrones GmbH 2004 200
2. GPS Cate Time eerie Finmag Position ECEF Am Dillerence postion to POFF Im Hadh i Eat mE Wiirt gat eat ttle Bay Click on Open to find the dialog below Drive select 11 00004801 00777111 00784051 12 00004901 00784052 00791975 13 00005001 00791976 00797570 Ms 14 00005101 00797571 00802025 File select File select 15 00005201 00802026 00821449 16 00005307 00821450 00842520 01 00003801 00747942 00745790 02 00003901 00745791 00749487 03 00004001 00749488 00753269 04 00004101 00753270 00753752 05 00004201 00753753 00756750 06 00004301 007565751 00763755 OY 00004401 00763759 00767 706 06 00004501 00767707 00772253 09 00004601 00772254 007 723525 10 00004701 00772324 00777110 Direct sector read copyright microdrones GmbH 2004 2007 64 System Overview select the card drive and check the available data sets one for each recorded flight The ordinal number in the first column is an index starting at 16 for the most recent flight down to 0 for the oldest available one Select the appropriate data set and press OK to view the content As the data has been written directly to the logical sectors of the file system the windows explorer will show a DATA txt file as the only and unintelligible entry GS You must never store data to the micro SD card with a A conventional file system Such an operation would destroy all flight records
3. 222u2202202snennenennnnennennnnenenneneneenennene 93 3 9 1 BUNIN NET GOWN eure 93 3 9 2 POSLFIGHL en ene ete ee ee eee 93 4 Safety InStruUclons aussen 95 5 IroUDIESHOOUNG nennen een 97 Annex A Wind and its Scale u u20002000002a0000an00nnnnunnnnnunnnnnunn anne 99 A 1 A short History of Seales unsnnennin na 99 A 2 A 3 A 4 Where and How to use them Beauforts Scale in Phenomenons Beauforts Scale in absolute Velocities List of Figures figure 1 figure 2 figure 3 figure 4 figure 5 figure 6 figure 7 figure 8 figure 9 figure 10 figure 11 figure 12 figure 13 figure 14 figure 15 figure 16 Figure 17 figure 18 figure 19 figure 20 figure 21 figure 22 figure 23 figure 24 figure 25 figure 26 figure 27 figure 28 figure 29 figure 30 figure 31 figure 32 figure 33 figure 34 figure 35 figure 36 figure 37 Flying Jeep Curtis Wright VZ 7AP ccc ceccceccceeeeeeeaeeeeeeeeees 4 Etienne Oehmichen No 2 ccccccesseceseeeeenseeeensesenseeeetseeenrevenes 5 scheme of propulsion for the Md4 200 u2220220220 02er 7 the remote control tranSMitter ccccceccecceeceeseeseeeeeeeeeeeeaes 8 detalls ora MOON LMI isses 9 in flight electronic key components 0222022002202en en 10 md4 200 block schematic 220220220220200 sn nnn ann nnn nennen 12 complete md4 200 sy
4. 86 Handling the drone Note that in some situations the video transmitter antenna may be hidden in grass and the link to the base station may be weak After having passed all power up self test the drone will start a slow repeating beeping rhythm to indicate the search for GPS signals The rhythm accelerates as more satellites are detected and the more precise its own location can be derived Having found four or more the base station will report GPS ok The last step requests some patience as the drone will refuse to start the engines while the GPS precision is insufficient Watch the decreasing diameter of the position estimate on the downlink decoder to pass some time It may take 30s or more for the drone to get a good result Finally the drones rhythms changes to a beep beep which acknowledges the status ready for take off When you hear this signal start the motors by pushing slider F to the front while fully pulling back the left joystick The drone respond by a series of acknowledge beeps and all rotors must start turning If not the drone will most likely respond with a continuous series of beeps to indicate that the ready for take off status was lost or never achieved before the start engine command Pull back F again and wait Move away at least 5 meters from the drone in its aft direction pull out the antenna and tilt it upward in order not to point towards the drone The minimum
5. A You must not try to save on the micro SD card to avoid A A destruction of the light data A The output file is named sdf and may be distributed in the usual ways e g being sent per e mail Clicking the OK button in the dialog of figure 59 opens the flight data set The flight data is now available for a timed replay giving full coverage of all status and control data values in a specific moment In addition the deducted light position of the drone is simulated You can watch the GPS coordinates date and time of the current flight situation the selected navigation mode e g RC GPS position hold or waypoint control and the detailed control vectors being received via the RC link either in numerical or in comprehensive graphical form Above the graphical display of the drone the three angles of rotation are given in numerical values The front arm of the drone is marked in read The acronym POFF means point of first fixture and denotes the distance of the drone relative to that position which was first detected by GPS in that flight Usually this would be the position of take off In case the pilot had copyright microdrones GmbH 2004 2007 66 System Overview overridden GPS by use of slider E the POFF position may be anywhere on the lights trajectory sd_player_cv_rl 0 100 100 0 100 100 0 The display PWM in the group motors means pulse width modulation and denotes the fr
6. GPS speed m s GPS time UTC Magnetometer uT r n If HEE liess agence 2 CSV ee aeg Aigen E jai 100 0 1 Attitude j Roll pom Pitch EE T RC Channels Mode Navi ation Guidance EE 1 100 Ne amp SFA a NEES Rs cad East Down oO pi 100 100 100 100 100 50 50 50 50 Yaw LE Valid Accurac E Hei 30 m a Maximum Height m Valid Battery V Y 185 210 235 260 285 310 435 i web as indicated in figure 54 Unzip the archive and install the application Voltage V Time s The downlink player is available at the microdrones download site in the analogous to the downlink decoder user manual md4 200 Application Software 61 2 6 3 The SD Player The md4 200 is equipped with an on board flight recorder in form of a micro SD card which operates similar to the well known black box in an airliner and stores all relevant flight data including the commands received via the RC link The SD card is placed slightly hidden on the bottom side of the flight controller PCB see figure 6 for identification as indicated by the green arrows in figure
7. SOFTWARE These software packages are dedicated for our customers We will support the latest revisions at this place Most of the software will not work without the hardware of our drones specialized decoders or cables The topmost entry is always the latest release or update 09 05 2007 q Downlink Decoder r1 0 856 kb more information 11 12 2006 g MD Dialog r1 1 617 kb more information 11 06 2006 g s0 ee cv r1 0 9 721 mb more information 11 02 2006 q Fms _alphass5 5 920 mb more information 11 02 2008 q f FMs_md4 200 288 ko more information USB Driver 404 kb more information 11 02 2006 a 08 26 2008 q Downlink_Player zip rires kb more information copyright microdrones GmbH 2004 2007 68 System Overview Unpack the contained files into a directory and install the FMS Next copy the md4 200 model files into the directory named model below the installation directory of FMS Model O x Datei Bearbeiten Ansicht Favoriten Extras 2 Q Zw ck J 3 Suchen i Ordner E Adresse C Programme FMS Model E wechseln zu Ordner Ge ndert am Bild am md4 200 bmp Bitmap 14 10 2006 16 34 200 x 200 BD FMS md4 200 mgo 498KB MQO Datei 02 12 2006 15 05 Doc le md4 200 par 3KB PAR Datei 27 11 2006 18 34 Landscape amp md4 200 way 646KB VLC mediafile wav 15 10 2006 19 07 Language md4 200 x 458K
8. Don t forget to restore the identical physical USB connection each time you use this software and the frame grabber Failing to do so will cause Window to complain with a message box requesting a new installation and the application will not be able to operate user manual md4 200 System Software 73 2 7 System Software 2 7 1 The MD Dialog A direct wired link communication between the drone and your notebook is possible by use of the MD Dialog software Its use is in checking operational parameters of the vehicle and uploading of updates for the embedded controllers FC and NC The multifunctional cable which is used to connect the downlink decoder via USB in flight operation must be attached to the separate 5 2 gt 7 pin to 6 pin adaptor Similar to all other cases make sure the white markers on both parts are aligned on a common edge To the side of the GPS connector another 5 pin socket can be identified Its position is just in the middle between the FC and the NC Due to its symmetrical nature the 5 pin end of the adaptor cable can be inserted in two distinct orientations The white marking on the 5 pin side tells you which of the two controllers is addressed Pointing to the FC label on the PCB means communication with and programming of the flight controller FC The other figure 63 connections for software download orientation gets the white marker towards the navigation
9. Strong breeze Large branches in motion Large waves with user manual md4 200 6 A 3 Beaufort s Scale in Phenomenons Whistling heard in over head wires Umbrella use becomes difficult Whole trees in motion Very rough Te Near gale Effort needed to walk sea against the wind Twigs broken from trees Cars veer on road Gale Substantial effort needed to walk against the wind High sea Branches broken Light structure damage Roof ties and chimney covers Strong gale fall off garden furniture toppled Walking gets hard Trees uprooted 10 Storm Very high sea Considerable structural damage rare in the inland Very strong gales widespread structural damage heavy damage in the woods buildings Violent storm unroofed cars tossed from road Walking is Exceptionally impossible very rare in the high sea inland Considerable and widespread damage to Hurricane structures extremely rare in the inland 101 foam crests and some spray Sea heaps up and foam begins to streak Moderately high waves with breaking crests forming spin drift Streaks of foam High waves 2 75 m with dense foam Wave crests start to roll over Considerable Spray Very high waves The sea surface is white and there is considerable tumbling Visibility is reduced Roaring sea Exceptionally high waves spray blown off horizontally visibility very low Huge waves Ai
10. 005 01040 005 010 D 005 01040 005 01040 005 01080 005 010 D 005 01040 005 01040 006 010 0 006 01040 006 01040 006 01040 006 010 0 006 010 0 006 01040 006 01080 006 01040 006 010 0 006 01040 006 010 0 006 010 D 006 01040 006 010 0 006 01080 006 01080 006 010 0 006 010 0 006 01040 006 01080 006 010 0 006 010 0 006 01040 006 010 D 006 010 0 006 010 0 006 0100 006 01040 006 010 D 006 010 0 007 01040 007 010 acc calibration error 0 user manual md4 200 System Software 81 Once the output has stopped for some seconds press the Enter key again to set the navigation controller to the command mode It will wait now for further instructions Click to Verify firmware in the Update Navigation Controller group box You will be prompted to select the appropriate file ncf Select the file and click to the open button in the file open dialog box You should see the Verfiy ok message box close that one and find the button Update new firmware enabled now Clicking to the Update new firmware button will initiate the upload process This may take several minutes to complete AAA You must not interrupt this process in any case Do not perform any other operation on you PC meanwhile The program returns by printing an Update completed message to the screen Remove the battery pack from the md4 200 to finalize the procedure A Depending on the release further actions may be needed to i
11. 3 4 The Flight For your first attempts it is probably a good idea to find an open meadow It should be a quite place too in order not to get disturbed Spectators are rather a risk than a help at the first steps especially when they walk the meadow on more than 2 feet Do not fly further away than 30 40 meters at most and keep low altitudes so that you can see the drone and its orientation easy and clear For a newbie it is a hard task which requires routine and experience to judge the orientation and flight situation of the md4 200 in 100 meters distance at 120 meters altitude Don t let yourself get under compulsion to act too fast Turning the heading of the drone by more than 90 degrees with respect to the pilot s heading implies an unnecessary and highly increased risk for an inexperienced pilot It is strongly recommended to train the inverted flight situation with the FMS before trying it first in flight experiments A Never ignore the voltage level display on the downlink decoder The battery low message is an imperative request to prepare for landing A The battery alarm level in the downlink decoder must not be set below 14 Volts by the setup option Even if the battery low warning is followed by a battery ok message this means only a temporary improvement due to somewhat relaxed flight conditions Never reconsider your decision to land promptly after the first warning Keep the drone clear of trees buildin
12. 4 2 Still Photography Camera Pentax ccccccccseeeeeeeeeeeees 44 2 4 3 Video Camera Panasonic LUMIX ccccccceeeceeeeeeeeeeeeees 45 24 4 CCD Daylight Camera a une 46 24 5 DAWN Banane 47 25 GPS INCIUGING POSITION Hold sn enden 48 2 6 Application Software iicn ia 51 2 6 1 DOWNINK DECoger uk 51 2 6 1 1 Setup and First Steps uu22e0sounnnoeennnnnnnnnnn ern ann nenn 51 2 6 1 2 Operation of the Downlink Decoder 58 202 TNE DOWNlnK Player es 59 2 693 TINeESD Player ueeissieieienehiianeeneinneiinueu 61 2 6 4 FMS Flight Model Simulator 022002200220 2222 67 2 0 3 PVR Fraime Grae anna 70 2 1 OVS leM SOM WANG erregen Zee de te 73 2 7 1 INE amp MD Dagmar aaa ad 13 RUIN ice ce tcc cece s doetece deca seen secercorgecusicestancnseacnwsunudeannsecdeavecteweadst 83 3 1 Pre FilQnk Check Eistee ea une 83 3 2 Physical Effects during the Flight ec ceccseeeeeeseeeeeeees 83 3 21 TNeEDownwash ENEC area 83 3 2 2 The Ground Bounce Effect 2 0022022022002ne nennen 84 33 Tele Oele 85 32 MSPO ne tr ge nr one oe 87 321 EXCISE eranu Ea SE Ea 88 3 4 1 1 Rectangular Parcours ccccccceccecceeeceeeeeeaeeseeeeeeaeees 88 3 4 1 2 Rectangular Parcours and Height Variation 89 3 4 1 3 Changing the Heading ccccccccecseeceeeseeeeeeeeeeeaeees 90 3 4154 WMS MISE Elle aan 91 3 5 Landing the Md4 200
13. 41 components of mobile video reCEIVEL cceccece eee eeeeeeeeeeees 42 control elements of mobile video receiver cceceeeeeeeeees 42 Still photography camera 2 02202200240 200 nne nennen nenn eenenn 44 high quality video camera cccecceccsecceeeeeceeeseeceeeaeeeeeeeeeeeeees 45 daylight video camera 2022022402202en nen nnennnnenenne nen enennennn 46 high sensitivity dawn camera 02402200enennenennnennnenennen 47 intermediate storage for the dome cccceccseeeeeeceeeseeeees 48 sliders TOF MOr CONUO ee 49 telemetry hardware ccccc cece eecceeceeeeeeceeeeeseeeseeeeeeseeseeeseesaees 51 screenshot of microdrones download page 52 operational indication of the downlink decoder 57 GUI of the downlink GCECOCET ccccccecceeeeeeteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaees 58 location of the micro SD card ccccecceecseeeeeeeeeeeeaeeseeeeeenees 61 mounting location of micro SD seen from the edge 62 flight data sets se datei 64 input window for joystick Setup 2200200220nnnenneenenenenn 69 control applet for PVR ccccccsecceeeseeseeeeeeeeeteeeeeeeeesseeeeenaes 71 FECOrd CONIOl OF the PVR en e 72 connections for software download cccecceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 73 basics of the downwash effect ccccccceecseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 84 the ground bounce
14. 57 or figure 58 respectively figure 57 location of the micro SD card copyright microdrones GmbH 2004 2007 62 System Overview figure 58 mounting location of micro SD seen from the edge To detach the micro SD card press slightly against the outer edge of the card with the forefinger The card gives way and unlocks on being released It may be taken out a 15 welll mot Hate na the latest rebease or update mem ne fe el ae PER These adierari pack vane dedicated for oer customers software wt the hari yourt the latest rewisinns this place Mart af T vearo af DUF draans be a decoders or cables The topmost entry is always A et kb r IFrs_alnhass 15 920 mb more infoemation see Ee more information lianza E FM mds 200 0823 kb mars information 1uazioos a use Drvar aCe kh more intcemstion pa2ay2000 E Dowr nk Player zp r rL l tea hh more i he Feti SEE I inerea The supplementary micro SD adapter should enable the use in most notebooks To read and display the date the SD player software is needed user manual md4 200 Application Software 63 Having downloaded the software from the microdrones download page and having unzipped it just start the SD player without any further installation od player ov rii Contre panel i Seche econ Ima IMU di 1 ry Asie
15. OvervieW cccceccecsecceeceeceeceeceeceeceeeeeteeseeeeeseees 31 external connections on the base station 31 mounting the base station antenna 2 u220220220een een enn 32 connecting the antenna cable 2 u02202000220 nee ann anne 32 connection of the LIPO Charge c cccceccceeeeeeceeeeeeeeesaues 34 TG LIPO CHharger anne 34 HPO Dattery Back 35 components of the video visor ccceceeeceeeeeeceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaees 37 figure 38 figure 39 figure 40 figure 41 figure 42 figure 43 figure 44 figure 45 figure 46 figure 47 figure 48 figure 49 figure 50 figure 51 figure 52 figure 53 figure 54 figure 55 figure 56 figure 57 figure 58 figure 59 figure 60 figure 61 figure 62 figure 63 figure 64 figure 65 figure 65 figure 66 figure 67 figure 68 on off switch of video visor c cece ecceecceeceeeeeeteeeeeeseeeeeeaeeaeees 38 dioptrin adjustment of visor cccccceccceeeceeeaeeeeeeseeaeesaeeeaees 38 control device for the video VISOP ccccceeesseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaeeeees 39 the downlink decoder 0220220240240220 000 nnn nennen ne nnnnnnnnnen 39 downlink decoder mounted 2202202200200200en nennen nennen 40 USB connection of the downlink decoder 40 USB connection of the frame grabber 0 00
16. The charging device can be operated from a 12 Volts DC or a 230 Volts AC power source As The video visor should be switched off while not in use as the control device and the TFT illumination lead to a high operational current consumption and lead to a fast discharge of the cells The on off switch is located at the edge of the control device see figure 38 To adapt to the visus of your eyes the visor provides a white slider at the bottom on each side of the housing as shown in figure 39 figure 38 on off switch of video figure 39 dioptre adjustment of visor visor user manual md4 200 B1 0 Base Station 39 The visor device is operational if the green LED to the right is in on state as shown in figure 40 If another LED is illuminated press the broad key below the LED row until exactly the right green LED is on The video visor set also contains a cinch cable with female connectors This can be used in conjunction with a standard cinch extension to allow the pilot to move in a larger perimeter from the base Station In this case take care that the pilot can still VIDEO EYEWEAR h here the announcements from the base station figure 40 control device for the video visor 2 2 5 The Downlink Decoder The downlink decoder see figure 41 is a piece of hardware needed to support the functionality of the downlink recorder and the downlink player software In conjunction with these PC notebook based applic
17. a file the use f the frame grabber software is mandatory The mounting frame does not compensate roll of the drone figure 49 daylight video camera user manual md4 200 Cameras 47 2 4 5 Dawn Camera figure 50 high sensitivity dawn camera The twilight or dawn camera is a specialized video camera for use in a low luminosity environment even at night time This high sensitivity camera is operable at luminosities of 0 0003 Lux The camera is dedicated for live streaming No storage media or battery pack is included The video image is streamed live to the base station The focus of the camera is fixed The recording is done by the frame grabber application on the notebook copyright microdrones GmbH 2004 2007 48 System Overview 2 5 GPS including Position Hold The GPS position hold option employs the Global Positioning System GPS to stabilize the drone during the flight and to keep the absolute position close to a spot autonomously The pilot therefore is freed from the flight control for a while and may concentrate fully on the operation of the camera The GPS antenna is an integral part of the upper dome of the drone s body When detaching the dome take care not to disconnect or even tear off the GPS connection cable The dome has to be turned counter clockwise until the two orange arrows are aligned and can be taken off with care now It may be fixed by sliding it under the battery pack locking mechan
18. accucontrot A eo a WE J r e antenna video out occu LiPo 14 8V figure 46 control elements of mobile video receiver user manual md4 200 Cameras 43 2 4 Cameras 2 4 1 The Camera Suspension Each camera type which is offered by microdrones is accompanied with a specific mounting frame which makes the camera an integral part of the md4 200 All mounting frames are constructions from cfrp Each is hooked to a common support at the bottom of the drone To make the mounting process easy and in order to save weight any locking mechanism has been sacrificed The gravity of each camera is used to keep the construction tight in the hinges This works fine as the md4 200 is not capable to do a looping Do not turn the drone upside down once a camera is attached The camera might fall out and crash All mounting frames are equipped with a remotely controlled servo motor to tilt the optical axis of the camera lens from a horizontal position by 90 degrees to a straight vertical direction You must not try to change the tilt of the camera by hand The fragile gear box of the servo motor would inevitably get destroyed by such a handling To control the angle of tilt by the remote control press the push button H on the lower right edge of the hand held transmitter and use the left joystick The pitch function is no replaced by the camera tilting function while H is pressed Pulling bac
19. controller copyright microdrones GmbH 2004 2007 74 System Overview NC label see figure 63 upper FC and lower NC or details Connect the USB cable to the PC Download the MD_Dialog zip file from the microdrones web site unzip it to a folder and start the application MD_Dialog exe Select the appropriate COM port in the same way as you did it for the downlink decoder There is a combo box to the right of the ON switch in which the port can be selected Start the operation after having selected port by clicking on the switch Update Flight Controller FC pdate Navigation Controller N Communication 00000005 Der Vanity rey firmware Up Jale MEA ITAAS Undste nes MTRS Terminal clear with key lt HOME gt Update Navigation Controller NC ERROR Last used COM port mot found select COM port Insert a completely charged LiPo battery into the drone Initial data such as firmware revision total flight time etc will now be displayed user manual md4 200 System Software 75 Z md_dialog 1 1 BAX G u 5 er P s TP h ie i er bet u tare kage Communication Update Flight Controller FC Update Navigation Controller NC em Verity new firmware te ni Verify new firmware new Terminal clear with key lt HOME gt firmware version MD_FC_1 7 Build 061211 12000 60000 15000 8 000000 4 000000 150 000000 35 000000 150 000000 35 00000
20. coordinating the right joysticks nick control and the left joysticks yaw Basically a circle means to move forward steadily while the yaw is also constant Start in front of you either left or right Having succeeded in multiple turns of a constant diameter try to keep the diameter of the parcours o ne ote eenaa figure 71 at different sizes but constant for each turn Next try the other direction of rotation Further ideas for coordination training are try to guess which figure will be the result and bring the drone back to the starting position each time Keeping constant speed modify the yaw continuously low high low high in only one direction copyright microdrones GmbH 2004 2007 92 Handling Keeping constant speed modify the yaw from one direction to the other and back again Include the pitch control to modify the flying altitude continuously while keeping the same parcours over ground Did you complete all the training exercises in a quite pace without a crash Fine and congratulations you should now have developed the basic motorics and a reliable intuition for the operation range of your md4 200 Gaining more experience will let you be even more familiar with the flight control and the handling of your md4 200 However never forget that the md4 200 can t cheat physics Don t take unnecessary risks and do not push to the limits to keep the md4 200 and all spectato
21. countdown timer of the transmitter is preset to 14 minutes As soon as the motors are started by actuating switch F the countdown starts After the drone has been landed and the battery has been replaced the countdown user manual md4 200 Your md4 200 System The Components 19 2 1 1 6 Teacher Scholar Operation figure 16 the evo9 teacher scholar cable The Royal evo 9 offers the capability of a teacher scholar ope ration To enable this mode two trans mitter devices of the type evo 9 are operated in parallel while being connected through a special cable as being shown in figure 16 The switch O is now operational on the teacher transmitter to pass control to the scholar up or to the teacher any lower position AN Make sure not to confuse the teacher and scholar side of Ay the cable A Make sure the transmitters are programmed to the A respective modes Check the evo 9 operating manual for further details Microdrones GmbH offers specific software which facilitates the programming of the transmitters to the correct mode Using this option a scholar can be taught by an experienced pilot who can regain control instantaneously whenever this would be required 2 1 1 7 Charging the Accumulators Charging the batteries of the evo 9 is done by means of a separate battery Figure 17 compact loader for the evo9 charger As soon as the reported Voltage in the display has come down to a
22. distance has to be kept before the RC antenna is pulled out as the RC signal may confuse the GPS electronic Push the left joystick to the front neutral would just mean stay where you are The motors accelerate and the drone takes off 4 Take care not to be fooled by the ground bounce which of course is in effect just after take off It can tilt the drone easily The best way to avoid such a mischief is probably to take off fast and to be prepared counteracting any tilt with the right joystick The ground bounce will be insignificant above one meter altitude and the drone should be stable now Make sure not to fly over your own head Do not point towards the drone with the RC antenna to avoid temporal RC malfunctions as this geometric situation is the worst to happen to the radio link A continuous beep after insertion of the battery pack into the drone may also happen if the magnetometer reports malfunction This would cause the user manual md4 200 The Flight 87 drone to loose its bearing A reason for this most likely is an anomaly of the earth s magnetic field usually cause by electric power lines in the vicinity metallic surfaces of buildings etc In such a case change you location Even some meters may be enough GPS is vulnerable by shadowing due to buildings and wet trees after a rain fall in summer Change the starting position if GPS does not seem to work As a rule of thumb look for a good view of the sky
23. effect eee cceccc eee ceeeeeeeeeeseeeaeeseeeeeeees 85 top view of the imaginary rectangular parcoursS 88 exercise variation of altitude seen from the side 89 modified rectangular PArCOUIS cccccceceseeceeeseeeseeeeeeeeeeees 90 ChIGIS THOME ai 91 vi List of Tables table 1 table 2 table 3 table 4 md4 200 technical data c ccc cc ccceceeeeceseeeeseseeseseeeueeseneees 11 technical data of hand held transmitter 000 21 technical data of the video unit ou cece eee ee eee eeeeeeeeeaes 30 technical data of the downlink receiver cece cece eee ee eee eeee 33 vii Dual use declaration legal advice The md4 200 is a dual use item which is operated in both military and civil applications in Germany and the EU Therefore the regulations as in Council Regulation EC No 1334 2000 of June 2000 setting up a Community regime for the control of exports of dual use items and technology apply In particular this defines that an export authorization has to be acquired by the local authorities if the md4 200 or its components is to be shipped or exported to countries to which no general export authorization is listed in the annex of the Regulation At present July 2007 these countries are Australia Canada Japan New Zealand Norway Switzerland and the United States of America Further information is a
24. integral part of the base station and accessible through an USB cable which protrudes through the right side of the backward compartments wall It must be put through the opening of the cover flap and be connected to a free USB port A detailed description of the needed software installation is given in section 2 6 5 of this manual The USB port which has been used or the initial setup must be reused each time the system is put to operation If another USB port is chosen Windows may fail to identify the frame grabber hardware correctly and therefore lead to malfunctions in the application copyright microdrones GmbH 2004 2007 42 System Overview 2 3 Mobile Video Receiver The mobile video receiver enables the decoding and live watching of the drone s video signal independent from the base station As this equipment lacks all off the safety features which are enabled by the base station and the downlink decoder the mobile video receiver is no cheap replacement for the base station Its function is rather a supple ment to allow the pilot to move freely and concentrate on the flight and the picture taking while a partner controls the base station figure 45 components of mobile video recover telemetry The mobile video receiver includes an identical copy of the video visor contained in the base station The mobile video receiver is powered by the same LiPo battery packs which are used fort the drone and the base station
25. protrude through a rectangular hole in the sponge rubber a 1 Pu figure 26 cable attachment for the servo connections All plugs must be inserted with the orange cable heading towards the orange front arm of the drone Connector 1 serves to control the tilt of the camera while connector 2 is used to activate infrared link of the remote shutter release Make sure that each servo connector is right in place not being shifted to one side or the other before you insert a battery pack into the drone Never attach or detach the servos while power is on figure 27 connecting the servos for the camera user manual md4 200 Your md4 200 System The Components 29 2 1 2 4 The Video Transmitter and its Connection Fach camera has been equipped with a female connector to provide a live video signal If the option video transmitter is mounted within the drone a mating plug and an antenna cable can be accessed at the bottom of the drone Figure 28 depicts the video antenna fort he live figure 28 video antenna and camera signal and on the right side the plug connection and socket for the video data link in order to identify them in your system The video transmitter itself is visible at the bottom side of the drone The two small PCBs shown in figure 29 incorporate the genuine sender delivering 10 mW 10dBm and a matching booster to power up the RF signal to a level o 200 mW 23dBm 1
26. short circuit situations In the worst case a short circuit may cause inflammation of the battery pack Temperature of more than 2000 C may occur The potential damage IS enormous AAA In case of fire you must not try to extinguish the fire with water This would lead to an explosion If you feel the battery pack hearten up leave it on a solid surface and stand clear You may cover it with sand if available All manual operations on the drone e g opening the dome or swapping batteries should be carried out by the pilot while standing behind the vehicle The front orange arm points away from the pilot One hand grabs the aft arm the other hand performs the operation ining Battery 09 a Se a While inserting mieredinonem Gm m the battery pack the correct locking o guides and fins has to be checked figure 23 inserting the battery pack copyright microdrones GmbH 2004 2007 26 figure 24 unlocking the battery pack System Overview When removing the battery pack the locking latch on the back side can be pressed down with the thumb as shown in figure 24 The other hand gently pushes the battery pack backwards user manual md4 200 Your md4 200 System The Components 27 2 1 2 2 Assembling the Rotors The md4 200 operates four rotors two of which turn clockwise and the other two counter clockwise Each rotor has two knobs on its bottom of the centre bar which are matched by two
27. time fort he downlink decoder ij Found New Hardware USB Serial Pork COM4 i Found New Hardware Your new hardware is installed and ready to use NO PNG Paint FTDI Driver In Windows detects the new hardware automatically and reports the progress of detection and registration via legend entries at the tray You may either remember the COM port index which is shown during auto detection of check in the system manager which new COM port has been activated Move your mouse to the my computer symbol on the desktop or in the start section A right click on the symbol opens a drop down menu from which you select properties copyright microdrones GmbH 2004 2007 54 Folders E Desktop Ce biy Documents El v iy Computers Se 5 0 XP i A Secure D O usb Tj ea Sa K Fi Sw Extrass galedm_setup ex Collapse Explore Open Search Manage Scan with Ava Free Se Data 1 O DYD RW i Ge Control E Shared D microdro E u Pty Network F Recycle Bin CO Blackboxs E Photos E E E Map Network Drive Disconnect Network Drive Delete Rename Properties System Overview System Properties Rerrrte Advencad Susten Resor Ah Air pales General Computer Hane Hardware Device Manager 3 The Device Manager lists al che herdware device relalled ayua cumple Use Fe Derice dariayer
28. value of 7 2 to 7 3 Volts recharging is highly recommended copyright microdrones GmbH 2004 2007 20 System Overview A display containing the charging status can be selected by pressing the key 0 repeatedly Charging overnight is sufficient to recharge the NiMh battery completely Use the round DIN connector to plug the battery charger into the socket in the bottom of the transmitter case Make sure that you align the notch on the plug to the corresponding dip in the socket Do not use excessive force to press the plug in The other cable in red and blue on the battery charger is not in use in the setting of the md4 200 system 2 1 1 8 Audible Alarm Signals As soon as the transmitter has started the count down as a consequence of starting the motors an audible alarm is issued after each completed minute of activation This signal shall remind the pilot of the time passing by and allows for a precise timing of the flight schedule As soon as the 14 minute interval has expired a permanent alarm sound is generated It is highly recommended to land the drone immediately to avoid risks of power failures on the flying drone or excessive discharge of the LiPo batteries The latter must be changes immediately after the drone has touched down 2 1 1 9 The Antenna Make sure the antenna of the transmitter is extruded completely during the flight Do not let the antenna point towards the drone as this setting minimizes the effec
29. 0 pid gps position 0 122000 0 017500 0 000000 pid gps velocity 0 130000 0 000000 0 000000 00071 13 21 50 00158 error init ok re entering main loop waiting for valid rc signals 0 figure 64 textual output of the flight controller while starting up 2 2 Software updates for the system components AAA Read this section entirely and carefully before you do any action A While updating the embedded system software of the md4 200 each handling error may lead to a destruction of the software image on the embedded controllers Again this would leave the md4 200 system unusable Read this section carefully and follow all instructions precisely after that A Before proceeding in each step check all the connections and settings carefully If you have been notified of a system update fort he embedded controllers check its content thoroughly If there are two files namely fcf and ncf the follow all steps in the order described in the following A complete system update always starts by upgrading the flight controller FC Therefore it is mandatory to start the programming procedure with the copyright microdrones GmbH 2004 2007 76 System Overview white marker on the upload cable pointing to the flight controller FC see figure 63 to identify the orientation Once you have seen all the outputs depicted in Figure 66 press the Enter key on your keyboard The drone switches to t
30. 000 010 0 000 0100 001 01040 001 01040 001 01030 001 01040 001 010 0 001 010 0 001 010380 001 01040 001 010 0 001 01080 001 010 0 001 010 0 001 010 0 001 01040 001 01080 001 010 0 001 010 0 001 01040 001 010 0 001 010 0 001 010 0 001 010 0 001 01040 001 010 0 001 01040 001 01080 001 01040 001 010 0 001 010 0 001 01040 001 010380 002 61080 002 01040 002 010 0 002 010 0 002 01040 002 01040 002 010 0 002 010 0 002 010 0 002 01040 002 010380 002 01040 002 01040 002 0100 002 010 0 002 01030 002 01030 002 010 0 002 01040 002 01040 002 010 0 002 010 0 002 010 0 002 01080 002 010 0 002 010 0 002 01040 002 01080 002 010 0 002 010 0 002 010 0 003 01040 003 010 0 003 010 0 003 01040 003 01040 003 010 0 003 01040 003 01040 003 01080 003 010 D 003 01040 003 01040 003 010 0 003 01040 003 01040 003 010 0 003 01040 003 010 0 003 01040 003 01040 003 01030 003 010 0 003 010 0 003 010 0 003 OlO D 003 01040 003 010 0 003 01040 003 01040 003 01040 004 0l0 D 004 010 0 004 01080 004 01040 004 01040 004 01040 004 010 0 004 01l0 D 004 010 0 004 01040 004 01080 004 010 0 004 010 0 004 010 D 004 01040 004 010 D 004 010 0 004 010 D 004 010380 004 010 D 004 01040 004 010 0 004 010 0 004 01030 004 01040 004 010 0 004 010 0 004 01030 004 01040 004 01040 004 01040 005 01040 005 01040 005 010 0 005 01040 005 01030 005 01040 005 01040 005 0100 005 010 0 005 010 0 005 010 0 005 01080 005 010 0 005 010 0 005 01040 005 0100 005 010 0 005 0100 005 01080 005 0100 005 0Ol0O 3D 005 0100 005 01080
31. 04 2007 72 System Overview filled with the live picture from the camera second a dialog appears which provides further control and the capability to write the stream to disk BEE Clicking the red record button in the PVR GUI a will start the storage of the video stream into a file 0 00 00 ST PIED 5 Ele l figure 62 record control of the PVR amp Aufnahme Ci Video Andere Yideoaufnahmegerat USB 2820 Video r Videoeingabetornat YoY Aufnahmeformat Frofil DWD PAL Sufnahmegro e r 20x576 Bitrate Kbps 3350 rm Aufnahmegualitat Am schnellster Framerate Aufnahme Verzeichnis CAD okumente und Einstellungen T harsten E ig H Sufnahmedateibezeich Werwendes Datum Uhrzett als Dateiname yypyrnnnide o Benutzerdetiniert capture OOOO Zeitlimin erm glichen all w Sekunde Audoaufnahre Option Keine Audioaufnahrme Audeaufmahnmegeralt Realtek HD Audio Input at PA IA 1 lle ee ee et AUGIOQUENE Stereo Audio Format FCM 44100 Hertz 16 Bits 2 Channels Sufnahmelevel rr Tp Hilfe w OK x Abbreche Clicking the tool button in the GUI will open up a dialog to control the record settings fort he PVR The most conve nient choice probably is the native DVD PAL format Deactivate the audio capturing and select a directory to which the final stream file shall be written
32. 2 3 The battery packs The use of Lithium Polymer rechargeable batteries is mandatory due to the weight restrictions of the drone Because of deviations in the manufacturing process the impedance of the battery cells varies as well as the capacity between individual exemplars To ensure a constant high quality of the battery packs microdrones selects each cell and matches the set for each battery pack Do never ignore the low battery warning reported by the base station even if the flight is still shorter than 20 min in some cases Temperature and wind conditions may have used more than average energy from the cells Figure 36 shows a LiPo bat md4 200 rechargeable battery pack It is assembled from 4 individual cells of 14 8 Volts and offers a capacity of 2300 mAh This battery pack is used in the md4 200 system to power the drone itself as well as to operate the base station figure 36 LiPo battery pack The recharging can be done in the base station see 2 2 2 or by a special charging device offered by microdrones All battery packs are operational at room temperature only If a battery pack has low temperature e g after a night in the booth of a car they have to be warmed up slowly to 20 40 C at least 3 hours before use A simple way to achieve this is to carry them in the inner pocket of your jacket close to the body copyright microdrones GmbH 2004 2007 36 System Overview 444 You must avoid a short circui
33. 6 different chann els may be selected Drones are delivered with settings of either channel 4 8 or 12 figure 29 video transmitter and booster in the drone copyright microdrones GmbH 2004 2007 30 System Overview es EEE 1Vss 0 1Vss 750hm mass increases the transmit power to 200mW table 3 technical data of the video unit user manual md4 200 B1 0 Base Station 2 2 B1 0 Base Station 2 2 1 Functions and Setup figure 31 external connections on the base station 31 The base station depicted in figure 30 att combines multiple functions Most important it is a receiver i se station for the video and A telemetry data sent out by the anne drone The received signals K w are decoded and prepared for use in a standard notebook as _ working platform In addition the base station serves as a charger unit for the LiPo rechargeable batteries Include in the base station is a 3 way video splitter which sends one output to the frame grabber device see 2 2 6 which enables post processing and live images on a PC This connection is set up by an USB cable which you find below the large flap on the left of the base station The other outputs are available on the switchboard at two independent Cinch sockets The supplied video visor will pick it up here Alternatively a beamer or a camcorder may be attached to display and or capture the video live stream The video signal is PAL complia
34. 7 78 System Overview md dialog V1 0 5 x Communication Update Flight Co ler FC date Navigation Controller HC Yr Verity new Firm Update new firmware Fernfe new firmware Update new nima Terminal clear with key HOME gt firmware version MP FC 1 6 Build 061110 system clocks 1z000 60000 15000 modinvy height amp 000000 4 000000 modinvy roll pitch 150 000000 35 000000 mwodinw ywanw 150 000000 35 000000 pid gps position O 120000 0 000000 0 000000 pid gps welocity 0 120000 0 000000 0 000000 serial nmumber 00053 Flignt time 2 U6 dd 5S take off counter z init file system oak init Lo controller ok init motors ok ne nay reset ne reached flight mode rejentering main loop waiting for valid re signals 0 Click on the button ied md_dialog_r1 1 Terminal clear with key lt HOME ee firmware version MD _FC 1 6 Build 061110 Starting update File open read ok Setting controller to bootstrap mode ok Connecting to controller oE Synchronizing controller oE Writing program to flash memory this takes some minutes The update start and data is being uploaded into the drone This operation may take several minutes to complete AAA You must not interrupt this process in any case Do not perform any other operation on you PC meanwhile use
35. A If you desire to extract the flight data to a separate file for documentation press Write in stead of OK You will be prompted for a sector from which to start Input start sector ie Drive select JO x 11 00004801 00777111 00784051 12 00004301 00784052 00791975 13 00005001 00791976 00797570 Mii 14 00005101 00797571 00802025 File celect 15 00005201 008020265 00821449 16 00005301 00821450 00842520 01 00003301 00747942 00748790 02 00002901 010748791 00749487 start sector Abbrechen The start sector is marked in red in 03 00004001 00749483 00753269 l 04 00004101 00753270 00753752 figure 59 Omit the leading zeros Press 05 00004201 00753753 00756780 06 00004301 00756781 00763758 OK now OF 00004401 00763759 00767706 08 00004501 00767707 00772253 You will be prompted for the 09 00004601 007 72254 007 72523 10 00004701 00772324 00777110 terminal sector now marked green in Dirett sector read figure 59 Input end sector end sector figure 59 flight data sets 342520 Abbrechen Pressing OK again will lead you on to the well known save dialog of Windows user manual md4 200 Application Software 65 Stich aii Spechemin i Sotware Ed Weg te ne t _6 061103 I Flugdaten G LPCA000 Flach SP Lip v2 23 he red dialag OMD Didog 12 New 06 iy Honga J ne_1_6_067103_ Jii detay St ed player demo flight ack
36. B X Datei 02 12 2006 15 05 ET Model md4 200_prv ipg BKB JPEG Bild 14 10 2006 17 02 200 x 200 O ParEditor Connect the FMS cable between the Royal evo 9 and your PC The FMS cable set has a USB connector on the one side and a phone jack on the other To this phone jack a DIN to phone adapter is fitted which plugs into the evo 9 s bottom side socket First connect the DIN plug to the evo 9 remote control Take care of the notch and press only gently Now connect the USB part to your PC on a free slot Finally start FMS and move to the menu Steuerung gt Analoge Steuerung N Flug Modell Simulator md4 200 Datei Flugmodell Landschaft Ansicht Simulation Sound Aufl sung Grafik Steuerung Sprache Hilfe eq Tastatur Select the item Joystick Interface in the next list box and click on Belegung Kalibration input assignment calibration user manual md4 200 Application Software 69 Steuerung Interac Kein Interface Btovshck tibet y Oaa Paralleles Senelles RO Intertace s Bit YvD Paralleles Senelles RQ Interface 16 Bit DLL Senelles FIC Interface Ok Abbrechen The window shown in figure 60 appears Please copy the settings shown in that figure to your screen The upper four entries are irrelevant for the md4 200 model as they are applicable for fixed wing lying models only Kanalbelegung Kalibration kanale 1 o a e oe is o OS Seitenruder Hohen
37. Keep the left joystick pulled back to the limit to avoid and accidental take off GWU aenas E figure 52 sliders for motor control If the system works all right the drone utters a melody of acknowledge beep and the rotors start turning Now it is time to pull out the antenna completely You should tilt up the fully extended antenna by gently pulling at its base to unlock the mechanical lock and then swing it upwards If there is any problem i e the drone may have lost the sufficient satellite signal before the motors are started the rotors stand still The drone reports a fast series of beep as an error indication In this case slide back F and wait again or a while You can not take off just now copyright microdrones GmbH 2004 2007 50 System Overview In case this problem persists two options are available 1 Open the dome disconnect the battery first and the GPS sensor afterwards Now re insert the battery The GPS position hold option is deactivated after the power up and you may start at any time 2 An override of the take off blocking safety routine is possible To do so push slider E to the front and pull it back about 2 seconds later This will switch off the safety check The engines are unblock a may be powered on by the above procedure The drone will try to derive its position during flight time A The second option should be used only as a rare exception If the drone regains suff
38. USB driver installed correctly 98 The still photo camera does not release the shutter The notebook displays no picture from the frame grabber user manual md4 200 Troubleshooting Is the camera switched on is the lens extended Is the infrared shutter release electronic completely connected at the I O board with all three pins Is the orange cable directed to the front Has the camera been switched to infrared connection Is the SD memory card inserted Has the SD memory card been write protected Is enough memory available on the SD memory card Is the I O board enabled Did you push the switch l to the front at the remote control Has the USB cable been connected correctly Is the camera drone operational Is the PVR frame grabber application installed correctly Some notebooks switch off the USB port while restoring from standby mode You may try a specific service pack or restart Windows and disable the standby mode 99 Annex A Wind and its Scale A 1 A short History of Scales The scale was created in 1805 by Irishman Sir Francis Beaufort a British admiral and hydrograph At that time naval officers made regular weather observations but there was no scale and so they could be very subjective one man s stiff breeze might be another s calm conditions The initial scale from zero to 12 did not reference wind speed numbers but related qualitative wind conditions to effects on the
39. USER MANUAL md4 200 Version 2 2 microdrones GmbH Siegener Strasse 227 D 57223 Kreuztal Germany Phone 49 0 2732 762 115 Fax 49 0 2732 762 150 E mail info microdrones com Table of Contents Table ORC OM 1 5 PAPFERRFERERPNEERFRENEERNEEENEEREFFREKERSFERFEREEEERFEEEFFEEREENFEEEFTERFEEBEERES LIST OF FIQUTES za 00022000 anna nn nenn naar nn an ae Een HEUTE na aapi V LIST OL TaDIES anne eee eee eee ere vii Dual use declaration legal advice uu 200220022000 n000an0nanunnnnnn ann 1 T1 IHITOGUCUON ee een nee 3 1 1 amp Please Pay Attention amp uaeenennennnenenennenennnenn 3 1 2 A1S10R 0 YT OL een 4 1 3 Technical Details see een 4 1 4 Operational Concept of the md4 200 sneanonnenonnenonnennnnnnnns 7 1 4 1 Propulsion Motor and Motor Controller 9 1 4 2 Key Components of the In Flight Electronic 10 1 4 3 md4 200 Technical Data c ccc cccccecceeeseeceeeeeeseeeeeenees 11 1 4 4 md4 200 Block Schematic 2 2022402200200 Ran ernennen 12 2 System OVETVIEW einigen 13 2 1 Your md4 200 System The Componenis 13 2 1 1 The Remote Control 02220022022n0nenennnennnnnnennn nenn 14 2 1 1 1 Switches sliders and their Functions 16 2 1 1 2 Assignment of the JoystickS 2002s0sssesenesenenenenn 17 2 1 1 3 Selecting an RC C
40. action of the maximum engine power which just is drawn from that specific motor The maximum value of 255 means full power user manual md4 200 Application Software 67 2 6 4 FMS Flight Model Simulator The flight model simulator FMS is a piece of freeware to which a model of our md4 200 has been added This software is considered as a means for microdrones customers to acquire some of the needed motorical capabilities to control the md4 200 in flight by using the hand held transmitter as a computer input The properties of the md4 200 simulation model in the FMS are not fully equivalent to the real vehicle In FMS the model requests continuous control Signals may topple over and is incapable of autonomous flight level control It is rather comparable to a conventional model helicopter For this reason don t get irritated by unsuccessful trials but concentrate on the basic impacts of using the joysticks For installation Download the files FMS_ alpha85 and FMS_md4 200 from the microdrones web page E microdrones GmbH __ your epe in the sky Microsoft Internet Explorer Datei Bearbeiten Ansicht Favoriten Extras 7 Zw ck r gt E x Bw a a Suchen Sy Favoriten 7 Adresse bg E Hitter ze microdrones corms wel lem Cr O Mi geht Bee o 77 Lesezeichen PageRank y ksi 68 blockiert 7 Rechtschreibpr fung ep Senden anw info microdrones com HOME COMPANY PRODUCTS I
41. around the longitudinal axis and respective acceleration Holl Shift the speed level and thus the thrust between rotors B and D Turing around the vertical axis Yaw gt Shift the speed level and therefore the thrust pair wise between A C and B D Climbing or Dropping Pitch Adjust the speed level and thrust of all rotors simultaneously By merging these basis control instructions all positions and movements can be implemented The desired flight level is kept automatically by the vehicle This feature is implemented by a temperature compensated barometric control This quadrotor concept using pair wise counter directional rotors relies on the true compensation of the torque at identical speed levels of the rotors A tail rotor compensating the drift and consuming extra power while not providing extra lift in a conventional helicopter is superficial here This results in increased energy efficiency Besides the distribution of the propulsion energy to four rotors reduces the exposure significantly serious injuries caused by the md4 200 are therefore quite unlikely due to the low weight and the low speed levels The drone and its motors as depicted in figure 5 are operated copyright microdrones GmbH 2004 2007 8 Introduction maintenance free The only wear parts in the system are the accumulators The front and aft rotors A C figure 3 are turning counter clockwise the side rotors B D in figure 3 ope
42. ations the telemetry data conveyed in the audio channel of the video downlink are being made visible in real time on the Windows desktop and storable on the hard disk drive This way the pilot has continuous information on the current state of the drone during flight The downlink decoder needs to be plugged into the cinch connector in the figure 41 the downlink decoder backward compartment of the base station where the antenna is stored when not in operation The 6 pin connector on the other side will be connected to the multifunctional cable The 5 pin socket on the top side enables future software updates and is unused currently copyright microdrones GmbH 2004 2007 40 System Overview figure 42 downlink decoder mounted Check that the white markers on the decoder and the plug are aligned They must point to the same side The USB cable must be arranged to leave the lower compartment in the base station via the breakout in the covering flap ig SE oll fe har i a r ad r eo oe figure 43 USB connection of the downlink decoder A detailed software installation description is found in section 2 6 1 of this manual user manual md4 200 B1 0 Base Station 41 2 2 6 The Frame Grabber figure 44 USB connection of the frame grabber The frame grabber enables the display and the storage of the video signal from the flying drone by use of a notebook PC The hardware is mounted as an
43. ccidental confusion Most crashes and harsh landings are caused by taking off with a partially discharged battery pack New battery packs do not offer the full capacity at once but they learn their capacity during the first 10 recharge cycles Thus flight times with new battery packs should never be extended beyond 10 min Do not forget to start the recharge only after the battery pack has cooled down completely after flight user manual md4 200 B1 0 Base Station 37 Battery packs which are not subject to complete discharging will provide substantially more charging cycles in their lifetime Take care to recharge the battery packs regularly to avoid such a deep discharge situation This is a further reason to recommend flight times well below the 20 min limit The 14 min duration as being programmed in the hand held transmitter has proven to be a reliable value to initiate the landing procedure 2 2 4 The Video visor figure 37 components of the video visor The video signal is input into the visor by the yellow plug which has to be inserted into one of the video outputs of the switchboard The other two plugs audio input remain unused copyright microdrones GmbH 2004 2007 38 System Overview Operational power is supplied by two AA type rechargeable batteries inserted from the back of the control device The cells can be recharged using the battery charger included in the visor set
44. ect the correct number of the COM port for communication in the radio button group Make sure that the battery warning level is set to 14 0000 Volts o Dropping to or below this limit during operation will cause the report of the Battery low warning Press OK to finish the setup procedure and start the operation by clicking the switch to the COM ON position The indicator field Decoder should present a green colour now while all the other indicators remain olive and tell inactive by that This status is depicted in figure 55 user manual md4 200 Application Software 57 downlink_decoder_r1 0 Decoder no file _ Status Decoder Data Machine Battery figure 55 operational indication of the downlink decoder As soon as the battery pack has been inserted into the drone the RC control is switched on and the GPS receiver has found space vehicles to read from all status indicators switch to light green The indicator or machine is unused and therefore idle still downlink decoder 11 I Decoder no file ru Status 1 In this case the LED on the downlink decoder hardware will be on continuously It takes a while for the drone to find at least 4 satellites and to derive the current location at a reasonable precision This is a prerequisite to achieve the ready for take off status in GPS Position Hold mode The base stat
45. ection of rotation for each of them has been appropriately selected Complicated swash plates as in a standard helicopter or other additional actuators are eliminated consequently Furthermore in comparison to the aft rotor concept no drift effect takes place and asymmetric artefacts due to gyroscopic effects of the main rotor are eliminated completely It does not matter if the thrust is controlled by variation of the revolutions per minute or by pitch i e the variation of the blade angle of the propellers A sufficient prerequisite for correct operation is a high change rate in the thrust user manual md4 200 Technical Details 5 which has to be fast enough When controlling the roms continuous rate gear boxes or electric motors offer this capability In the early days of helicopters a multitude of rotors found their applications as the engineers could not imagine practical implementation such as the swash plate for control purposes The French aviation pioneer Etienne Oehmichen had been experimenting with rotating wings since 1920 when on November 11 1922 his Oehmichen No 2 see figure 2 took off into the air for the first time This specimen of an early Quadrocopter used four elastic rotors which were controllable in their blade angle by abridging via Bowden cables figure 2 Etienne Oehmichen No 2 Besides these basic lifter rotors further eight horizontal propellers were employed to ensure stability and provide latera
46. eof As an example the following restrictions apply or Germany A casual insurance for the operation of the vehicle has to be contracted amp The video transmitter has to be licensed at the Federal Network Agency You will find the contact information in the Internet 4 Introduction 1 2 History o VTOL VTOL denotes an acronym for the term vertical take off and landing It denotes the capability of a flight vehicle to take off and land again in vertical direction without the need of a specific runway By default helicopters are classi fied as VTOL vehicles A so called Quadrocopter derived from Latin quadrum quadrangle figure 1 Flying Jeep Curtis Wright VZ 7AP means to be a flight vehicle which employs four rotors or propellers each on vertical shafts and mounted in one level on the bodywork These rotors may then elevate or tilt the bodywork as well as propel it into any direction with reference to the pilot s heading by just controlling their individual thrust A Quadrocopter is a special type of helicopter and therefore shares their capability of VTOL Other common terms for this type of flight vehicle are Quadrotor or hovering platform A flying specimen is shown in figure 1 1 3 Technical Details The advantage of this concept is to control the rotation of the bodywork in each of the three directions by a simple variation of the thrust and therefore the torque of each of the four propellers if the dir
47. flight electronic key components Above in figure 6 the connector PCB of the Lithium Polymer rechargeable battery LiPo bat is displayed The IMU module Navigation Controller NC including heading retrieval accelerometer and baroaltimeter for heading and altitude control is shown to the left The component on the lower right side resembles the Flight Controller FC for interpretation of the RC commands including a mixer several safety facilities motor management and many other functions user manual md4 200 Operational Concept of the md4 200 1 4 3 md4 200 Technical Data number of CfK rotors diameter of each CfK Rotor full height of vehicle lateral dimensions incl rotors rotor rom while hovering propulsion motors outer diameter motor number of poles motor control embedded controller stabilization receiver take off mass incl CCD camera payload power consumption while hovering Power supply flight time incl camera Max flight time without payload 1 lt sensors in detail 11 4 approx 360 mm approx 198 5 mm 912 5x912 5 mm approx 1 800 U min Brushless external rotors gearless drive 48 mm 24 fully synchronized commutation with 3 Hall sensors each 2x 32bit bearing and altitude static and dynamic acceleration PPM 12 channels incl plausibility check approx 680 g 200 grams max 25 Watts LiPo 4s1p 2 300 mAh gt 20 minutes approx 30 minutes accele
48. flight of the drone we have selected the Royal evo 9 manufactured by Multiplex Its form factor and the control switchboard are shown in figure 9 This transmitter is equipped with a so called synthesizer RF module which enables the selection of any channel in the 35 MHz band without changing a crystal user manual md4 200 Your md4 200 System The Components 15 The display of the Royal evo 9 can be tilted to adjust it for best readability for the pilot see figure 10 The antenna must be fully unfolded during operation Take care to start flying only figure 10 tilt of display with a fully recharged battery The trim of both joysticks i e the preset value which is transmitted in the neutral position must be set to ZERO or neutral The scroll bars in the display of the Royal evo 9 depict the respective values The four pushbuttons in cross configuration below the joysticks see figure 9 and figure 11 control these settings The neutral position is clearly indicated in the display and also triggers a special sound when reached while doing the adjustment figure 11 association of the trim push buttons AAA WARNING AAA AAA Make sure to take off only while the trim is neutral AAA AAA if you fail to comply with this rule the on board AAA electronic will receive a permanent non zero control vector and assume the pilots intervention This leads to a deactivation of the GPS position hold func
49. grabber device is included as an integral component of the base station which can be accessed via the USB cable protruding into the backward cabinet under the flap Guide this cable trough the opening at the rear of the flap before closing it Connecting this cable to the notebook PC enables the live display of the downlink video signal in a desktop window and the storage of the stream on disk The corresponding application is the PVR frame grabber which will be installed as follows Insert the CD labelled DVD Maker user manual md4 200 Application Software 71 Usually the installer should start up automatically If this does not happen double click on the file Autorun exe in the CD root folder TYPHOON DVD Maker Make movies and burn OVD or CO 4 Driver PVR Plus application o DircetX o Manual o Browse Exit Click to DirectX and follow the instructions Next click to Driver and install the frame grabber driver Install PVR Plus application as a last step by clicking on the item and following the instructions Reboot your PC now and start up the application PVR plus after Windows is up again Click to the monitor symbol which is emphasized in the applications main window in figure 61 figure 61 control applet for Two further windows open up PVR First there is the video display frame which is copyright microdrones GmbH 20
50. gs or other possible obstacles to collide with during flight Never get close enough as to let the rotors collide with any obstacle copyright microdrones GmbH 2004 2007 88 3 4 1 Exercises 3 4 1 1 Rectangular Parcours Handling This exercise is designed to enable you to fly the drone to an arbitrary point while keeping the flight altitude constant by the automatic level control figure 68 top view of the imaginary rectangular parcours To gain a first impression of the in flight handling and the reaction of the md4 200 to control commands the md4 200 should be directed to follow the edges of an imaginary square To do so the drone is supposed to take off at one corner of the square and stabilized in an altitude of 2 5 meters It is advisable to take off in tea cher scholar configuration in the beginning letting the teacher manage the take off procedure Now let go the left joystick to avoid pitch and yaw Using only the right joystick steer the drone forward to one side back again and return to the starting position At each corner point let the drone hover for some seconds and concentrate again before moving to the next vertex In case of wind take care that the GPS position hold is disabled while moving between the vertices The control levels therefore might be different on the way forward and backward and still the speed of the drone over ground might be the same Fly slowly user
51. hannel ccccccccceccseeceeeseeeseeees 18 2 1 1 4 Toggle between Display SettingS cccceeceeee sees 18 2 1 1 5 Resetting the Countdown Timer to 14 min 18 2 1 1 6 Teacher Scholar Operation 202200220240220 en 19 2 1 1 7 Charging the Accumulators 022002200220nenenenenenenn 19 2 1 1 8 Audible Alarm Signals c cccccccseccseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeseeees 20 2 1 13 TEANO o E 20 2 1 2 PEMO 0 ee ee E 22 2 1 2 1 Insert the Accumulator cccccecceeeceeeeeeseeseeseeeeeees 24 2 1 2 2 Assembling the Rotors ccccccceccseeseeeeeeeeeseeeeeeaeees 2 2 1 2 3 Connecting external Servos cccccccccseeceeeeeeeeeeeaeees 28 2 1 2 4 The Video Transmitter and its Connection 29 22 BI BASE AON erens een es ee 31 2 2 1 FUNCTIONS and Setup u2s0sssesnesnnennnnennnsnnennnnnnennennn 31 2 22 Ve CNIG ee ee ae a ee ee rede 34 2 2 3 The battery Dacke essen ea 35 2 2A TNO VIJO VISO ccc cscscnccssesesetovecctanrtansindniterseeraiavaraneaaranarananete 3 2 2 0 The Downlink Decoder cccccccecceeeceeceeeaeeceeeeeeseeeeeeaees 39 226 The Frame Grabber aetercdsetincbsantinediantiuciucce lt divcoshesivcetatae 41 2 3 Mobile Video Receiver 0nnanannnnnnannnnannnnnonnnnnrnnnnrnrnnnernenrnns 42 24 Gamelas oeer EE E 43 2 4 1 The Camera Suspension cccceecceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeneees 43 2
52. he so called Command Mode and awaits further instructions Click to the Verify new firmware button for the flight controller FE dialog 11 _ E Flight Controlle ida lig i Verity new firmware Update Navigation Controller NC Yen new firmware alt rev Ninian Update Hen Himna Terminal clear with key lt HOME gt firmware version MD_FC_ system clocks 12000 6000077 modinv height gt 8 000000 4 000000 modiny roll pitch 150 000000 35 000000 modinvy waw 150 000000 35 000000 pid gps position 0 120000 0 000000 0 000000 pid gps velocity 0 130000 0 000000 0 000000 serial mumber 00053 flight Ttime 0E Zd 63 take off counter DOO0OZZ init file system oak init io controller ok init MOTGES ok ne nay reset me reached flight mode rejentering main loop A file selection dialog box appears which prompts you to select the file for upload The file must be named with an extension fcf flight controller file user manual md4 200 System Software 77 ied md dialog_11 1 5 rae a Gmb ek gt u Y tg aa ae y dh es PAA x a Update Flight Controller FC Update Navigation Controller NC Verify new firmware Update new tinmwa4re Verify new firmware Update new fiimware firmware version MD_FC_1 6 Build 061110 system clocks 12000 60000 15000 modin heigl
53. holds in the rotor mounting plate To avoid accidental misplacement both directions of turning use individual distances between these knobs When mounting the rotors the motors must be supported by one finger being pushed inside the bottom hole of the motor pod If you press too hard from the top without support the risk is to press the motor frame out of the carbon fibre reinforced plastic cfrp pod Make sure that the centre bar is level with the top of the mounting plate before you proceed The rotors are secured by two O rings of rubber As rubber wears off check each ring for proper elasticity and make sure there are no fissures in it lf new rotors are used ridges around the knobs may hinder the correct fitting In this case use a fine file to smoothen the ridges to make the rotors fit nicely In case of an accident in which the rotors have hit any obstacle a thorough figure 25 mounting the rotor blades copyright microdrones GmbH 2004 2007 28 System Overview check of the rotors is mandatory to avoid further mischief by breaking during flight Besides a visual check for small fissures or ridges the rotor should be picked at the centre bar with two fingers while the other hand gently bends down the rotor tips If a rotor is damaged it will break completely in this test while a stable one will show no effect 2 1 2 3 Connecting external Servos On the bottom side the drone shows two 3 pin connectors which
54. icient position information during the flight this might result in a sudden yaw as a result of the alignment procedure user manual md4 200 Application Software 51 2 6 Application Software The application software introduced in this section is designed to operate on WIN XP Service Pack 2 Other operating systems have not been tested and may cause malfunctions 2 6 1 Downlink Decoder 2 6 1 1 Setup and First Steps To operate the telemetry option of the downlink hardware components are required as indicated summarized in figure 53 4 e Multifunctional cable USB to serial e Downlink decoder hardware e Audio cinch connector in the base station backward compartment The files USB Driver and the he application Downlink_Decoder r1 0 need to be figure 53 telemetry hardware loaded from the microdrones web page see figure 54 in the downloads software section copyright microdrones GmbH 2004 2007 52 System Overview Das Bewbeten demcht Foeonien Eutin 7 Gum GI 2 Tui an 5 ern El Adi hiig ha meon ep oon E __ slaps Ei Tr Lecatsicherre Talk Ep B biscket TF Rachachatpidong ap Sanden arre L I m I ic fi as bn sl SOFTWARE These software packages are dedicated for our customers We will support the latest revisions at this place Most of the poftueare will sol work voii the handveare of our drones specialized decoders or cables The topmost entr
55. ics as shown in figure 91 The GPS subsystem indicates its status by audible beeps Just after power up a slow sequence of beeps indicates the search for the GPS figure 51 intermediate storage for the dome satellite signals As the quality of the satellite information increases i e if 4 or more satellites are readable and the precision of the location estimation has improved the beeping shortens its rhythm After a short while depending on the situation 30s or more are possible the rhythm changes to twin beeps Even before that the downlink decoder will report GPS ok and display the number of received satellites SV space user manual md4 200 GPS including Position Hold 49 vehicles and a hopefully decreasing figure or the mean position deviation in meters The twin beep signal indicates the ready for take off status o the drone in which the engines may be turned on To avoid problems in this procedure the following precautions should be taken A Move away at least 5 meters from the system after having inserted the battery pack closed the dome and putting the md4 200 to its take off position lf you do not stay clear of the drone or pull out the RC antenna in this phase the RC signal may jam the satellite reception After the twin beep attention has settled to a steady rhythm in GPS position hold mode the engines may be turned on by pushing the slider F see figure 52 to the forward position
56. increases with the square of the wind speed and therefore with the third power of the Beaufort number As the Beaufort number takes into account only the speed and neither the altitude from sea level nor the temperature which influence the air pressure an association between a Beaufort number and the wind pressure is ambiguous A storm of strength of 11 Beaufort on a 6000m high peak develops approximately half the pressure as a storm of the same Beaufort number at sea level The Beaufort numbers which are used for weather charts are not related to the peak gales but represent a 10 minute average value A 3 Beaufort s Scale in Phenomenons Descriptive Descriptive Phenomenon description term for wind term for sea eee Calm smoke rises Calm Flat sea l Flat sea vertically l l Calm rippled Wind motion visible in __ l 1 Light Air Ripples without crest sea smoke o k Wind felt on exposes skin Crests of glassy 2 Light Breeze Leaves rustle appearance not Gently moved breaking sea Leaves and small twigs in Large wavelets 3 Gentle Breeze constant motion pennons Crests begin to break are stretched scattered whitecaps l Dust and loose paper Moderate Lightly moved _ Small waves often raised Small branches l Breeze sea l with whitecaps begin to move Wind clearly audible Larger twigs and smaller Moderately l Moderate 1 2 m lon Fresh breeze trees sway whitecaps on moved sea ger waves Some lakes foam and spray
57. ion pelicase After having connected the battery figure 34 connection of the LiPo charger pack power supply seen on the right in figure 34 it is mandatory to connect the so called balancer cable in parallel The latter is required to ensure the proper equalization of the voltage level in all the cells of the battery pack Make sure that the power on switch see figure 35 of the charger unit is turned on position 1 only after both cables are fitted securely figure 35 The LiPo charger user manual md4 200 In a power on check all three LEDs of the display turn on immediately While charging the yellow LED remains on to indicate the status operating In case the red Error LED remains activated please check the balancer cable connector at the compartment wall As a result of vibrations during transport it might have come loose Having fixed this problem turn off the charger and switch it back on again At most one hour of charging is sufficient to complete the recharge process B1 0 Base Station 35 Switch off the charger and unplug the battery back before putting it back to its storage position In case you do not intend to use the batteries for quite a while do not recharge them completely but leave them at approximately 70 of charges Capacity Make sure that the battery back has cooled down completely after use before it is recharged Do not charge LiPo batteries unattended 2
58. ion will report GPS ready when the drone s receiver has detected its first connection Be patient the ready for take off status will take a bit more time to be confirmed and the drone will acknowledge this with a beep beep sound Half a minute should be enough for deriving a reliable data connection with the GPS satellites copyright microdrones GmbH 2004 2007 58 System Overview 2 6 1 2 Operation of the Downlink Decoder The complete GUI of the downlink decoder is represented in figure 56 A light green Data field indicated that the figures and the battery level are live values from the md4 200 status downlink_decoder_r1 0 Decoder no file a Status Decoder Data Machine Battery Times mm 8 o Operating time Flight time GP Position accuracy m Space Vehicles Height m Actual Marsimum Distance to POFF m Speed m s Temperature C a gt lt spear tapes Ate the ada TTG WLU figure 56 GUI of the downlink decoder user manual md4 200 Application Software 59 The Operating time lists the time which has passed since the battery pack has been inserted The Flight time counter starts to run as soon as the slider F has been pushed to the forward position The Space Vehicles display denotes the number of satellites from which a valid GPS signal can be tracked A number of four satellites is the absolute minimum for successful operatio
59. j i a a gt Ps Fi p k figure 20 open drone without and with battery pack When fitting the dome on top of the drone align the two orange arrows and close the cover The vehicle should be held with one hand at the aft arm while the other hand should turn the dome counter clockwise smoothly until you copyright microdrones GmbH 2004 2007 24 System Overview feel it snapping into its fixture The open dome may be hooked below the battery level to avoid stress on the GPS antenna cable A Always take care not to disconnect the GPS antenna cable accidentally while dismounting the dome 2 1 2 1 Insert the Accumulator seitliche F hrung 4 Akku A Einrastnase f r Akku seitliche F hrung Akku figure 21 support mechanics of the battery pack figure 22 detail of battery pack locking mechanism The battery pack of the md4 200 is aligned by the lateral guides shown in figure 21 and thus kept in the correct position The battery pack has 2 lateral fins which need to lock with the guides in the body work Place the battery pack between the 2 guide rails and slide it slowly forward until it locks with the guides as shown in figure 22 AAA You must never place the battery pack in wet grass or put it into you pocket together with a key ring or some coins user manual md4 200 Your md4 200 System The Components 25 AAA The battery pack is extremely sensitive to
60. k the joystick will raise the lens of the camera pushing the joystick forward makes the lens look down Make sure not to forget pressing H permanently during the procedure as the result would be a climbing o falling drone The proper connection of the servo connection is described in detail in section 2 1 2 3 copyright microdrones GmbH 2004 2007 44 System Overview 2 4 2 Still Photography Camera Pentax The Pentax Optio A 30 delivers high quality still photographs as a resolution of 10 mega pixels is provided The shutter is controlled by an infrared control at the front of the camera The shutter is re leased by pushing the switch I to the front Keeping the switch in this position will cause repeated snapshots as long as the process figure 47 still photography camera is not stopped by pulling I back again The picture which is usually displayed on the LCD screen on the back side of the camera is switched off and transmitted in real time via the connected AV cable and the video transmitter to the base station and thus allows the selection of scene The mounting frame compensates roll of the drone around the longitudinal axis Self amplification of oscillations is prevented by an integrated damper Check the camera battery and free storage capacity on the camera s SD card before take off The proper cabling of the servo connections for tilt control and shutter control is described in detail in sectio
61. l propulsion This concept was due to the fact that the sensitivity and precision of the control fort the four main rotors did not match the physical requirements The Oehmichen No 2 may be regarded as the first reliable VTOL vehicle It completed more than 1000 flights and on May 4 1924 imposed a record by flying for 14 minutes bridging more than 1000 meters on a circular track As the swash plate was invented and aft rotor twin or coaxial concepts emerged the quadrocopter type of VIOL was no longer focused by the relevant engineers When the common interest for VTOL vehicles grew in the 1950 s the quadrocopters went airborne to their renaissance copyright microdrones GmbH 2004 2007 6 Introduction Currently quadrocopters are not employed for passenger flights However the concept has been discovered for drones UAVs or for model helicopters Major improvements in the area of embedded electronics embedded sensing and material science have inspired and are the foundation for the effectiveness of these deployments Today s acceleration sensors are so fast and precise that sudden torque effects may be easily kept in control automatically For quadrocopters those are commonly occurring faster and in larger quantities compared to standard helicopters The reason for this is the fact that the centre of gravity of the vehicle is very close below if not in or above the level of the rotors For this purpose piezo electric sensors are used t
62. lu cranye lic Propertes of sny device Cira Stguriglels vor make swz thal inetallsd d irez ae tu palible salli vr dees a ridas Udale lels you sel up hoa irdows conect ic Windows Updebe cr divers Criver Signing windows Update Hardware Prohles 2 Ferdwarz protice provide a wcp for poa ko setup anc store al Gflerart harkare conhigastions Hardware Profiles ns ranrrcel Move to the hardware register in the system properties dialog and hit the button device manager The device manager application pops up and lists the information on the available system devices Navigate to the entry Ports COM amp LPT and unfold the tree at this node by clicking on the plus sign You will find an entry labelled USB Serial Port which showed an assignment to COM4 while the screenshots for this manual were taken user manual md4 200 Application Software 55 Device Manager Eile Action View Help es MEES A era J LUNA200179 l Batteries E d Computer Es Disk drives m Display adapters DVD CD ROM drives IDE ATAJATAPI controllers amp IEEE 1394 Bus host controllers Hp Keyboards HT Mice and other pointing devices Moderns E Monitors Network adapters BB 1394 Net Adapter 83 Broadcom 440 10 100 Integrated Controller an ES InteR PRO Wireless 2200815 Network Connection p PCMCI4 adapters Hi Ports COM amp LPT DEE 58 Serial Port COM4 ae Proce
63. manual md4 200 The Flight 89 3 4 1 2 Rectangular Parcours and Height Variation This exercise is designed to derive sensitivity about the climbing and dropping of the drone To achieve this goal the first exercise is repeated but the altit ude at the vertices of the square are changed As a prerequisite for his exercise the previous lesson should have been completed with self confidence As before let the drone hover at each vertex to let GPS position hold stabilize the drone and to get back concentration fort he next path The variation of altitude should be done while moving from one vertex to the next figure 69 exercise variation of altitude seen from the side to avoid the downwash effect At the end of the parcours the drone should have the same flight level as on the start of the exercise Make sure that the drone has a sufficient altitude before lowering the flight level downwash effect Start the exercise by letting the drone climb on the first edge of the path copyright microdrones GmbH 2004 2007 90 Handling 3 4 1 3 Changing the Heading This exercise will give you a first experience with yaw control i e the turning of the drone around the vertical axis In this exercise the vehicle should be turned by 90 degrees at each vertex of the square See figure 70 for the correct orientation Make sure to turn back to the straight forward heading in the uppe
64. n 2 1 2 3 user manual md4 200 Cameras 45 2 4 3 Video Camera Panasonic Lumix The Panasonic Lumix has been selected in favour of its high quality video capture facility to produce onboard videos The resolution of the video gt Vie clips is 848x480 pixels at a frame N Sv u rate of 30 frames per second The e output format is QuickTime mov In contrast to the other cameras the shutter is released manually by the pilot before take off Take care not to point to an object very close while switching figure 48 high quality video camera the camera on because this would shut off the auto focus The resulting pictures would be blurred in that case during the flight The video file is stored on a camera internal 1 GB SD card The mounting frame compensates roll of the drone around the longitudinal axis Self amplification of oscillations is prevented by an integrated damper Check the camera battery and free storage capacity on the camera s SD card before take off The proper cabling of the servo connection for tilt control is described in detail in section 2 1 2 3 copyright microdrones GmbH 2004 2007 46 System Overview 2 4 4 CCD Daylight Camera The CCD daylight camera is a designated video camera without internal storage capacity Due to this a separate battery is not needed while the video stream is sent live to the base station The focus of the camera is fixed To capture the video in
65. n of the GPS position hold option The Temperature display reads the temperature inside the bodywork of the drone A Keep an eye on the voltage display Make sure that the battery warning level has been set to 14 Volts in the setup section of the application AAA Itisan imperative to land the drone when the Battery low warning is issued Further battery ok message must be ignored as they are due to short lived temporal improvements 2 6 2 The Downlink Player The downlink decoder includes a record facility which can be activated by pushing the record button downlink_decoder_r1 0 A Decoder no file an Status Decoder Data Machine Battery The live displays of the downlink decoder will be dumped into a file if this option is activated By doing so a complete protocol of the flight will be available for an ex post analysis All status information and all control vectors being received from the RC link will be contained in that file copyright microdrones GmbH 2004 2007 60 System Overview Recoded files will have the extension ddf as for Downlink Decoder File To replay these files the downlink player software is used downlink_player_r1 1 Control panel mddd_060823_142315 2849 EEEER m time EEE m i Cc ro d ro n e s G m b Pi Machine e Slow fe Realtime Fast Highest gt r Senat Firmware o Ge i GPS position ECEF m
66. ng up The continuous beeping signal drone reports a after powering up The drone does not find a GPS signal The video visor displays no pictures The application shows a downlink decoder red Decoder indicator The remote control is switched off or preset to a different channel than the receiver of the drone Switch on the power at the remote control and check the selected channel If in doubt power off the drone and check the label which is attached close to the battery pack Magnetic disturbances in the neighbourhood may by the magnetometer Remove the battery pack Try to cause failure messages reported place the drone some meters away from the current location Insert the battery pack again Even an iron rod or pipe below the surface may cause a Sufficient irritation of the magnetic field Change the location Between high buildings in a park with high trees especially after rain or dew the GPS reception may be obstructed Check the video connection yellow cinch plug for correct connection to the base station Are the battery packs fully charged Is the green LED on Is the base station switched on Has the correct video channel been selected Check if the hardware of the downlink decoder is correctly connected to the audio cinch plug and to the multifunctional cable Has the correct COM port been selected in the setup Has the correct video channel been selected Is the
67. nificance when the distance to earth is less than a half to a full span of the main rotor Hard surfaces encourage the ground bounce as it is easier or the accelerated air to climb up again than to spread on the floor Water surfaces or high grown grass minimize the effect as they tend to absorb the energy of the falling air stream In larger altitudes the ground bounce has no effect user manual md4 200 The Take Off 85 Figure 67 the ground bounce effect 3 3 The Take Off The take off procedure starts after the pre flight checks have been done by powering on the remote control Do not pull out the RC antenna in this stage It may cause interference with the GPS system of the drone The drone is placed on a level surface in front of the pilot heading away from his position Now the LiPo battery pack is inserted into the drone see section 2 1 2 1 The drone will acknowledge the start up by several convenient beeps If the remote control isn t on you can sense the alert The dome must be shut closed next Do not move the drone manually any more before takeoff If a tilted surface is selected the drone will sense this and deny the engine power up for security reasons i e the rotors will be protected from touching the ground Power up the base station and start the downlink decoder software Announcements will tell you about the communication status and the status of copyright microdrones GmbH 2004 2007
68. nitialize some default parameters or to setup some calibrations In any case check accompanying documentation of each update before you start the system update copyright microdrones GmbH 2004 2007 83 3 Handling 3 1 Pre Flight Check List Before you take off you are advised to check the following items Battery pack for the drone Handheld RC transmitter Base station Rechargeable batteries for the video visor Notebook photo or video camera if applicable check the mobile video receiver Check air temperature and wind speed Make sure that the conditions comply with the specifications of the md4 200 system If wind speed at ground level is above 3m s you must expect that even in moderate altitudes of several meters wind speeds of more than 6m s will be encountered leaving the shelter of trees buildings etc The system is not designed to operate in these conditions DO NOT TAKE OFF To get a good guess about the wind speed in some altitude check the movement of clouds and of tree tops If temperatures have been falling below 15 C take into account the operating conditions of the LiPo battery packs and warm them up in advance by putting them into your jacket 3 2 Physical Effects during the Flight 3 2 1 The Downwash Effect The so called downwash effect has impact for helicopters when the vehicle drops in a steady lateral position while there is only low wind speed The rotors always generate a t
69. nt at 720 x 576 pixels 25 frames per second copyright microdrones GmbH 2004 2007 32 System Overview The base station may get its own power supply from three sources namely power mains at a voltage of 100 240 Volts AC 12V DC vehicle power from a car or finally from the same battery packs which power the drone The LiPo battery packs may be used as power source red cable below the flap or themselves being recharged if one of the two other power sources are in operation AAA ATTENTION New vehicles vans or lorries my supply other DC voltages than 12V To avoid permanent damage consult the operations manual of your vehicle before connecting to the 12V DC inlet To not tamper with the adapter cable to make it connect to inappropriate power outlets To prepare the base Station for operation the antenna has to be mounted by inserting the foot piece in the slot on the cover of the pelicase figure 32 and e screwing tight the antenna as connector on the switch board figure 33 figure 33 connecting the antenna cable user manual md4 200 B1 0 Base Station 33 select and activate one of the three available power sources 100 240V AC 12V DC or LiPo battery pack before your switch on the base station An LED besides the power switch will indicate the selected power source The two buttons below the 7 segment display are used to select a video channel matching to the setup of your drone This step has to be repea
70. o the two screws fixing the aluminium rotor mounting plates have to be released Remove the mounting plates and the underlying motor covers before restoring the mounting plates in their original position and fixing them again The vehicle should be placed in a distance of approximately 5m from the pilot on a levelled surface the orange arm pointing in 2 the heading of the pilot If the j P drone is tilted the electronic will refuse to start to avoid the risk of a rotor touching the ground Take care that not grass is caught by the figure 19 setup for take off g g y user manual md4 200 Your md4 200 System The Components 23 rotors and strangles the motors A Keep all in flight positions in an 80 sector in front of your body A Avoid flying besides or above yourself In particular beginners will be unable to cope with such a demanding situation Even more complicated and therefore to be avoided is the so called reverse hovering In this case the drone has been rotated by approximately 180 degree from the take off position the orange arm pointing towards the pilot In this situation all controls appear to be inverted The situation needs great care experience and a sufficient training on the FMS see section 2 6 4 As usual operation of the drone does not require flying in this position it is highly recommended to avoid it and the accompanying high risk due to the demanding prerequisites in coordination Ss
71. o determine the angular velocity of the rotors As an alternative gyroscopes retrieve absolute figures for the angular deviation from the vertical direction An embedded system finally controls the rpms of the four electric motors to stabilize the flight As no other moving parts than the motors and their shafts are needed for the design this type of quadrocopter is only a fraction as susceptible or mechanical failures than a classical helicopter as the complicated swash plates linkage rods or rotor domes are just left out By employing Lithium Polymer rechargeable cells with a very efficient ratio of energy mass flight durations of up to 30 minutes are achievable at present Future improvements including the use of miniaturized fuel cells which are just being developed promise flight times of several hours user manual md4 200 Operational Concept of the md4 200 7 1 4 Operational Concept of the md4 200 depicted in figure 3 all have the same speed level Changing the position in bearing or altitude is achieved by modifying the speed level of one or multiple rotors in a coordinated fashion While hovering the rotors as being Forward or Backward movements are initiated by tilting the bodywork forward figure 3 scheme of propulsion for or backward respectively and accele the md4 200 ration in that direction Nick Shift the speed level and thus the thrust between rotors A and C Moving sideways is initiated by tilting
72. r filled with foam and spray sea completely white with driving spray Visibility greatly reduced copyright microdrones GmbH 2004 2007 102 A 4 Beaufort s Scale in absolute Velocities The wind speeds are defined in mph Wind Wind speed Wave height m Shallow sea Deep sea km h knots l North and Atlantic Baltic sea 0 5 0 75 3 4 lt 5 5 12 19 8 1 lt 12 7 5 5 lt 8 0 20 28 12 7 lt 18 4 11 lt 16 0 8 1 2 8 0 lt 10 8 29 38 18 4 lt 25 3 16 lt 22 1 2 2 0 13 9 lt 17 2 50 61 32 2 lt 39 1 28 lt 34 3 5 6 0 BR 2 lt 20 8 62 74 39 1 lt 47 2 34 lt 41 above 6 0 20 8 lt 24 5 75 88 47 2 lt 55 2 141 ze 24 5 lt 28 5 89 102 55 2 lt 64 4 up to 20 0 28 5 lt 32 7 103 117 64 4 lt 73 6 56 lt 64 _ 0 10 8 lt 13 9 39 49 25 3 lt 32 2 22 lt 28 2 0 3 5 user manual md4 200 A 4 Beaufort s Scale in absolute Velocities 103 LEEF me a DB CREEN he i gt Jos Heyman Berofilas com copyright microdrones GmbH 2004 2007 104 3 18 13 user manual md4 200 Contact Information microdrones GmbH Siegener Strasse 227 D 57223 Kreuztal Germany Phone 49 0 2732 762 115 Fax 49 0 2732 762 150 E mail info microdrones com Officer Udo Juerss CEO Authorized officer Thorsten Kanand Court of registration Amtsgericht Siegen HRB Registration number 7984 VAT ID as per 27a VAT Law DE814593872 ASES ne
73. r manual md4 200 System Software 79 igi md_dialog_r1 1 microdrones GmbH G The software returns by displaying an Update completed message Remove the battery from the drone as the next action This will cause a restart of the whole md4 200 system which is mandatory before the navigation controller NC may be programmed AAA Check the orientation of the download cable You must choose the settings for navigation controller programming as depicted again in figure 65 before you proceed from here copyright microdrones GmbH 2004 2007 80 System Overview figure 65 programming connection for the navigation controller Insert the battery pack to the drone Messages like the following issued from the navigation controller appear on the screen Z md_dialog_r1 1 m Sex W i per 3 Update Flight Controller FC Update Navigation Controller NC nu Verify new firmware e Verify new firmware e Terminal clear with key lt HOME gt starting acc hand calibration old acc calibration parameters ee acc parameter 0 000000 1 000000 0 000000 1 000000 0 000000 1 000000 time progress 000 00040 000 000 0 000 00080 000 000 D 000 000 0 000 00040 000 00040 000 00040 000 0000 000 0000 000 00080 000 00040 000 0000 000 010 0 000 01080 000 01040 000 01040 000 01040 000 010 D 000 010 0 000 01080 000 01080 000 010 D 000 01040 000 010 0 000 010 0 000 010 0 000 01040 000 01040
74. r right corner to avoid an inverted position The drone will therefore move in backward direction to the lower right vertex before being turned left to have the final point straight ahead figure 70 modified rectangular parcours The so called inverted position means the front orange arm pointing towards the pilot The drone will move to the opposite direction of any intuitive control interaction at the joysticks This exercise should be trained thoroughly by using the FMS before making the drone fly this way Finally this basic exercise can be extended by Changing the altitude between the vertices of the square Enlarge or shrink the square at will while changing direction and altitude Take your time fort his exercise Increase the altitude step by step only in order to accommodate the experience in correctly judging the flight situation by watching the far off drone user manual md4 200 The Flight 91 3 4 1 4 The first Circle Wind effects temporary lack of concentration or just a handling error may lead to an inverted light position This exercise is intended to get confidence in the inverted position by coordinating all control commands in all possible orientations of the drone This manoeuvre is rather simple when there is no wind Wait for such a moment in the first place As you have already learned a lot about the handling try to fly around in a circular fashion by
75. r use Switch off the RC hand held transmitter Push in the antenna completely bring it to the straight position first if it was tilted Dismount the camera and the rotors Remount the dome Repack the vehicle into the pelicase The battery pack may be recharged after cooling down again copyright microdrones GmbH 2004 2007 95 4 Safety Instructions AMAA AMAA AMAA AMA AMAA AAA AMAA AAA Avoid the vicinity of airports or airfields The operated RF equipment on these sites will interfere with the RC control and also are capable to jam the embedded electronic even disabling the emergency landing procedure Vicinity in this sense means at least 5 km 3 5 miles Never take of in the vicinity of military sites Vicinity may mean something ever larger here Do not fly close to power transmission lines power plants or transformer stations Never fly above humans Avoid flying model associations to be clear of interferences from other RC transmitters or deliberate jamming attempts Try to avoid flying over water If this situation is inevitable keep the altitude above 50m from the water surface Getting in contact with water means the irrevocable destruction of the mechanical and electronic components of the md4 200 and of the LiPo battery packs 97 5 Troubleshooting Type of malfunction Reason Removal The drone reports a continuous beeping signal after poweri
76. rate in clockwise direction To climb Pitch all motors are accelerated identically to drop the drone means simultaneous identical deceleration of all motors For example steering nick to the front the lift at the aft rotor is increased and reduced at the front rotor by the same amount Roll to the left means to apply the same steering command to the right motor increase and the left one decrease in a similar fashion Yaw to left means the increase in torque on motors B D while the torque on A C is reduced The total torque now is non zero and turns the drone to the left Note that the absolute sum of thrust over all four motors is kept identical in each of the manoeuvres The drone is controlled by the two joy sticks of the remote control depicted in figure 4 The right joy stick controls nick by pushing it forward or backward and roll by moving it sideways The vehicle is shifted into the respective direction without turning its heading in that way The left joystick con trols climbing by pushing it forward and dropping by pulling it backward Pushing the left joystick sideways means the command for a counter clockwise left or clockwise right yaw figure 4 the remote control transmitter user manual md4 200 Operational Concept of the md4 200 9 1 4 1 Propulsion Motor and Motor Controller Each motor of 24 poles has a gross weight of 40 grams and a diameter of 48 mm The brushless external rotor motor
77. ration 3 semiconductor micro machines global magnetism air pressure humidity temperature N lt Autonomous emergency landing system i e in case of RC loss low battery power etc further features flight recorder SD drive and GPS support position hold and waypoint navigation table 1 md4 200 technical data copyright microdrones GmbH 2004 2007 12 1 4 4 md4 200 Block Schematic FM DS Empf nger 12 Kan le Bandbreite 10 kHz figure 7 md4 200 block schematic user manual md4 200 Introduction Blockschaltbild Md4 200 BL Motore mit vollsynchroni sierter Kommu tierung 13 2 System Overview 2 1 Your md4 200 System The Components Your md4 200 system is composed of two major components The first is the drone itself in the custom fitted pelicase The second is the base station for ground control which is shipped in its own pelicase fitted as an insert into the larger one as shown in figure 8 Available options are several different camera types described in section 2 4 and a GPS aided position hold software enhancement figure 8 complete md4 200 system in pelicase for transport 14 System Overview 2 1 1 The Remote Control ROVAN DIGTAL AC SYSTEM MULTIPLEX A T L cy amp 7 ABc DEF2 GHl3 IKLA MNOS POR amp STuy VWs 7_9 j e a Y REV CLR ENTER e figure 9 hand held remote control transmitter As a hand held transmitter to control the
78. rs save and sound user manual md4 200 Landing the md4 200 93 3 5 Landing the md4 200 3 5 1 Bringing her down The landing should bring down the drone similar to the take off to a level surface Coming down from larger altitudes the downwash effect can be avoided easily by moving in meanders or just swaying forward backward or from side to side like a falling leaf Bring the drone to a position approximately 3 to 5 meters in front of you and in a true heading i e the orange arm pointing away from you Keep the drone steady in this position or let GPS and altitude control do that for a moment Now it s time to bring the md4 200 down slowly best while moving it in just one direction to the desired landing spot As the md4 200 approaches the ground by approximately one meter or less turbulences caused by the ground bounce effect begin to shake the vehicle Keep it steady still and reduce the thrust significantly As soon as the drone touches the ground pull back the left joystick to its mechanical limit The engines may now be shut off by pulling back the slider F 3 5 2 Post Flight Check Open the drone and remove the battery pack Store it in an open but dry place In case a camera has been in the payload switch off the camera The video camera needs to press the shutter button first to stop the recording operation and to finish the video file on the SD card Take out the SD card if any for furthe
79. ruder Heckrotor Um den Sender zu kalibreren klicken Sie auf Kal brieren Kalibreren Hicksteuerung Rollsteuerung Fitch Ok Abbrechen figure 60 input window for joystick setup Now press the Kalibrieren calibrate button Rotate both joysticks several times in a circular fashion around the extreme positions in the mechanical end points You ll receive a prompt telling you to release hold of the joysticks which should bring them back to the centre position Tip When receiving that prompt try to confound the setup by pressing the left joystick a bit to the front This will mimic the automated flight level control and the model will not start to sink immediately when you loosen your grip copyright microdrones GmbH 2004 2007 70 System Overview To use the software on a photo realistic background the web page www rc sim de offers a good selection of scenes under Downloads FMS Version gt gt 2 8 x FMS 2 8 x scenes The environment data for each scene just has to be copied into the Landscape of the FMS installation Now you may select that environment under Landschaft Laden This envisages a realistic training setup mi 2 gor F eee Ses er nV 1m i T A TT One SS a N A sT er ae nn ass Be 35 Secs gt Me Miral I ak mA AA mnnn l NN iad Kurheenahriene iY Mare Daian We randan ee ee d mir Oy athe ee ar A a 2 6 5 PVR Frame Grabber A frame
80. sails of a man of war then the main ship of the Royal Navy from just sufficient to give steerage to that which no canvas sails could withstand The scale was made a standard for ship s log entries on Royal Navy vessels in the late 1830s The scale was adapted to non naval use from the 1850s with scale numbers corresponding to cup anemometer rotations In 1906 with the advent of steam power the descriptions were changed to how the sea not the sails behaved and extended to land observations Rotations to scale numbers were standardized only in 1923 George Simpson director of the UK Meteorological Office was responsible for this and for the addition of the land based descriptors The measure was slightly altered some decades later to improve its utility for meteorologists The Beaufort scale was extended in 1946 when forces 13 to 17 were added However forces 13 to 17 were intended to apply only to special cases such as tropical cyclones Nowadays the extended scale is only used in Taiwan and mainland China which are often affected by typhoons Wind speed on the 1946 Beaufort scale is defined by the empirical formula v 0 836 B mis where v is the equivalent wind speed at 10 metres above the surface and B is Beaufort scale number For example B 9 5 is related to 24 5 m s which is equal to the lower limit of 10 Beaufort copyright microdrones GmbH 2004 2007 100 A 2 Where and How to use them The wind pressure
81. see figure 5 with 18 slots and 24 magnets has a fully synchronized commutation figure 5 details of a motor unit Each of the motors is supplements by three Hall sensors which indicate the momentary position and turning speed of the magnets to the control electronics The embracing control of the motors is mediated via a controller area network CAN bus on which each motor uses a distinct device address The joint operation of all components implements a closed control loop at dynamic which is fast enough to enable the appropriate fast control of the motor momentums and therefore the stabilization of the md4 200 The core component of the electronic is formed by the so called IMU module IMU Inertial measurement unit which implements the bearing fixture and the barometric altitude stabilization This device comprises a set of mutual communicating sensors which are combined in a so called Kallmann filter A 32bit embedded controller provides for a Calculation of the requested control vectors in milliseconds intervals This type of generic control allows for a basic stabilization of the drones position and bearing during flight and eases the manual control tasks imposed on the pilot copyright microdrones GmbH 2004 2007 10 Introduction 1 4 2 Key Components of the In Flight Electronic ee oe va Pa Feed a J rA 71 T 2 ok E 7 z hT p a nm a a Ujjain ar EB a a eee TO I Cc kur figure 6 in
82. ssors H A Secure Digital host controllers Remember the COM port number and connect the downlink decoder hardware of the multifunctional cable Make sure to align the white marker at the cable and the downlink decoder hardware Connecting correctly at this point should result in the blue LED on the downlink decoder to switch on Complete the chain by plugging in the cinch connector in the cabinet copyright microdrones GmbH 2004 2007 96 Name H Downlink Decoder Ea snd_data_ok Eau snd_Flighttime OS rnin Et sr d_Flighkkime 10_ rnin Ein snd_Flighttime_ 15 _mirn a snid_Flighthirne 20_ rnin Ea sr d_Flighkkime 25 rnin Ea snd Flighthirne 30_ rnin Et snd Flighthirnie 35 min Fa snd_Flighttime 40_ min Ea snid_gps_ok El snd_rc_ak Et snd warning emergency lan Fa snd warning low batbery snd_warning_no_data Ei snd_warning no_gps tl snid_warning mo_rc Grote 1 195 KE 1 KE 32 KE 31 KE 30 KE af KE 39 KE 35 KB 37 KE 31 KE af KE 35 KB 33 KB 29 KE 47 KE 29 KE 30 KE ey KE 25 KE System Overview Having completed the hardware installation the downlink decoder application may be installed This is done by unpacking the respective archive to a folder of your choice After unpacking that folder should contain the files shown on the left Launch the application by double clicking on Downlink_Decoder exe Press the Setup button as a first step Sel
83. stem in peli case for transport 13 hand held remote control transmitter 0220220220220 eens 14 UTO CIS DAY sans 15 association of the trim pushbuttons cee ceccseee eee eeeeeeees 15 transmitteri GONSO Cy Auen 16 MOIOR COMM Ol arena 16 shutter control and waypoint teach in cccceceeeeeeeeeeeeeenees 17 assignment of joysticks to movements cccseeeeeeeeeeeeeees 17 the evo9 teacher scholar Cable ccccecseeceeeseeeeeteeeeeeteees 19 compact loader for the evo9 cccccccecceeeseeceeteteeeeeeteeeeeeaes 20 md4 200 ready for take Off cccccecccecceeeceeceeseeeseeeseeeseeens 22 SELUD TO take Olli ee elleinibve 22 open drone without and with battery pack cceceeeeee anes 23 support mechanics of the battery pack cccceeceeeeeeeeeeeees 24 detail of battery pack locking mechanism ccceceeeeeeees 24 inserting the battery pack u02202002200000 000 Bnn nenne nennen 25 unlocking the battery pack u2220200200020 0200 ann anne ann nnne nen 26 MOUMUNG TNE VOLO esn 2 cable attachment for the servo CONNECTIONS 28 connecting the servos for the CAMETLA cccceeceeeseeeeeeeeeeees 28 video antenna and Camera CONNECTION cceceeee eee eee eee ees 29 video transmitter and booster in the drone 29 base station
84. t and J at the right edge of the hand held transmitter must be in the uppermost position The latter are still n without any function in the case of a scholar transmitter On the teachers side see 2 1 1 6 the switch O toggles between Scholar control and teacher override Keeping the switch up by user manual md4 200 Your md4 200 System The Components 17 the teacher allows full control of the drone by the scholar In case of need the teacher may take back control immediately by flipping switch O down Switching the motors on and off is the exclusive right of the teacher in any case Switch G should rest in the neutral position l has to be pulled backwards Future revisions of the software will employ G for teach in operations to the GPS waypoint system Pushing switch l to the front operates the shutter of the payload camera Video cameras will capture sequences photo cameras will repeat shutter releases as long as stays in this position figure 14 shutter control and waypoint teach in 2 1 1 2 Assignment of the Joysticks The left joystick controls the pitch in the meaning of climb by pushing it forward and drop by pulling it back In the neutral position the automatic flight level stabilization is at work and keeps the drone at the so far predefined altitude figure 15 assignment of joysticks to movements copyright microdrones GmbH 2004 2007 18 Sys
85. t of the contact elements This can happen even by some coins in your pocket a key ring or by leaving the battery pack in grass wetted by rain or dew Long term storage should be planned ahead as the battery pack should be charged to 75 of the maximum level only for this case The value displayed by the meter at the base Station in battery pack operation or the charge level indicator of the downlink decoder give easy access to this information If during a flight the battery low warning is issued the drone has to be landed Omeg A Even if this_warning is followed by a battery ok message the general condition has not changed A sudden drop of the wind speed may have led to a temporal rising of the battery voltage The battery low warning must lead to immediate landing and an exchange of the battery pack Directly after the landing the battery pack has to be taken from the drone Gllonee You should avoid keeping the drone in the sunshine when not flying This would cause a heat up of the drone and consequently can violate the specified maximum operational temperature of the embedded electronic and thus cause malfunctions Take off is allowed only after insertion of a fully charged battery pack Make sure to distinguish fully charged from partial discharged battery packs by storing the first kind in the upper compartment of the sponge rubber tablet and the others in the lower section This handling strategy avoids a
86. ted only in case of operating different drones from the same base station The live video signal which also bears the telemetry data in the audio channel is now available at the frame grabber output and at the cinch sockets The installation of the appropriate user software for the frame grabber and the downlink decoder is covered in section 2 6 Technical Data of Receiver 2 3 2 5GHz 16 selector switch 1Vss 0 1Vss 75Ohm 30Hz SMHz 500mWeff an gt 1kOhm 15Hz 16KHz 3dB 7 30V DC dimensions receiver 117 x 68 x 35mm w o antennas dimensions diversity box 80 x 68 x 32mm w o antennas mass of receiver dimensions receve dimensions very bon massofreceven mass of dversiyboe N NO amp OJ O Q Q mass of diversity box external diversity box using 4 antennas audio stereo channel indicator switching channel indication of relative receiver signal strength video image inversion automatic channel switch video and audio mute option 5V output for antenna preamplifier video detect output table 4 technical data of the downlink receiver copyright microdrones GmbH 2004 2007 34 2 2 2 The Charger System Overview Recharging the batteries is applicable only if the base station is powered by mains or by the 12V DC vehicle power inlet In this case the LiPo battery pack has to be connected to the two lead sets shown in figure 34 which are to be found in the inside of the base stat
87. tem Overview Moving the stick sideways turns the drone counter clockwise to the left or clockwise to the right around the vertical axis The joystick on the right side moves the drone forward pushing it or backward pulling it Moving sideways causes the drone to follow in the respective direction with reference to its current heading 2 1 1 3 Selecting an RC Channel To select a specific channel make sure the transmitter is switched off Keep the pushbutton labelled tools ABC1 pressed and turn on power at the transmitter Release the button and use the p N turn knob above switch J H to select the Qat channel You finalize this procedure by acknowledging the selection using the brad ABC1 Enter key in the middle of the service key pad Turn off the transmitter now The new setting will take effect the next time power is restored and the transmitter will use the selected channel then 2 1 1 4 Toggle between Display Settings To toggle different display settings the pushbutton in 0 the lower right corner labelled 0 has to be pressed Different displays including the battery voltage trim w settings or a status screen including a countdown timer are selectable this way 2 1 1 5 Resetting the Countdown Timer to 14 min To avoid excessive discharge of the main battery in VWX8 er REV CLR timer should be reset by pressing REV CLR to start a new cycle the drone the
88. tion copyright microdrones GmbH 2004 2007 16 System Overview The best sensitivity while controlling the drone is probably reached when you pick the joysticks with the tips of thumb and pointing finger To ease the handling an optional console is available The hand held transmitter is pushed into it and may then be carried by a strap around your neck This frees your hands from carrying the device and leaves all NONE aR mitier console the concentration on the control of the joysticks and further pushbuttons and switches 2 1 1 1 Switches sliders and their Functions aE EL IEEE YS When switching the system on the sliders E and F of figure 13 need to be pulled back fully Pushing F to the front is assumed to start the rotors with one exception lf the GPS position hold function is i enabled but the drone has no sufficient GPS igure 13 motor control resolution the start of the engines is blocked for security reasons As an exception e g in case of GPS shadowing on ground level slider E may be used to override this safety feature To initiate this override procedure E needs to be pushed to the front kept there for a moment and then pulled back An acoustic acknowledgement is issued by the drone and the motor start via F is now enabled The lever keys L N on top of the Royal evo 9 need to be in the front position the lever switches O at the as lef
89. tiveness of the radio link and reduces the coverage range It is more efficient to align the antenna perpendicular to the line between the pilot and the drone To achieve a reasonable general setting the fully extruded antenna may be tilted upwards by first dragging smoothly at the base and then swinging it upwards user manual md4 200 Your md4 200 System The Components 21 transmitter ROYAL evo 9 using 6 1800mAh NiMH rechargeable batteries servo impulse format MPX 1 6 0 55 ms UNI 1 5 0 55 ms power supply 6 Zellen NiMH Mignon AA operational currentlapprox 20 mA w o HF consumption approx 165 mA incl HEM 4 approx 190 mA incl HFM S weight approx 900 g including battery pack dimensions I xw x h 220 x 200 x 60 mm table 2 technical data of hand held transmitter copyright microdrones GmbH 2004 2007 22 System Overview 2 1 2 The md4 200 The md4 200 is a light weight vehicle constructed by carbon fibre and thus requires appropriate and care ful handling As soon as the battery has been inserted and the sys tem iS powered up figure 18 md4 200 ready for take off mie VENCE THUS Ct been moved by hand Immediately after landing the battery has to be removed and must be replaced by a fully charged one before the next flight can take place In case the outdoor temperature is above 15 C the motor covers should be removed to avoid excessive heat ups in the motors To do s
90. urbulent pillar of streaming air in downward direction Dropping down on the spot means that the vehicle sinks into these turbulences and thus the rotors will loose their momentum as their aerodynamics starts to fail At the same time the vehicle and the rotors are being accelerated downwards by the falling air which means that additional power is required see also Figure 84 Handling 66 to keep the system flying The inexperienced pilot will see a drop down which is much faster than had been expected in the first place so beware Wind from the side literally blows away the turbulences from below the vehicle and therefore reduces the downwash effect significantly If no wind is at hand the pilot should avoid dropping the vehicle on the spot Rather a circulating movement or a tilted way down should be selected in order to move the drone out of the turbulences on its own account a A re ee en Ke EERE Ba vis a ar Per Figure 66 basics of the downwash effect 3 2 2 The Ground Bounce Effect When a helicopter approaches ground the downwash effect is counteracted by the so called ground bounce The turbulent air stream accelerated downward which just before has been creating the downwash now is reflected by the earth s surface The repelled air stream suddenly starts to bear the helicopter and counteracts the pilots command to sink down the last meters As a rule of thumb the ground effect reaches sig
91. vailable at http europa equ scadplus leg en lvb 11029 html Microdrones refuses liability in case the user does not comply with these regulations 1 Introduction 1 7 amp Please Pay Attention amp It is in the responsibility of each user to operate the system safely in order to avoid harming other people or their legal property or encountering other damages by taking undue risks The user is liable for a proper registration of the flying vehicle and the other technical equipment which Is mandatory for its operation The user must comply with legal regulations for the use of the md4 200 at each single location of use In detail the legally compliant use of the radio remote control operating in the 35 MHz band Ay the video transmitter in the 2 4 GHz ISM band at 200 mW transmitter output power the flight vehicle itself has to be ensured As the legal restrictions regarding for example gt gt gt gt gt gt gt gt the license to take off the acceptable maximum flying altitude mandatory insurances and other related topics are distinct for each location of operation the user alone is liable for acting in accordance with any relevant laws in this respect If the failure to comply with any of the respective regulations leads to a claim of a third party against the user microdrones GmbH does not accept any responsibility for the damages or financial compensations which may arise ther
92. y is ahway the latest release or update loz 05 2007 11 12 2006 1106 2006 11702 2006 110320086 12 2006 oay2e 2006 as Ap 1 1 723 kb figure 54 screenshot of microdrones download page Download the USB driver as a first step and unzip the file to a directory of your choice Double click on the executable file to install the driver Secure Digital storage device D Fie Edit Wem Favorites Tools Halo g B k u Si p Search Folders Ea Folders K Size is Desktop 435 KB My Documents 404 KE SW My Computer E es P CS Secure Digital storage device EI usb_driver zip Bu 3 F Scan with AYG Free E Set Extrass G3 7 2 F Set Data 1 5 pen With Lb DVD RW Drive 22 Control Panel Send To i 2 Shared Gocuments Cut 9 microdrones s Documents P mal shila Copy You may also double click on the file entry in the archive to do so The successful completion of the operation is indicated by a message box user manual md4 200 Application Software 53 FTOI Driver Installation You may now connect the USB cable to a free port on the notebook Window will remember the USB port Use the same port each A

USER MANUAL md4-200 Version 2.2

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