HoverflyPro™ User's Guide
Contents
1. and X FRONT x HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 44 of 76 4 10 4 Configurations Hex and Y6 FRONT Hex HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 45 of 76 4 10 5 Configurations Octo and X8 FRONT Octo Page 46 of 76 4 10 6 Power Connection Connect the power connection from the wiring harness to the Power connector on the HoverflyPro A 3 pin servo hobby connector should be used from the battery source or connection on the wiring harness The pinout for this connector is shown in Fig 10 below HOVERLYPRO i E K To battery Figure 10 HoverflyPro power connection The Power connector on the HoverflyPro is symmetrical with power in the center and grounds or commons on both sides Therefore the battery connection can be reversed without failure HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 47 of 76 4 10 7 On Screen Display Connection The On Screen Display OSD function overlays flight data on a video signal The user supplied video system can either record the video with OSD overlay or the signal can be transmitted to a ground receiver Using OSD with your aircraft is detailed later in this guide In this section we will cover the wiring connection only 43 i 4 5 W a 9 a Y 0 ES B 9 E gt Ke gt A 4 H o Video ESC Power Ground Figure 11 OSD connection diagram HoverflyPro2. Basic Info Parameters Diagonstics Camera Roll Tilt Tilt Calibration 100 Roll Caibration 100 Roll Center 1500 val irecti Use negative values to reverse direction Page 72 of 76 Appendix A Physical Dimensions 2 75 69 85mm 2 35 59 69mm 2 75 69 85mm NOT TO SCALE 4x 0 257 6 53 mm HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 73 of 76 Appendix B Technical Specifications Parameter Supported Values Battery Source Voltage 7 4V 16 8V ESC output signal PWM Receiver Input Signal PWM all receivers Current consumption lt 200mA PC Connection USB Update Client Operating System Windows XP Vista 7 Mounting Standoffs with vibration grommets Water resistance None ESD requirement User should use appropriate ESD protection HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 74 of 76 1 2 3 Appendix C Quick Start Guide Installation 1 Build and install a single wiring harness connecting the Motors and ESCs This should also include a connector for the battery and power for the HoverflyPro 2 Connect ESCs and Receiver to HoverflyPro using corresponding connection diagram 3 Mount the HoverflyPro using stand offs and the supplied vibration grommets 4 Fit a canopy to protect the flight electronics 5 Make connections for camera mount and OSD if used 6 Update to latest firmware using Update Client ESC Programming Use the ESC m
3. Timing Mode Low Startup Mode Hard or Fast NEVER soft Governor Mode OFF if available HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 34 of 76 4 5 4 2 ESC Calibration Once again it is best to follow the instructions in your ESC manual to perform this calibration However it is critical that you perform this calibration on ALL of the ESCs in your system Start by connecting a single ESC to the throttle channel of the receiver Then connect the battery to the ESC and use the ESC manual to complete the calibration using your transmitter The following steps are the typical calibration procedure for most ESCs ESC Calibration Procedure Turn on your transmitter Move the throttle stick to full all the way up Connect the battery to the ESC Your ESC will beep to indicate it is in programming mode the beep will only be audible when connected to a motor Once in programming mode exit programming mode by moving the throttle back to idle all the way down Wait for confirmation that programming mode has been exited usually a series of beeps when connected to a motor Disconnect your batter and receiver from the ESC Sh OE a OO IN oe Repeat procedure for each and every ESC in your system 4 5 5 Connectors The connections between the wires in your wire harness can be joined in two ways Soldering or Connectors The battery connection to the wire harness will have to be made with a connector so that it can
4. The wiring harness includes the wire connections from the battery through the ESCs to the motors The following diagram is a suggested layout for your wiring harness Use this diagram if you have no experience with building multi rotor aircraft Your layout should differ only if you have extensive experience with wiring HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 36 of 76 ESC outputs HoverflyPro Power for HoverflyPro gt MB Figure 9 Typical wiring harness layout HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 37 of 76 4 6 Airframe The airframe is the solid structure used to fix the motors into a particular configuration and provide a platform for flight electronics and accessories such as cameras Frames should be built from materials that lock the motors orientation and position about the HoverflyPro This guide will not go into great detail about frame construction Users have built frames from everything from towel rods to molded and machined carbon fiber You will want to balance rigidity with weight A fantastically solid frame could be made by welding 1 inch 2 54cm industrial steel together but it may not fly because of the weight it s certainly possible depending on the motors you us it s certainly possible You will want to keep weight in mind when you are building In addition you will want to design your airframe so that you can repair it easily Everyone crashes eventually so the easier it is to
5. 60 O NR 35 45 06 Wiring Harness LAV OUt ies O OA RN 36 4 6 7 38 A651 Airframe Vibration 06 ning 38 2 6 2 2StANG OTfS ies causes 38 4 7 Sii A ce adh GE AEA A dah Caged te ia A AA daacian da endl AAR di 39 4 8 1 ge ol lt 4 lt goepreeee terete tees Peer ee eee ae ee rerT A A A a aia 40 4 9 Canopy and Pressure EQualiZQtion ii a A A a ias Adra 41 2 10 Connectingithe HovertlyPrO ici dade dias a aa ae aa dida AAA EIA ad AAA dadhuddena dualvesgeedecusdevtadesieeusa dea aA d dad aora iia 41 4 10 1 HovertlyPro Orientation E A E dE AAA aa i da dE did 42 HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 7 of 76 4 10 2 Receiver Connection HovertlyP A vege e e Vee ses aadben vessueradeathoeedvaadeanadeeres 43 4 10 3 GONTISUPATIONS SAIN Xe oc IRA cassace ace dans E A a RE A RARA OA ANTO 44 4 10 4 Configurations oqaui a a a a nia 45 4 10 5 6 5 603 0 46 4 10 6 0 47 4 10 7 On ScreeniDisplay CONNE ct ad 48 4 10 8 Camera Mount 49 OPO ATION O TO 51 5 1 BOE a e a e ias ito AA 51 5 2 0 0 52 5 2 1 PRIMAL Gal 0 sceca O NON 52 5 2 2 Olo liae o KCT EEE EEA E TE E TE E R T EEEE RN NR 53 5 3 Arming the PIO case A a RA 54 5 4 Bench Testing inenen aa a tes Cad cutee a aa EEE AA 55 5 5 60 A 55 5 6 BASICENGOE MOE AAA A A A ak ako ha aa Uae abd Ca dN eh ei aa SOMERS A A A Pah ATE EA EERE COREE 57 5 7 Advan
6. Figure 6 Typical RC Receiver 6 channel Spektrum AR600 is shown HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 28 of 76 4 5 Motor Wiring Harness 4 5 1 Proper Soldering read even if you know how to solder The basic motor wiring harness consists of a battery ESCs and motors The ESCs are connected to the HoverflyPro which is covered in the next section The high levels of currents required by the motors through the ESCs from the battery require both correct wire diameter gauge and good solder joints A good solder joint is achieved when both wires and the solder joining them are heated to an equal temperature When the soldering iron is removed the entire joint should be shinny If is dull and not shinny this is called a cold solder joint and will eventually fail In addition high quality solder should be used at all times If the solder contains flux the joint should be cleaned with flux remover after soldering Flux the black goo is an acid meant to etch the metal connections to help the solder adhere to its surface If the flux is left on the connection it will continue to etch the metal and he joint will eventually fail If you are not a qualified electronics technician then you should search for soldering techniques on the internet A piece of heat shrink tubing should be placed one of the wires before joining them with solder The length of heat shrink tubing should be long enough to overlap the joint on both sides by at least 1 2
7. This stick starts in the down position and corresponds to zero throttle and the motors will not spin As the stick is moved up the RPMs of the motors will increase Every quadcopter has a sweet spot based on the weight of the aircraft and motor size where a constant altitude is maintained This is called hovering and occurs when the quadcopter stays a single height above the ground To increase the altitude of the quadcopter the left stick is actuated upwards increasing the speed of the motors This causes the quadcopter to rise and gain altitude To hover at a new altitude the stick is moved back to the sweet spot It will take some time and practice to discover the sweet spot and find it quickly after changing altitude One of the challenges you will have is that the momentum of the quadcopter as it moves up and down requires some throttle counter action In other words after you change altitude you will need to increase or decrease the throttle around the sweet spot to fix the altitude This is especially true when decreasing altitude Once the quadcopter moves down to the desired altitude a swift increase in throttle will be required to offset the momentum of the falling aircraft HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 17 of 76 Transmitter Transmitter Figure 4 Control stick movement and aircraft roll pitch yaw and throttle altitude HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 18 of 76 This leaves one more motion to cover called Yaw Yaw is the
8. o a 6 gt Top CW Video Edad ESC Power Bottom CCW Ground Me T Receiver Connections OSD Connections HOVERLYPRO To Tilt Servo juss Octo X8 To Roll Servo mese m ESC Connections Power Connection Camera Mount Connections HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 76 of 76
9. there are different modes discussed in Chapter 7 the control stick position is equal to the rotational rate of the quadcopter More control input moving the stick up further results in a higher rotational rate Less control input moving the stick up slightly results in a lower rotational rate Rotation degrees sec Figure 3 Rotational rate is proportional to stick angle HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 16 of 76 Therefore in order to move the quadcopter forward without crashing it the pilot must first initiate a slow rotational rate or pitch forward The control input must be centered to maintain the angle of attack of the quadcopter To stop the forward motion the control input must reversed by moving the stick downward slightly to right the quadcopter Then the stick is centered when the quadcopter is level to the ground The right control stick can also be actuated right and left This will cause the quadcopter to rotate right and left called Roll Once again the angle of the control stick is equal to rotation rate Moving to the right would consist of first moving the stick right slightly centering the stick to continue motion then moving the stick left to level the quadcopter So far we have covered Pitch and Roll of the quadcopter but there are two other motions First the left control stick is used to control the altitude of the quadcopter by increasing and decreasing the speed of the motors also referred to as throttle
10. 2 cm Move the heat shrink tubing as far away from the joint before applying heat Otherwise it will shrink before you can slide it over the joint Use a hot air gun or hair dryer to shrink the tubing over the joint Do not use electrical tape because it will eventually un wrap itself and can cause catastrophic failure Do not use wire nuts high current joints require a solid connection between the wires 4 5 2 Current vs Wire Gauge Stranded wire should always be used to build your wiring harness Current actually flows mostly along the surface of a conductor more so in high frequency AC than DC and as a result stranded wire can carry more current than solid wire simply because of the greater surface area This is one reason why battery cables in your car and welding cables are made up of many very fine strands of smaller wire Copper HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 29 of 76 conductors also have resistance that increases with length All wires in your system should be kept as short as possible to reduce this resistance Added length wastes power and your flight times will suffer For example a 1 foot 30cm length of 12 AWG American Wire Gauge used at 12V carrying 25A will consume 4 watts of power The following table may be used to determine the gauge wire that is used in different parts of your wiring harness Consult an online AWG vs length vs current calculator or reference to assure that the wire you choose is sized safely After yo
11. User s Guide Page 48 of 76 The HoverflyPro acts as a pass through overlay video system Flight data is collected by the HoverflyPro and when an incoming video signal is detected the data is overlaid on the signal and then outputted back to the video system Use 3 pin servo hobby connectors to make the connection between your video system and the HoverflyPro The OSD Contrast potentiometer can be adjusted to increase the visibility of the data on your video signal 4 10 8 Camera Mount Connections The Camera Mount outputs on the HoverflyPro control the Manual Tilt and Automatic Tilt compensation and Roll of an attached camera mount The signals are pulse width modulated PWM waveforms compatible with all servos To Tilt Servo To Roll Servo us E Figure 12 Camera Mount connections for roll and tilt control of an external camera mount The top connection should be connected to the Tilt servo on the camera mount This output can be associated with an auxiliary control channel on the transmitter usually a dial or knob The user can vary this control input to manually tilt the camera The bottom connection HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 49 of 76 should be connected to the Roll servo on the camera mount Both Roll and Tilt outputs will automatically adjust the roll and tilt of the camera mount to compensate for the orientation of the aircraft This enhances the captured video by smoothing out the mot
12. Version Move the USB switch to position 1 Start License Agreement Board Mode Connection Update In this step we will flash the board After you press the flash button you will be asked to change the position of the USB switch on your board Please refer to the manual for the k ion and iton of this switch ara Version Flash Log Flashing Success EVT 503 Checking COM51 EVT 505 Propeller chip version 1 found on COM51 EVT 506 Loading RAM EVT 507 Verifying RAM EVT 508 Programming EEPROM EVT 509 Verifying EEPROM INF 451 Success EVT 503 Checking COM51 EVT 505 Propeller chip version 1 found 1 EVT 508 Programming EEPROM EVT 509 Verifying EEPROM Flash the HoverflyPro If Flashing Success is not shown on Flash Log then re flash the board HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 69 of 76 6 2 Setup Utility The Setup Utility is one of the functions available to the user using the Update Client software This will enable the user to visually verify the operational status of the HoverflyPro The user should use this utility to determine if control sticks and switches are configured correctly For example when the user enables the Auto Leveling Function the Flight Mode will show a check box next to this feature The user must place the HoverflyPro into diagnostics mode before the setup client can connect The HoverflyPro will enter diagnostics mode if the Throttle Aileron E
13. beneath the board so a short 1 inch 2 54cm stand off may be used Longer stand offs shorter than 2 inches 5cm should work fine However keep the HoverflyPro mounted as close to the main plate as possible Unreasonably long stand offs will increase vibration and reduce the performance of the HoverflyPro 4 7 Brushless Motors All electric direct current DC motors consist of a rotor rotating element and a stator fixed element On older brushed motors the coil was mounted on the rotor which is mechanically fixed to the shaft of the motor This required brushes pushing onto a commutator The result is low life time and efficiency Modern brushless motors eliminate the lossy commutator by mechanically fixing the shaft to the rotor and mounting the coil on the stator Brushless motors typically have efficiencies greater than 75 can be as high as 95 and much longer life times Brushless motors are used almost extensively for multi rotor aircraft since increased efficiency means longer flight times In addition the power to weight ratio is higher because power is not lost from frictional forces of brushes on a commutator Brushless motors are rated in Ky for voltage constant not to be confused with KV for killi volts The Ky rating of a motor relates to the RPM the motor will spin with 1 volt applied with no load no propeller To illustrate this if a motor has a rating of 500 Ky then it will spin at 500 RPM with no propeller If a b
14. form and function Understand that new revision will be released periodically and you should check periodically for updates HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 11 of 76 2 Introduction to the HoverflyPro This chapter is both an introduction the HoverflyPro and multi rotor aircraft in general It is meant to be resource for anyone just entering the hobby of building and flying multi rotor aircraft Even though many of the concepts presented here are known by experienced users we hope that it useful for all experience levels 2 1 Multi Rotor Aircraft A multi rotor aircraft is a remote controlled vehicle that utilizes more than one motor to provide lift and control flight Just as a table must have three legs at a minimum a multi rotor aircraft must have three motors It is possible to have fly a vehicle through the air using only two motors but that is not the intent of the HoverflyPro We consider a multi rotor vehicle to contain at least three motors However this would require that one or more of the motors could turn on an axis perpendicular to the center of the airframe Therefore the minimum number of motors that must be used with the HoverflyPro is four 4 In addition the orientation of these motors needs to be at equal angles Fora four motor aircraft the orientation of the motors would be all pointing in the same direction usually up and they would be positioned at the end of two straight crossed members as shown bel
15. the ESC manual The HoverflyPro will beep 2 times and flash it s LED light green when it is ready to be armed To Arm the HoverflyPro and aircraft move the throttle stick to the left bottom until you hear two beeps Move the throttle stick to the right bottom The HoverflyPro s LED will blink RED During this period the HoverflyPro is calibrating it s internal sensors and should remain motionless do not arm while holding the aircraft OF OT AAN N When arming is complete the HoverflyPro will Beep 3 times At this time the LED light will turn solid green The HoverflyPro is now armed and the aircraft is ready to fly If the Hoverfly s LED light turns Purple at any point during the arming sequence ensure altitude hold is disabled and the aircraft remains motionless while arming Repeat the arming sequence Disarming Procedure 1 Move your throttle stick to idle 2 Move throttle stick to left bottom until you hear two beep 3 Move throttle stick to right bottom until you hear three beeps 4 HoverflyPro is disarmed HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 54 of 76 5 4 Bench Testing Before taking your aircraft to the field you will want to completely check its operation It is recommended that you mount the aircraft to a sturdy test bench The mounting should be sturdy enough that at full power the aircraft will not free itself from the bench Make sure that when the motors are rotating that there are not objects that will fly
16. the user inputs calibration values into the parameters tab of the setup client HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 60 of 76 5 9 On Screen Display OSD Function The On Screen Display OSD function is always available to the user There is no need to activate this function Flight data is continuous gathered by the HoverflyPro and overlaid on the video signal The following Table X lists the currently supported data shown on the OSD Table 4 Supported OSD Flight Data Flight Parameter Availability Battery Voltage Enabled Altitude Enabled G Force Enabled Artificial Horizon Under Development Compass Direction Requires HoverGPS Distance from Home Requires HoverGPS Direction to Home Requires HoverGPS Speed over ground Requires HoverGPS Current Future Option HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 61 of 76 6 Update Client The Hoverfly Technologies Update Client is used to load the most current firmware onto the HoverflyPro and future add on boards The Update Client requires a PC running Windows XP Vista 7 Mac OS not currently available Download the latest version of the Update Client from http www hoverflytech com Software Updates html HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 62 of 76 6 1 Firmware Updates To use the software simply connect the HoverflyPro via the supplied USB cable to the computer Follow the instructions for
17. Guide If you already have a multi rotor aircraft built and just want to Plug N Fly you can jump directly to Appendix C Quick Start Guide 1 1 Content Division This document is divided into the following chapters e Chapter 2 Introduction to the HoverflyPro a description of the hardware e Chapter 3 What s Included a brief list of the items included with your product e Chapter 4 Installation and Building provides information on configurations wiring and mounting e Chapter 5 Operation explains the different flight modes and set ups required e Chapter 6 Update Client describes the operation and use of the firmware Update Client HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 10 of 76 1 2 When to use the guide This guide is intended for builders and users of the HoverflyPro It should be used when first installing the unit before first flying your aircraft and throughout the use of the product The guide assumes that the user has some knowledge of power and servo connections basic electronics and updating the firmware of electronic devices 1 3 Format The manual was formatted in Landscape mode to make it easier for the user to read on a typical widescreen display This decision was made because it is distributed electronically rather than in printed hardcopy form 1 4 Revisions This guide should be considered a living document There will almost certainly be errors both in
18. HoverflyPro User s Guide The information contained in this publication regarding device applications and use is intended by way of suggestion only and may be superseded by updates or revisions No representation or warranty is given and no liability is assumed by Hoverfly Technologies Inc with respect to the accuracy or use of such information or infringement of patents arising from such use or their compliance to any industry standards Use of Hoverfly Technologies Inc products as critical components in any life saving systems is not authorized except with express written approval No licenses are conveyed implicitly or otherwise under intellectual property rights Copyright Hoverfly Technologies Inc 2010 All rights reserved Except as permitted under the Copyright Act of 1976 US Code 102 101 122 no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means or stored in a database or retrieval system without the prior written permission of Hoverfly Technologies Inc This document is distributed by Hoverfly Technologies Inc electronically and may not be printed and distributed without written permission Cover Art and Illustrations Alfred D Ducharme except where noted Written by Alfred D Ducharme with editing provided by George Sapp November 2010 Rev 1 2 HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 2 of 76 Thank You for Purchasing the HoverflyPro We started this company wit
19. Mode Flight Assist Modes The difference between Basic and Advanced Flight Modes is the use of the Altitude Hold and Auto Leveling functions These are explained in more detail here 5 7 1 Altitude Hold Function In order for Altitude Hold to be enabled you must have already associated a sixth channel with a two position switch as described in 5 2 2 The Altitude Hold Gain must have also been set to a starting value of 25 The Altitude Hold Gain is used by the altitude hold control algorithm based on the on board barometric pressure sensor The pressure sensor is used to determine the altitude of the aircraft When the Altitude Hold function is enabled the HoverflyPro uses the pressure sensor to maintain a constant altitude Small disturbances will cause the aircraft to float around the altitude when the Altitude Hold function was enabled To use the Altitude Hold Function rise to a safe altitude that you would like the aircraft to maintain Then activate the Altitude Hold Function by turning the associated switch to on or enabled position is user dependent The aircraft will rise and fall within a range of altitude around HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 57 of 76 WA the chosen altitude The pilot can increase or decrease the Altitude Hold Gain to increase or decrease the range of altitudes This function is only accurate to a few feet up and down under the best conditions 5 7 2 Auto Leveling Function The Auto Level
20. You should follow all manufacturers warnings concerning using and charging your batteries A cell balancer should always be used on high capacity LiPo batteries Do not charge your batteries at a current greater than specified by the manufacturer Care must also be taken with respect the maximum discharge current the battery can handle safely You should buy a watt meter and place it into your wiring harness during testing don t leave it in place while flying since it will add weight Measure the maximum current draw from your battery source while the multi rotor aircraft is mounted to a test bench Make sure that you are not exceeding the manufacturer s specifications The HoverflyPro has on board circuitry to monitor battery voltage Future functionality may indicate to the pilot that the battery source requires re charging A low cost battery voltage alarm can be purchased and mounted permanently as part of your wiring harness The alarm will sound when you need to land immediately and re charge Drawing your battery below the safe cell voltage will limit its lifetime Danger Use extreme care when using LiPo batteries they can be extremely dangerous under certain conditions and when damaged HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 31 of 76 4 5 4 Electronic Speed Controllers ESCs In this guide we will limit the information provided to brushless motors since the use of brushed motors is not commonly seen in recent times It should also b
21. ains altitude while turning in the CW direction To Yaw the quadcopter in the CCW direction the see saw balance is reversed The transmitter sticks allow the pilot to control the Roll Pitch Yaw and altitude of the quadcopter All of the complexity of flying a naturally unstable quadcopter is handled by the HoverflyPro Even environmental disturbances such as wind are monitored to enable consistent flight Flying a quadcopter with a HoverflyPro is a bit different from other aircraft such as planes and helicopters Take for example the case where the quadcopter is flying into a gust of wind The HoverflyPro will compensate for the wind so that the same user inputs achieve the same flight as in windless conditions The pilot will then only need to adjust the throttle to maintain level flight similar to an airplane or HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 19 of 76 helicopter The difference with a plane is the reaction that the aircraft will have to the increased airspeed over the wings The quadcopter will feel the same going into wind whereas a plane will not Other flight modes such as Auto Leveling change the flight characteristics of a multi rotor aircraft and make it even easier to fly These modes will be covered in Chapter 7 However the beginning pilot should start with the basic rotational rate input flight mode 2 4 HoverCore The HoverflyPro flight controller system is based on our core Sensor Data Fusion technology c
22. alled HoverCore Lots of data from accelerometers and gyroscopes is useless no matter how fast you sample if the data is not fused effectively to provide stable flight control outputs Our propriety HoverCore algorithm utilizes parallel processing architecture to independently collect senor data Then the algorithm utilizes custom digital filtering to extract only the necessary variables from all available data The flight control algorithm utilizes the data it needs to generate Pulse Width Modulated PWM signals to accurately control external ESCs All of this happens hundreds of times a second to provide reliable and highly stable flight control HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 20 of 76 3 What s included 3 1 In the box The following items should all be included with your HoverflyPro product e HoverflyPro e Vibration Grommets e USB Cable e HoverCore sticker when in stock Suggestion When you are finished building your multi rotor aircraft place the HoverCore sticker on the airframe or canopy and send us a picture to post on our website Mailto info hoverflytech com HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 21 of 76 3 2 Also included In addition to the hardware you purchased the following is included with your purchase e HoverflyPro User s Guide this manual Downloadable in PDF format from http www hoverflytech com Support e E Mail support support hoverflytech com e Forum Supp
23. anual and set the following Brake OFF Battery Type NIMH even when using LiPo Cut Off Type SOFT CUTOFF Cut Off Voltage LOW Timing Mode LOW Startup Mode HARD or FAST Governor Mode OFF ESC Calibration Follow the ESCs manual and calibrate ALL ESCs 4 5 Transmitter Programming 1 Use the transmitter manual 2 Use a new Acro airplane model or set one to factory default settings 3 Set End Point Adjustments to 100 and for Roll Pitch Yaw and Throttle 4 Set Channel Reverse to normal reverse all on Futaba 5 Center all Trims and Sub Trims 6 Turn off Expo until confident with flight 7 Set att Dual Rates to 100 8 Set Primary Gain to 25 on fifth channel by adjusting EPA 9 When using Auto Leveling set Gain to 25 by adjusting EPA on the sixth channel Check Operation 1 Use the Setup Utility feature of the Update Client Software to verify all channels and sensor operation 2 Mount aircraft to test bench 3 ARM using procedure in User s Guide 4 Check ALL motor rotations and Fl confirm thrust is down We recommend reading the complete User s Guide available at www hoverfitytech com HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 75 of 76 Appendix D Connection Reference FRONT P4 Hex 1 To Video System OSD Contrast Gear Primary Gain EPA Auto Leveling Enable Aux1 Altitude Hold Gain EPA Altitude Hold Enable Aux3 Camera Tilt E
24. attery with a voltage of 11 1V is used with this motor then it could theoretically achieve 5550 RPMs However HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 39 of 76 in reality this is a good rule of thumb but an effect called back EMF may keep the motor from reaching this speed Every motor has a base speed that it can operate below that occurs with the back EMF equals the battery voltage An exact RPM can be calculated using an online tool http www peakeff com or a program like MotoCalc The speed of the motor and the size of the propeller determines the amount of thrust that can be generated The weight of the multi rotor aircraft will govern how much thrust is required to hover and move it through the air In order to specify your motor propeller and battery requirements you will need to us a program like MotoCalc 4 8 Propellers Multi rotor aircraft require the use of an equal number of propeller and motors In addition half of the propellers need to spin clockwise and the other half in the counter clockwise direction also called counter rotating configuration This means that the pitch must be opposite for different directions lt is recommended that you use 10 12 inch 25 4 30 48 cm diameter propellers with 3 8 4 5 pitch There are several brands to choose from but we have found APC to be durable and consistent One in particular is the APC 12x3 8 SFP Slow Flyer Counter Rotating Propeller Each time your place propellers on your aircraft
25. be removed for charging All other connections can be made by soldering the wires together and then covered with heat shrink tubing as explained in a previous section 4 3 1 However we do recommend this approach At some point during the use of your aircraft a major component such as a motor or ESC will need to be replaced As a trade off however connector are heavier slightly than solder joints We recommend that you use connectors between all major components when HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 35 of 76 you build your first multi rotor aircraft This will make life much easier especially when you are going through set up and discover that a motor direction needs to be reversed You won t be able to do this with the transmitter but if you use connectors it s a quick fix more on this later Experienced users will have their own methodology for the when to use connectors Remember that just like the wire gauge you choose the connectors must also be sized correctly All connectors have an associated current capacity You should follow the manufacturer s specification when designing your wire harness When soldering your connectors and covering them with heat shrink take your time and make sure that two adjacent connectors cannot physically touch conductor to conductor This will result in a short and may lead to failure of the aircraft during flight Figure 8 Typical power and brushless motor connectors 4 5 6 Wiring Harness Layout
26. ced Flight Mode Flight Assist MO S ccccssssessssccecsssesensesessesnssacsesecsessuensesassesecsssesnsansesecsensnaasecessssaaaaassesecsessauaaaasesecessssaaanaesecesaaasasaesecseseueaanaasaeees 57 5 7 1 Altitude Hold FUNCtON sinsin innean 19 32 57 572 Auto Leveling a a e E Ei 58 5 8 o iaaiaee EEPE ATEA EEEE E E EET A EEEE ETET E E EEA AE T AOE 60 HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 8 of 76 5 9 On Screen Display OSD FUNCTION ida 61 6 Update Client 62 6 1 7 63 6 1 1 Programming DIP SWItGh POSITIONS A A ira 63 6 12 Update Procedure ia 25 64 6 2 SAUS ad t aa a aa a daid 70 6 2 1 Basic intormation Tabeiros iniii ii nd a ia iA K EE AAA a aE ai ia E ia ea aa iE 70 62 2 ParaMmeters Ta ii A AA A EAS EE A E A A AT 72 Appendix A Physical 3 2 1 02 5 1510 3 Appendix B ications ii cuGesvestedeenesnveouessaeeucesssesvessotedeesssds veseatoauesdedesessGuseuueesvcecuesenvesues dodecuesuntesseseoe 74 Appendix G Quick Start Guid ooo irnos r eects i EEEE eo EE REEE AAA 75 APpendiX D CONNECtiON Referente cuco tiara AAA inicia 76 HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 9 of 76 1 About this guide Ideally this User s Guide represents the complete documentation for the HoverflyPro We will make corrections and revision changes as needed and certainly when new features are added Quick Start
27. corresponds to the commanded position of a servo A short pulse would drive a servo to its minimum range and a long pulse to the maximum range When the PWM signal is fed into an ESC the short pulses would signify low throttle or no throttle and long pulse to high throttle The use of throttle here is related to the original use of a servo to literally close and open an air fuel mixture carburetor on a gas engine For brushless motors we use low throttle to mean low RPMs and high throttle for high RPMs All ESCs operate functionally the same but there are preferred brands that change over time This information can be found on a forum such as RCgroups com However the size of an ESC refers to the amount of current that it can handle Each ESC will have an associated current rating and you must carefully design your motor drive system with this in mind As a general rule you should always use an ESC with twice the maximum current that you believe will be utilized by the motors You can match the maximum current to the ESC current rating assuming that the manufacturer also used a safety buffer in the rating However we strongly recommend that you over specify your ESCs If one fails the aircraft may become unstable if you do not have redundancy built into the system such as with an X8 configuration As part of your field box you should purchase a watt meter that also measures current These simple and fairly inexpensive devices connect in line with ba
28. ds the pilots control inputs the sticks to the Receiver on board the aircraft The Receiver is then connected to the HoverflyPro The HoverflyPro is then connected to the Brushless Electronic Speed Controllers ESCs The function of HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 14 of 76 the ESCs is to take information from the HoverflyPro and turn it into a 3 phase control signal This 3 phase signal drives the brushless motor to attain a rotational speed to a certain number of revolutions per minute RPM Figure 2 Diagram showing the operation of the HoverflyPro on a quadcopter Ideally under perfect windless conditions while the control inputs are centered the RPMs of all motors is equal If a disturbance to the environment occurs such as a gust of wind the HoverflyPro will change the RPMs each motor to continue to maintain the commanded center stick orientation Thereby maintaining the position of the aircraft HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 15 of 76 In order to move the quadcopter forward the pilot would actuate the elevator European customers may use left stick on mode 1 transmitters maybe find a different term control input up on the transmitter This will cause the HoverflyPro to rotate the quadcopter forward called Pitch If the pilot continues to hold the stick in the forward position the quadcopter will continue to pitch forward and eventually turn completely upside down This is because in normal mode of flight
29. e noted that brushed motors generate a large amount of Electro Magnetic Pulse noise because of the arcing between the brushes and the contacts on the rotor Use of brushed motors has not been tested on the HoverflyPro and it is recommended that the user NOT use them An Electronic Speed Control or Electronic Speed Controller ESC is an electronic circuit that has two primary functions First the ESC regulates the battery source down to the voltage needed by servos and the RC receiver Second the ESC converts the signals from the RC receiver to a brushless motor control output The regulation is used by your receiver and servos such as camera tilt discussed later but is not used by the HoverflyPro In fact there is no circuit connection between this regulated voltage and the main processing electronics on the HoverflyPro This is why a separate connection from the battery to the Power input on the HoverflyPro is required more on this in following sections To Motor Figure 7 Typical Electronic Speed Controller ESC for brushless motors HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 32 of 76 The input signals to the ESC produced by the RC receiver are what are called Pulse Width Modulated PWM waveforms The voltage levels of this signal vary in time between the common voltage thought of as 0 volts and the RC receiver voltage typically 5 or 6 volts The PWM signal consists of square pulses separated in time where the width of the pulse
30. flyPro to the standoffs will negate the beneficial aspects of the grommets Hand tighten these screws lightly to hold the HoverflyPro onto the airframe but do not compress the grommets too much The HoverCore algorithm is smart enough to discount most of the airframe vibrations This is done so that only the actual rotation and acceleration of the aircraft are utilized However every effort should be made to build a solid airframe devoid of vibration HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 23 of 76 4 2 Configurations The HoverflyPro can be configured using the Update Client see Chapter 6 so that it may be used on several different types of multi rotor aircraft The basic configurations are X Hex Octo Y6 and X8 All of these configurations are shown in Fig 5 shown below HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 24 of 76 FRONT XOX EJ gt Hex Octo Y6 8 Figure 5 Supported configurations CW Clockwise and CCW Counter Clockwise Larger disc indicates bottom motor HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 25 of 76 4 3 Transmitter The transmitter used to pilot a multi rotor aircraft but it also controls many of the advanced features of the HoverflyPro The four main controls are the sticks on the transmitter that control the Roll Pitch Yaw and Throttle altitude of the aircraft These controls are described in Fig 4 The transmitter also controls advanced functions such as camera tilt contro
31. h one goal in mind to make things that hover and fly All of us have enjoyed the thrill of RC for many years We have poured our heart and souls into our hobbies and flown drove and sailed just about everything In the last few years the feasibility of making Inertial Motion Units IMUs at a price that the average hobbyist could afford has become a reality Many high volume consumer applications utilizing gyroscope accelerometer pressure magnetometer and GPS have shrunk both the size and cost of these sophisticated devices The affordability of IMUs has enabled an explosion of activity in the building and flying of multi rotor aircraft Part of this is the inherent need for hobbyist to build something new to fly or control The rest of the enthusiasm lies in the amazing flight capabilities of hovering multi rotor aircraft They enable the pilot to navigate the airspace in ways only imaginable a few years ago Add a camera and the user can gain amazing views of the world around us There has been a great deal of attention on the prototyping and productization of IMU s in the last year Yet many attempts fail because without in depth knowledge on how these devices operate and how to fuse the data into stabile flight outputs is extremely difficult The staff at Hoverfly Technologies all have advanced degrees in engineering and never shy away from challenging problems The stable control of a 6 Degree of Freedom 6DOF aircraft is one of the most comple
32. ing function should already be associated with the Primary Gain switch When the Auto Leveling Function is enabled the HoverCore algorithm will automatically force the aircraft into a level position The user can still off set the orientation of the aircraft using the control sticks for Roll Pitch and Yaw However the flight behavior will feel different to the user because the HoverCore is fighting against the flight controls The flight input from the transmitter will dominate the control but in general the aircraft will not be as responsive The Auto Leveling Function is especially useful for capturing on board video The reduced need to maintain orientation by user control will increase your ability to concentrate on the field of view or your video HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 58 of 76 5 7 2 1 How to reduce Drift when using Auto Level function HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 59 of 76 5 8 Camera Functions The primary camera functions controlled by the HoverflyPro are Roll and Tilt The Tilt axis can be associated with a dial or knob control input on the transmitter This allows the pilot to manually tilt the camera mount The direction of tilt can be chosen by the pilot The Roll and Tilt outputs automatically compensate for the orientation of the aircraft platform This enhances video capture by smoothing out the motion of the aircraft The Roll and Tilt camera mount outputs are always available but require that
33. ion of the aircraft visible on the video HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 50 of 76 5 Operation In this chapter operating and flying your multi rotor aircraft will described in detail Before beginning the procedures in this chapter your entire multi rotor aircraft should be completely built and ready to fly This includes charging the battery source but not connecting to the wire harness 5 1 Before Flight Before flying your aircraft you should check that all of the following items have been completed amp SKA 6 Motors are installed with balanced propellers Check pitch and rotation for each motor with the corresponding diagram When the motor is spinning in the indicated direction CW or CCW the pitch should direct the thrust downward None of the connectors are shorting to each other or the frame if made from conducting material All wires are secured so that they cannot move into the spinning propellers None of the propellers are damaged Each of the ESC are programmed and calibrated correctly see previous chapter for settings HoverflyPro is connected to the battery source All HoverflyPro connections to the ESCs and Receiver have been made correctly The latest HoverflyPro firmware is loaded see Chapter 6 The transmitter is programmed and set to the correct model The testing area is clear of anything that could fly up and damage the aircraft You follow all flying protocol such as ai
34. iver Channels Pitch Rate Aileron Roll Rate Throttle Elevator Rudder Yaw Rate 0 Tilt Accelerometer Battery 12 6 Pitch Angle Main Gain 451 Altitude Gain 451 Roll Angle Flight Modes Firmware Info Rx Diag Autoleveling Enabled Version 2069 Pr 0 Altitude Hold Enabled Mode Sec 0 Position Hold Enabled Figure 16 Screen shot of Setup Utility Position Hold requires HoverGPS add on board HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 71 of 76 6 2 2 Parameters Tab The parameters tab includes user adjustable parameters Additional parameters may be available in future software revisions currently the tab is devoted to the Camera Mount parameters Start by connecting the HoverflyPro and running the HoverflyPro Setup Utility Select the Parameters Tab and connect to the board using the Connect button Set the Roll and Tilt sliders to 100 and the Tilt Center to 1500 Do not enter numbers into the fields you must use the sliders to adjust these parameters The right and left arrow keys on your keyboard can be used to fine tune the sliders Click the Save button If the motion of the camera is too slow increase the value of the axis until it meets the desired response speed If the movement is in the opposite direction make the parameter value negative If the camera Roll axis is not level adjust the Roll Center parameter until it is HoverflyPro User s Guide
35. l gain altitude hold and auto leveling These functions are described in more detail in Chapter 5 You must use a transmitter that has the capability to program or set the End Point Adjustment EPA also called ATV values for channels separately 4 3 1 Basic Flight Requirement Basic flight requires the use of 5 channels The four main channels are associated with the two control sticks and are used for Roll Pitch Yaw and Throttle The fifth additional channel is used to control the Gain of the HoverflyPro control The Gain is the parameter that is used to tune the performance of your multi rotor aircraft This subject is covered in Chapter 5 Following the manual supplied with your transmitter configure it according to these parameters Keep in mind that your radio may not have some of the settings listed In general the default Acro configuration of most radios is a good starting point Do not use Heli mode The following should be set for all channels HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 26 of 76 Table 1 Transmitter parameter settings Parameter Setting End point adjustment 100 for and sides Dual Rates D R 100 Channel Reverse Normal HiTec Spektrum JR Reversed Futaba Trims Centered Sub Trims Centered Exponential After experienced is gain add up to 30 into aileron and elevator 4 3 2 Advanced Flight Requirement Advanced flight utilizes what we call Flight Assi
36. le x has 2 motors in the front and 2 in the back Quadcopter Flight Control Systems Select Aircraft Configuration HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 66 of 76 fa En In this step we will check that your hoverfly board is connected to your computer correctly You must only connect the board you selected in the Board step and will not be able to proceed until the device status below reads Connected Check the pictures in this tab to ensure you have your board connected properly You do not need to provide power to the board in order for it to be detected Picture of Board connected to USB Device Status Connected Download Driver Wait for board to Connect Use Download Driver only if board will not connect HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 67 of 76 5 a Hoverfly Update Client In this step we will flash the board After you press the flash button you will be asked to change the position of the USB switch on your board Please refer to the manual for the location and positon of this switch a Ye e One Select One 2 053 Select desired Software Version HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 68 of 76 In this step we will flash the board After you press the flash button you will be asked to change the position of the USB There are 2 files to flash switch on your board Please refer to the manual for the 0 k iton of this switch Software
37. levator or rudder channels are not connected The easiest way to reach diagnostics mode is to simply plug the USB cable into your HoverflyPro without plugging in your main battery This way your receiver will not receive power and the HoverflyPro will automatically enter diagnostics mode on start up 6 2 1 Basic Information Tab Once the HoverflyPro Setup Utility is installed and the board is connected via USB you will see real time feedback on the operation of the HoverflyPro Understand that the buttons and sliders are not user adjustable they are only a visual display of current values When the board or aircraft if it is already installed is moved Roll Pitch and Yaw the Gyro and Accelerometer values will change When the receiver and transmitter are turned on the Receiver Channel sliders will show the current positions of the control sticks Additional information such as firmware version gains and battery voltage are also displayed Understand that the Gain values may not correspond exactly to the EPA values on your transmitter The user can also flip Auto Leveling and Altitude Hold switches on the transmitter The detected position and corresponding function will be shown on the Setup Utility under Flight Modes The Position Hold is only used with the HoverGPS addon board HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 70 of 76 a Hoverfly Setup Utility Download Driver Mf Connect Basic Info Parameters Diagonstics Gyro Rece
38. of 25 is used These are good starting values for the Primary Gain These values can be adjusted when you tune your aircraft 5 2 2 Altitude Hold Gain When using the HoverflyPro in Advanced Flight Mode a sixth control channel is required This channel should be associated with another two position switch that is capable of adjustable EPA Just as with the Primary Gain switch the positive side is used for enabling the Altitude Hold function and the negative side is used for disabling the Altitude Hold function Referring to Fig 13 above select the sixth channel used for Altitude Hold for programming Use the same starting values for Altitude Hold Gain The positive value is used for Altitude Hold Gain and this function is enabled with the switch is in this position The negative value is not used but you need to make sure that it is a negative value Making the two values positive and negative is recommended HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 53 of 76 5 3 Arming the HoverflyPro In order to use the HoverflyPro and your aircraft you will have to connect the battery and arm the system This should be done in the Bench Testing procedure after the aircraft is mounted to a test bench The procedure will be described here so that you are familiar with it before starting your bench tests Arming Procedure Move your throttle stick to idle Connect the battery source The ESCs should initialize within 5 10 seconds and beep according to
39. ort http www rcgroups com hoverfly technologies 711 e Firmware Update Client http www hoverflytech com Software_Updates html e Free firmware updates Using the free Update Client IMPORTANT Check your Update Client for firmware updates often Updates will include new features and possibly critical revisions of the firmware HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 22 of 76 4 Installation and Building In this section you will find detailed information concerning multi rotor configurations wiring and installing the HoverflyPro It is recommended that even experienced builders read this chapter carefully Proper operation of the HoverflyPro relies on the proper installation of the electrical and mechanical parts of the aircraft Failure to carefully build your aircraft and properly install the HoverflyPro WILL result in POOR performance and potentially hazardous operation 4 1 Vibration The HoverflyPro utilizes extremely sensitive gyroscopes and accelerometers to monitor the orientation and motion of a multi rotor aircraft These sensors will register even the slightest vibration existing in the airframe Unbalanced or damaged propellers are one of the biggest contributors of unwanted vibration The special vibration grommets included with the HoverflyPro should be used at all times These grommets mechanically de couple the HoverflyPro from the airframe substantially Over tightening the screws holding the Hover
40. our aircraft One moment of showing off can lead to a lifetime of regret There are old pilots and bold pilots but there are few old bold pilots HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 5 of 76 Table of Contents i ABOUT HIS guide TEE EERTE E EE E E TEE EE E ET E TE E T E 10 1 1 CONTENE DIVISION 002 10 1 2 WENO USE The QUIDE aci A A A A A A AA tid DS Ainsa 11 1 3 EDO EEA A AE E EA E TEE E A EE E TEE AA A EAT 11 1 4 50 11 2 introduction to the Hove rflyPro M issor vessde Coyotes sdeteuceesouedsseceve Ubu veuetsscdeueseessuciosceedestbeveceiescovessseveeedeeas Soise eor SSe SEET aT 12 2 1 AALA oao h Ei E EE EAE EE EAE OE EE E EE E de UAE 12 2 2 PUI LS iio AAA E A AAA AA 205 13 2 3 Function of the HOVe VPO A da iaa 14 2 4 FIOVON CONC Te ea ca OEA asc cesneaastuouesiacs AEE A tania teeta wetness 20 SAT AAA A A A AA E E AE AEE 21 3 1 0 il eds i Sd 21 3 2 PISO TIN NN 22 23 lt lt 0 Installation 4 HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 6 of 76 23 4 1 4 2 CONPIGUIATIONS NN NN 24 4 3 0 26 4 3 1 Basie Flight NN 26 4 3 2 Advanced Flight REQUIREMENT 27 4 4 00 5 0 a a e Sao Be oe casa ana ee Pasta oe ae area E tte ah a aia 28 4 5 Motor Wiri g 655 22 29 4 5 1 Proper Soldering read even if you 7 29 45 2 A A SA RS 29 CA E A RAY 31 4 5 4 Electronic Speed Con E a actes 32 4 5 5
41. ow Fig 1 HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 12 of 76 Figure 1 Basic Quadcopter or Quadrocopter motor configuration frame by Droidworx 2 2 Purpose The HoverflyPro in a very basic sense is the middle man between your control inputs and the motor electronic speed controllers ESCs Without it the aircraft would be nearly if not completely impossible to fly The original stealth fighter the Lockheed F 117 Nighthawk first flown in 1981 was a revolutionary aircraft for two reasons First the stealth technology provided nearly invisible flight through the most sophisticated radar patrolled areas Second the best pilots couldn t fly it safely How could this be The same invisibility stealth technology yielded an aircraft with very unstable flight characteristics So the second revolutionary aspect of the F 117 wasn t that it couldn t be flown HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 13 of 76 but rather a Flight Computer was needed between the pilot and the control surfaces The HoverflyPro acts as the Flight Computer for your own multi rotor aircraft The primary function of the HoverflyPro is to monitor the orientation of the aircraft and drive the multiple motors to achieve stable flight The user s control inputs are then used to adjust the aircraft away from a stable orientation by pitching rolling and yawing spinning the platform These actions cause the aircraft to move in different directions so that it can effecti
42. programming included in the Update Client software 6 1 1 Programming DIP Switch Positions The Programming DIP switch needs to be moved to different positions when programming and setting up your HoverflyPro The function of this switch is to change the USB connection from between the two microcontrollers Depending on when you purchased your HoverflyPro the Programming Switch may have either a single or double actuator The positions are shown on Fig 15 On the DIP switch with two actuators both switches need to be moved Figure 15 DIP switch positions for single and double actuator models HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 63 of 76 6 1 2 Update Procedure Welcome to Hoverfly Technologies Update Client The Update Client can be used to program your board with software updates It can also be used to change the mode motor configuration of the software on your board Please click next to proceed Required Equipment Legal Notice All notices from Hoverfly Technologies Inc to You may be posted on our Web site and will be deemed delivered within thirty 30 days after posting Notices from You to HoverFly Technologies Inc shall be made either by e mail sent to the address we provide on our Web site or first dass mail to our address at 1511 East Road 434 Suite 2001 Winter Springs FL 32708 Delivery shall be deemed to have been made by You to Hoverfly Technologies Inc five 5 days after the date sen
43. rcraft A hole in the direction of the forward airflow will cause the pressure internally to increase when the aircraft is moving forward This results in a difference between the local air pressure and the effective pressure inside the canopy A hole is usually not needed since the wires to and from the HoverflyPro typically requires a large hole in the bottom of the mounting plate This should be sufficient for air pressure equalization 4 10 Connecting the HoverflyPro Once the airframe is built motors mounted with propellers and the wiring harness is installed it is time to mount the HoverflyPro and connect it to the ESCs and Receiver This part of the installation can be a bit confusing depending on the number of motors and channels your aircraft requires This section has been divided into each configuration to make the required connections more clear HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 41 of 76 4 10 1 HoverflyPro Orientation The white line and FRONT markings on the HoverflyPro indicate the orientation of the printed circuit board PCB The picture below illustrates the correct orientation of the HoverflyPro Forward Flight HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 42 of 76 4 10 2 Receiver Connection to HoverflyPro Gear Primary Gain EPA Auto Leveling Enable Aux1 Altitude Hold Gain EPA Altitude Hold Enable Aux3 Camera Tilt HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 43 of 76 4 10 3 Configurations
44. repair the more time you will have in the air 4 6 1 Airframe Vibration Dampening This chapter started with a discussion concerning vibration 4 1 There are simple things that can be done to reduce airframe vibration A technique that yields very good results is to mount the arms of the frame to the main hub with dampening material If the arms are sandwiched between two plates silicon rubber can be used to between each side of the arm and the hub plates Another method that works well is to use O rings as washers when mounting the arms to the hub plate 4 6 2 Stand offs The HoverflyPro should be mounted to the main platform using stand offs These are cylindrical aluminum plastic or rubber legs that are either threaded or hollow to accept a long mounting screw The supplied vibration grommets should be used at all times between the HoverflyPro and the stand off mounting screws Do NOT over tighten the mounting screws You can damage the printed circuit board HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 38 of 76 PCB and reduce the performance of the aircraft Screws should be hand tightened ONLY until the vibration grommets just begin to compress Add on boards such as the HoverGPS must be attached to the expansion port of the HoverflyPro Stand offs between the boards must be used to keep the boards together under the stresses of flight The stand off length should be kept as short as possible You will most likely have to fit wires
45. rport locality no power lines no children etc HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 51 of 76 5 2 Setting Gain There are two Gain settings on the HoverflyPro one for Altitude hold and one for setting the primary gain of the HoverflyPro The primary Gain setting controls the HoverCore flight stability algorithms This gain will be used to tune the flight characteristics of your aircraft The second Gain is for Altitude Hold Gain and specifically controls the sensitivity of the altitude hold algorithm 5 2 1 Primary Gain The Primary Gain for the HoverCore flight stability algorithm is set by the End Point Adjustment EPA value on channel 5 This channel should be associated with a two position switch This channel is also used to activate and disable the Auto Leveling Flight Assist mode You need to adjust the EPA on the and sides of the channel travel The EPA value on each side is the gain that will be used with and without the Auto Leveling function This is illustrated in the diagram below Fig 13 HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 52 of 76 Figure 13 Example transmitter programming for EPA JR9303 shown According to Fig 13 when the Channel 5 or Primary Gain switch is in the negative position then the Auto Leveling Mode is disabled and a Primary Gain of 25 is used by the HoverCore algorithm When the Primary Gain switch is in the positive position the Auto Level Mode is enabled and a Primary gain
46. spin of the quadcopter around the vertical axis First let s take a look at how the quadcopter counteracts Yaw A traditional helicopter has a single rotor spinning in a constant direction In addition a helicopter has a tail boom with a smaller vertical rotor The pitch or speed of the tail rotor is used to counteract the rotational force of the main rotor Without the tail rotor and many of us have unfortunately experienced this in a failure of the tail rotor the helicopter will spin in the opposite direction of the main rotor The tail rotor maintains the forward direction of the helicopter Turning the helicopter or inducing Yaw requires a change in the tail rotor A quadcopter lacks the tail rotor of a traditional helicopter So how is Yaw control achieved Remember that the helicopter has a single rotor spinning in a constant direction In order to control Yaw a quadcopter has to balance the rotational force of the four motors This is achieved very simply by spinning two motors in the clockwise CW direction and two motors in the counter clockwise CCW direction With all four motors spinning at the same RPM the rotational forces are balanced so that the quadcopter doesn t spin In order to command the quadcopter to spin in the CW direction this balance is adjusted The speed of the CW motors is increased while the speed of the CCW motors is decreased The overall thrust is maintained by this see saw increase decrease so that the quadcopter maint
47. st modes that relieve some of the flight management from the pilot The first Flight Assist mode is Auto Leveling that actively forces the aircraft in to stable level flight The second Flight Assist mode is Altitude Hold that maintains the current altitude when activated The Auto Leveling mode utilizes the fifth channel of the transmitter which serves a dual role For Basic Flight the fifth channel is used to tune the aircraft using Gain In Advanced Flight this same channel is used to activate the Auto Leveling mode For this reason the fifth channel must be a two position switch The End Point Adjustment EPA on the fifth channel is used to set the amount of Gain The exact set up of the fifth channel is described in Chapter 5 HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 27 of 76 An additional channel switch is required for the Altitude Hold mode As with the Auto Leveling mode this sixth channel must be associated with a two position switch The End Point Adjustment EPA on this channel is used to set the Altitude Hold Gain The exact set up of the sixth channel is described in Chapter 5 4 4 Receiver The HoverflyPro automatically senses the signal from which ever brand of Receiver that you choose for your aircraft The power for your receiver will come from the channel connections to the HoverflyPro However the number of channels available on the receiver must be at least 5 for Basic Flight Mode and 6 for Advanced Flight Mode
48. t Copyright All content appearing on this Web site is the property of Download and run the Update Client Hoverfly Technologies Inc 1511 East Road 434 Suite 2001 Winter Springs FL 32708 Copyright 2010 Hoverfly Technologies Inc All rights reserved As a user you are authorized only to view copy print and distribute documents on this Web site so long as 1 the document is used for informational purposes only and 2 any copy of the document or portion thereof includes the following copyright notice Copyright 2010 Ihave read and agree to be bound by the license agreement Must agree to continue Ihave read and do not agree to be bound by the license agreement Agree to License Agreement HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 64 of 76 ai Hoverfly Update Client HOVERFLY Quadcopter Flight Control Systems Please select which board you would like to update Note Each board must be running the same firmware version to ensure proper operation E G if you update one board you must update every add on board you plan to use Select the HoverflyPro HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 65 of 76 a Hoverfly Update Client Start License Agreement Board Mode Connection Update Please select which mode you would like to fly Each mode has it s advantages and disadvantages For instance has 1 motor in the front and one motor in the back whi
49. ttery and allow you to make a quick measurement of the current draw and wattage used at different throttle settings A simple calculation of current draw at hover will give you a good idea of what your expected flight times will be As an example Measured Current at Hover 25 A Battery Capacity 4400 mAh Expected flight time 4400mAh 25A x 60 mins 1hour x 1A 1000mA 10 56 minutes HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 33 of 76 There are many different ESCs available that are adequate for use with a multi rotor aircraft As a result it is impossible to provide a specific description of the set up and calibration steps required The following is a suggested order for set up and calibration that you should refer to while observing the guide that was supplied with your ESC 4 5 4 1 ESC Configuration You will want to use your battery receiver and ESC to program the following values You MUST set up all ESCs in your system to have equal configurations Check the ESC manual and compare the following values they are most likely the default values and you may not need to change them Start by connecting a single ESC to the throttle channel of the receiver Then connect the battery to the ESC and use the ESC manual to set the following values using your transmitter Repeat for each ESC if needed Table 3 ESC Configuration Values Parameter Setting Brake OFF Battery Type NiMh even if you use LiPo Cut Off Type Soft Cut off
50. u build and fly your wiring harness run your finger across the entire harness looking for hot spots If you cannot touch the wire for more than 1 2 seconds then it is at 60 70 degrees Celsius The insulator PVC covering on most wires cannot withstand temperatures greater than 70 degrees Celsius TW UF rating So if you can t touch a wire or solder joint for more than approximately 5 seconds it is liable to fail at some point during operation Increase the gauge of your wire or re solder the joint Table 2 Wire gauge vs current carrying capacity Ampacity Copper Wire AWG Ampacity 18 15 14 30 12 40 10 50 8 70 Fire Hazard Using improperly sized wires can result in a fire Check your wire harness often for defects and hot spots HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 30 of 76 4 5 3 Battery Source One of the most critical parameters of all multi rotor aircraft is weight As a result the standard battery source is Lithium lon Polymer LiPo or LIPO chemistry batteries because they offer the highest milli ampere hours mAh to weight ratio These batteries are widely available can come in 2 3 4 and 5 cell configurations denoted as 2S 3S 4S and 5S offering 7 4V 11 1V 14 8V and 18 5V Increased flight times can be obtained by placing two batteries in parallel doubling the overall mAh All of these cell configurations can be used with the HoverflyPro See Chapter 8 for Maximum ratings
51. up and damage the aircraft or propellers The first thing that you will want to verify is that the rotation of all of the propellers is correct Start by connecting the battery source and Arming the HoverflyPro Refer to the diagrams corresponding to your configuration i e X Hex Y6 etc Start by increasing the throttle stick slightly just until the propellers begin to spin The thrust for all motors should be directed downward If any of the motors are spinning in the incorrect direction simply switch two of the three motor wires Once you are absolutely sure that all motors are rotating and producing thrust in the correct direction you can move to a field for flight testing 5 5 Flight Controls The basic flight controls for Roll Pitch Yaw and Throttle have been shown previously in this guide but the control diagram is repeated here HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 55 of 76 Transmitter Figure 14 Control stick movement and aircraft roll pitch yaw and throttle altitude HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 56 of 76 5 6 Basic Flight Mode In Basic Flight Mode the pilot will have normal Roll Pitch Yaw and Throttle control of the aircraft Basic flight mode can also include camera Roll and Tilt compensation as well as manual Tilt control as well as the OSD video overlay function The pilot should always start with this mode until the flight characteristics of the aircraft are understood 5 7 Advanced Flight
52. vely be flown within an airspace Sounds pretty easy but to achieve this data from gyroscopes accelerometers and a pressure sensor are fused together thousands of times a second This information is then used to make decisions on how to achieve the pilot s desired orientation The purpose of the HoverflyPro is to make the job of piloting an inherently unstable multi rotor aircraft easy Easy is a relative term here since some time on the sticks with other types of aircraft helps a great deal However we strive to make the HoverflyPro the most capable Flight Controller on the market and this means over time easy will be even easier Ultimately our goal is to make the flight of a multi rotor aircraft effortless to the point that anyone can pick up a transmitter and give it a try without crashing 2 3 Function of the HoverflyPro The HoverflyPro is designed to control several different configurations of multi rotor aircraft A more detailed description of the supported motor configurations is given in Chapter 4 For now it will be assumed that a basic four motor configuration called a quadcopter will be used with the HoverflyPro The following diagram Fig 2 shows the basic connections that are needed for a quadcopter As described in the previous Section 2 2 the HoverflyPro is the middle man between the pilot and the motors of the aircraft Therefore the connections on the aircraft follow this methodology The Transmitter sen
53. x problems to solve We believe we have a great solution and the magic is in our HoverCore technology inside every HoverflyPro We hope that you enjoy using the HoverflyPro for many years This product is the base for a line of add ons to take your flying to the next level Please understand that software is never finished We will periodically release new versions of firmware which can easily be loaded onto the HoverflyPro board Make sure you check our site for updates to this User s Guide and our firmware The Hoverfly Team HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 3 of 76 HoverflyPro HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 4 of 76 A Note on Safety The operation of any flying machine whether remote controlled or not can be dangerous It is very important that you observe all necessary safety precautions before and after flying A safety check list is provided at the end of this guide for your reference please make sure you use it Furthermore this user guide is not necessarily fully inclusive of all information you may need to get your aircraft flying this depends on how you have built your aircraft therefore please bear in mind that the information herein is intended as a guide and does not in any way guarantee or undertake to guarantee your success Lastly since this guide has been compiled overtime time from numerous builds it may contain inaccuracies do not rely on it solely All ways maintain control of y
54. you will want to balance them Failure to properly balance the propellers will induce unwanted vibration on the airframe and HoverflyPro and reduce flight performance Inspect each propeller before each flight If any damage is detected you should replace the propeller with a new balanced one You strongly recommend that you don t use Propeller Savers Even though it may extend the lifetime of the propeller it will cause rotor flap that generates a strong vibration You should use aluminum propeller holders that will provide a solid connection between the motor shaft and propeller HoverflyPro User s Guide Page 40 of 76 4 9 Canopy and Pressure Equalization It is highly recommended that the sensitive and valuable flight control electronics of your aircraft be covered The user will want to protect the HoverflyPro and add on boards with a hard shell cover or canopy At some point the aircraft will have a harder than expected landing A simple cover will protect the electronics from broken propellers and other foreign object damage FOD In addition the HoverflyPro is extremely sensitive to barometric pressure changes The on board pressure sensor is used to maintain and measure altitude It is critical that your canopy not be air tight A small hole should always be present to allow the internal air pressure to equalize to external air pressure With this in mind you should NOT put this equalization hole within the airflow of the ai
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