Spektrum and JR RF Link Performance Telemetry from Eagle Tree!

[billpa]

For the first time ever, see and hear how your receiver is performing real time, while you fly! In cooperation with Sprektrum RC™, Eagle Tree is pleased to announce support for wireless telemetry and logging of all the RF link performance parameters of compatible SPektrum/JR™ receivers.

http://www.eagletreesystems.com/accessories/images/dashboard-spektrum-med.gif

No other flight receiver offers the reporting capability of the Spektrum/JR™ receivers, and only the Eagle Tree telemetry system provides the receiver data to you in real time. Fly with confidence knowing that your radio link is performing optimally!

The system gives you access to the following parameters:

• Receiver Holds – displays a count of the number of Failsafe Holds that have occurred
• Receiver Lost Frames – displays how many frames have been missed during your flight
• Receiver Antenna A, B, Left and Right Fades – displays fade (poor signal) counts of each antenna (up to four). This helps you to determine which of your antennas needs to be repositioned.

With our Seagull Pro Flight System, Seagull Glide Soaring System or Seagull Flight System and the new Spektrum/JR™ Data Interface cable, any or all of the receiver parameters can be displayed on the Wireless Dashboard Display, and also logged for post-flight analysis.

Just think, while you do your range check, get instant feedback on the LCD display about how your RF link is performing.

And best of all, audible ‘beep’ alarms can be programmed on the Wireless Dashboard display, to alert you in real time when things start to go wrong during flight! For example, you can program the Dashboard to beep slowly when Antenna A has 10 fades, and to beep fast if 3 lost frames occur. You can also set up the system to alert you to the number of errors over a one minute period.

With the programmable beep capability, you keep your eyes on your model, where they should be, knowing that your Receiver is getting a good signal at all times unless alarms sound.

And with our new eLogger V3, the parameters can be logged and downloaded later for post-flight analysis. And of course, the great features of the our Wireless Telemetry and eLogger products are available in addition to the R921/AR9000™ Data Interface. And with a servo Y cable, you can connect your Spektrum Flight Log™ at the same time as the Eagle Tree system.

See your dealer, click here (http://www.eagletreesystems.com/press/spektrum.pdf) , or email sales@eagletreesystems.com for more information!

Regards,

Bill, for Eagle Tree

[tulz43]

Does the 2.4ghz eagle tree system affect the 2.4ghz jr system in anyway(shorten range etc)? I know 2.4ghz radios and wireless video don't really play nice together.

[billpa]

Hi tulz43,

We did not see issues in our testing with the Spektrum AR9000 and Spektrum 6 channel units, and have had no other reports.

Since the receiver performance data are available real-time with our telemetry, you will know if anything is affecting receiver performance, immediately.

We offer two other frequency choices (900 mhz and 433 mhz, depending on your locale) if 2.4ghz is not preferable.

Regards,

Bill, for Eagle Tree

[edders]

the new ar7000 support the spektrum flight log


thansk


Edders

[billpa]

hi Edders,

Thanks for the info. Yes, any Spektrum or JR receiver that supports the "FlightLog" interface should be fully compatible with our support of the interface.

Regards,

Bill, for Eagle Tree

[merengue]

tested on bench with AR9000, it gives no fades until tx is on, if i switch tx off, after two or three seconds it shows 44 fades on both 3 antennae, then another 44 after some seconds. Is it its normal behaviour?

[Robert-CSD]

Can you use the RF Link with a GPS installed?

[tronsky]

Making up my lead for the AR 7000 spectrum Data/Battery connection, which signal wire connection to use on V3 Logger interface ie. pin next to negative or posotive?
cheers

hi Edders,

Thanks for the info. Yes, any Spektrum or JR receiver that supports the "FlightLog" interface should be fully compatible with our support of the interface.

Regards,

Bill, for Eagle Tree

[InsomniaZZZ]

I'm seeing erratic behavior on my spanking new Seagull Pro system:

On a Trex450, JR921 Rx (6.0V BEC): regardless of what I do, it always says 0 holds, 0 lost, 0 fades (any antenna)... I can switch off the Tx, I can walk far far away - nothing generates a number other than zero.

On a Trex600, JR921 Rx (5.8V BEC): I see some data, but it doesn't make sense. Switching Tx on/off doesn't produce anything in regards to holds/frame losses. The Fade data jumps around erratically (values of in the range of 20'000 and 40'000). Only the first 3 antennas are being displayed, the 4th antenna always shows 0. Shouldn't these values be around the 100 for "good" and dropping when they get "bad"?

What is the sample rate of the Flight Log Interface of a JR921? How many updates should I see in live mode (I see some every few seconds - like every 1 or 2, then other times every 10-15 seconds)?

What could affect the capture of flight log data?

Does it matter if I enable the recording of another sensor (e.g. temperature), but don't have it actually plugged in?

PS: Everything is updated to latest available version (Firmware, Software).

[billpa]

Hi,

Sorry to hear about the issue.

Just a couple of things:

1) The flightlog data will not change when the RX is off, but it does remember that the RX is off. In other words, if you turn the RX off the #'s won't change, but when you turn it back on, the #'s should increase.

2) The numbers should all steadily increase. No numbers should ever decrease.

3) The numbers should NEVER be 20000! This indicates something is wrong.

4) It does not matter if you are recording another sensor. The key thing is that you have clicked "Tools, Enable Spektrum" and have clicked "Spektrum" under "tools, choose parameters to log".

Please email me at support2@eagletreesystems.com if the problem continues.

Regards,

Bill, for Eagle Tree

[InsomniaZZZ]

Hi Bill

Thanks for the prompt reply.

I have double and triple checked every item you are listing in your reply. Still the interface seems to not work properly.

My setup is as follows:
Recorder hooked to PC, enabled Live mode in the Software.
Other Connectors:
RPM (brushless sensor, had to connect two leads for it work)
4 Servos (3 for swash, 1 rudder) via Y-cables
JR Flight Log
Seagull transmitter (SEA-02).

I've attached a screenshot, showing the weird values.

Do you have any ideas on how to proceed?

Thanks,
Jason

Edit: PS: Could it be that the recorder misses some bits (I assume Flight Log is a serial bit-bang protocol) and those bits end up in the wrong fields?

[billpa]

Hi,

Thanks for the additional info. Please email me at support2@eagletreesystems.com and I will collect some data files from you, and figure out next steps.

Regards,

Bill, for Eagle Tree

[InsomniaZZZ]

Thanks Bill

switching to emails...

Jason

[InsomniaZZZ]

I think I found the issue...

I was powering the Recorder (Seagull Pro) through the Y-cables. Hence it would show 5.8V as the Rx battery supply. I noticed that in the description for the Brushless RPM sensor, it states that the recorder should only be powered with 5.6V or less.

So I disconnected all the Y-cables, and connected a 4.8V NiMH battery pack. Sure enough, the Flight Log Interface now works. It shows the Holds (updated once you get out of holds), the Lost Frames (every time a frame is lost) and the Antenna Fade parameters (seems to be updated only once you get out of a Hold too).

So far so good - now I'll have to think how to measure the servo positions / glitches without feeding the recorder any power. Since I'm also interested in the current draw for each of the servos, I will have to upgrade to the servo current adapter instead of the plain Y-cables. But either way, I think I'll be back in the 5.8V range which will render the Flight Log interface gathering non-functional. A problem to be solved later...

Should I install 2 recorders? (just kidding)

Anyway - I'm heading out to the field and testing the data gathering with some decent altitude...

laters
J

[billpa]

Hi Jason,

That is surprising. The interface should work fine with 5.8V. Is your receiver also powered by 5.8V when you had this problem?

Regards,

Bill, for Eagle Tree

[InsomniaZZZ]

Hey Bill

Rx (JR921) was powered at 5.8V all the time.

Recorder on 5.8V -> doesn't work.
Recorder on 4.8V -> works as advertised.

I was powering the recorder through the Y-cables with 5.8V.

I was powering the recorder with an additional battery (and no Y-cables) with 4.8V.

J

PS: I'm almost done building another heli (hence my break from RCG), this time with a Spektrum AR7000 (or AR9000) receiver. I'll post the results with that receiver once I get to it.

[vassilis]

Is there any way to get both the Spectrum interface and GPS working at the same time with the eLogger v3?

Thanks!

[billpa]

J, thanks for posting the results of your experiment. We are now able to repro this also. There is a limit of the voltage with the Spektrum cable and the recorders (not the eLoggers) as you have determined. We have updated the documentation to indicate this.

Vassilis, we are working on a solution to provide support for both GPS and spektrum simultaneously.

Regards,

Bill, for Eagle Tree

[bentel]

Bill, are there any plans to connect a XPS receiver/system ?
(xtremepowersystems.com)

xps wrote:
We will have an "Eagle Tree sensor" for our telemetry system that lets you plug in an Eagle Tree flight data recorder to our system to get all of their data back in real time.

To me it's not clear, can I use an eLogger and transmit the telemtry data down via the XPS module and at the flight transmitter I have a panel to see the data ?
What parts are offered from you and what is offered from XPS ?

regards Volker

[Mr.Pibb]

Bill,

I have to say that after some searching, this thread is the only place I've seen mention of this incompatibility. Is there a solution for the GPS/Spektrum incompatibility yet? Thanks,
Tim

J, thanks for posting the results of your experiment. We are now able to repro this also. There is a limit of the voltage with the Spektrum cable and the recorders (not the eLoggers) as you have determined. We have updated the documentation to indicate this.

Vassilis, we are working on a solution to provide support for both GPS and spektrum simultaneously.

Regards,

Bill, for Eagle Tree

[billpa]

Hi Mr. Pibb,

Sorry for the inconvenience of not being able to use the Spektrum and GPS interfaces simultaneously. This is becoming much more popular now, especially with our FPV customers.

We are making progress on the simultaneous GPS/Spektrum support, though it is not getting done as quickly as I would like.

The Spektrum cable manual is now updated to make this shortcoming clear.

Regards,

Bill, for Eagle Tree

[merlin703]

Oh man, this sucks! thanks for working on that. I hope it can work simultaneously soon. i guess we can leave the spektrum cable unplugged for the moment.

Hi Mr. Pibb,

Sorry for the inconvenience of not being able to use the Spektrum and GPS interfaces simultaneously. This is becoming much more popular now, especially with our FPV customers.

We are making progress on the simultaneous GPS/Spektrum support, though it is not getting done as quickly as I would like.

The Spektrum cable manual is now updated to make this shortcoming clear.

Regards,

Bill, for Eagle Tree

[Mr.Pibb]

Bill,

Is this going to work with the existing hardware, or will it require a new interface module of some sort? I was just thinking through the possible solutions and realized that one of the solutions may be to use a module to "translate" the spektrum data rather than trying to talk to the Spektrum RX directly. I'm assuming the conflict is that both the GPS module and the spektrum interface are trying to talk via the same type of serial interface?

[misfire]

And with our new eLogger V3, the parameters can be displayed after your flight on the PowerPanel LCD Display, and/or logged and downloaded later for post-flight analysis.HOW? I don't see this as an option on the PowerPanel config utility. Am I missing something (as usual)?

[billpa]

Hi Misfire,

Sorry for delayed reply. Unfortunately, we were unable to support the Spektrum data displayed on the PowerPanel. Sorry about that! We offer 3 ways to see the Spektrum data:

1) The Windows software (logged)
2) Our OSD products
3) the Seagull Telemetry Dashboard

Regards,

Bill, for Eagle Tree

[JustinONE]

what about Futaba FASST rx's? is there a place to tap into to see how well it performs in flight?

[AeroM'ck'y]

Never mind, will look into OSD