Looking for "mentor" for paparazzi autopilot. Basic questions

[microtaint]

Hey all
I’m in the process of starting to create my own UAV for remote sensing purposes as a senior project. (Okay really just because I got the bug. Those of you know what I mean) The focus of this project is going to be the creation of a cheap unmanned aerial aircraft with autopilot capabilities, equipped with a high resolution digital slr in which I will then take the images and produce high resolution elevation models. But first thing is first. I need to get this aircraft flying. Here is an over view of my exp in these areas.
R/C Exp (Begging to Moderate, Helicopter, Airplane)
Programming (Med Exp with various language)
Linux: (beginning)
Remote Sensing (high)
GIS (high)
Overall computer skills (high
I’m looking for someone to whom I can ask questions to for a couple specific questions related to r/c, and paparazzi autopilot systems. I’ve read the wiki a million times, and I’m in the process of reading the code and gathering the hardware. I currently have the tiny2 bundle from ppaz.com.
After reading the wiki as well as the code I now have some specific questions regarding my research.
1) My understanding of the system is there are two ways to go about connecting the Paparazzi to the receiver of the aircraft. One way is connecting the receiver to the unit and servos to the receiver or directly connecting the servos directly to the tiny2.1.
2) In order enable or disable the autopilot you have to create a 3 way switch in the radio for 1)Normal flight 2) Auto 1 and 3) ADC (what is ADC). This will enable the user to disable and engage the autopilot??
3) I currently have a PPM 6 channel radio and receiver (as well as servos and electronic speed controller) for a 6ch rc helicopter. I’m wondering if this system is compatible with a fixed wing aircraft? I’ve noticed that when I move one control stick of the radio two servos move. I have a feeling that this might be a helicopter thing.
4) For each UAV you have to have a config file for each aircraft?
5) Has the paparazzi been successfully ran on a helicopter platform? And what modifications might be necessary to make this work.
Any help would be appreciated.


-harri

[AntonK]

Harri,
Let me first welcome you to Paparazzi. It sounds like you have a great start, and have already put in some great work into learning the system. Let me see if I can answer your questions.

1) My understanding of the system is there are two ways to go about connecting the Paparazzi to the receiver of the aircraft. One way is connecting the receiver to the unit and servos to the receiver or directly connecting the servos directly to the tiny2.1.

A.) This is actually incorrect. In another version of the AP(Classix) it was required to run the PPM signal back to the servo driver on your receiver, but on the Tiny you will run your servos from the Tiny itself.

2) In order enable or disable the autopilot you have to create a 3 way switch in the radio for 1)Normal flight 2) Auto 1 and 3) ADC (what is ADC). This will enable the user to disable and engage the autopilot??

A.) Its actually, Manual, Auto1, and Auto2. Manual will give you a straight passthru to the servos and will be like flying the aircraft RC. Auto1 is a stability augmented mode that will limit the planes pitch and roll to defined limits in the airframe file. Auto2 is fully autonomous flight.

3) I currently have a PPM 6 channel radio and receiver (as well as servos and electronic speed controller) for a 6ch rc helicopter. I’m wondering if this system is compatible with a fixed wing aircraft? I’ve noticed that when I move one control stick of the radio two servos move. I have a feeling that this might be a helicopter thing.

A.) The 2 servos moving is probably a mixing setting in the radio, if you give is the exact make and model we could tell you if it will work, one thing to keep in mind is that you will probably need an oscilliscope to find the PPM signal on the receiver, unless it uses a common chip.

4) For each UAV you have to have a config file for each aircraft?

A.) Correct, the configuration file contains settings specific to the airframe including: servo config, mixing, limits, gains, modem settings, and autopilot parameters.

5) Has the paparazzi been successfully ran on a helicopter platform? And what modifications might be necessary to make this work.
Any help would be appreciated.

A.) The short answer is no. Paparazzi has not been flown on a traditional helicopter. It has however been flown on a quadrotor, although only in stability augmented modes. Altitude holds have also been done, but no hovering or waypoint navigation has been completed as of yet(they are getting close though). In order to get something like this you need different sensors(IMU, compass, Altimeter), that is if you want a precise hover.

I hope this answers your questions. Feel free to post more, or private message me if you need to

AJ Kochevar