Originally Posted by tonyh0905

Thanks P...I'm android through and through, but I can borrow my daughter's ipad

Ar.pro is android app that can downgrade/change firmware for you. It is also easy enough to change firmware manually with official instructions at parrot site.

Originally Posted by happul3

How is that different from just flying the drone with pulled throttle stick? Drone will descent and you'll be able to steer while it does that...

Well, it would be useful to only have to worry about steering and let the Drone handle the descent part itself, especially if it's 500ft up and a long way away, when it's hard to judge distances and easy to descend too fast.

I don't know who/what/how handles the Landing or what's possible, though.

I thought that perhaps there was a point between VLBA_THR being reached and 0% where the Sketch hands over control to the firmware to handle the landing - i.e at some point the firmware will land whatever you do, but you have some leeway. Ditto if the Land switch is selected. If that was the case, then I thought it might be possible to not hand over until the last few metres and allow steering instead. The reason being it's easy to miss the VLBA LEDs when the Drone is far away.

But if the Sketch just flashes the VLBA LEDs and lets you fly as normal until the firmware takes control away anyway, then that's not going to be possible - unless you can set a lower limit of 1% or so before the firmware 'takes over' and the sketch could then deal with landing itself until then.

If that's not possible with a Low battery, then OK, but it would still be useful if you select the Land switch and choose to steer - or not - while it is landing.

What happens in the case of signal loss time greater than MERX seconds? Does it just hand over to the firmware to handle the landing and stand back, or can you regain control? If it didn't just tell the firmware to land, but did it itself, then if you'd flown too far or high it would be useful to have some steering control once back in range, even if to avoid it landing in a tree.

I've never been able to steer once the Drone starts to Autoland. If I'm supposed to be able to, do I need to select something in the Sketch?

I am the same. When autoland is initiated I have no control at all. I thought this was normal.

hi y'all.. new happy owner this parrot AR drone.(scored it pretty cheap at BB a price error). would like to do this TX mod..i have futaba 9c and T9x..also spektrum dx7... i'm familliar with the ardrino pro mini, have quad and tricopter on multi wii...
there is 3600+ post here.. reading all i can..eyes and brain getting lazy..

understand the code is "rx2at" (code for the ardrino)and "at2so"(to read the code in the drone)....pls correct me if wrong..

also..are these the latest code..rx2at and at2so.. or please direct me to the latest codes..
thanks in advance..

Originally Posted by barok

hi y'all.. new happy owner this parrot AR drone.(scored it pretty cheap at BB a price error). would like to do this TX mod..i have futaba 9c and T9x..also spektrum dx7... i'm familliar with the ardrino pro mini, have quad and tricopter on multi wii...
there is 3600+ post here.. reading all i can..eyes and brain getting lazy..

understand the code is "rx2at" (code for the ardrino)and "at2so"(to read the code in the drone)....pls correct me if wrong..

also..are these the latest code..rx2at and at2so.. or please direct me to the latest codes..
thanks in advance..

http://mirumod.tk/

Originally Posted by tonyh0905

I am the same. When autoland is initiated I have no control at all. I thought this was normal.

Autoland triggers standard Drone's LAND which does not allow any control until landed. So in that sense this is normal.

Originally Posted by pawelsky

Autoland triggers standard Drone's LAND which does not allow any control until landed. So in that sense this is normal.

Could you define 'AutoLand'?

What conditions cause the sketch to hand over control to the Drone to Land?

Is a Low battery (after VLBA LEDs have been ignored) treated the same way as flicking the 'Land' switch or a Tx/Rx range/fault error beyond allowable time?

I can't work out what the code at line 1142-???? is doing with the sticks when FMS_LAND is signalled, but if it was possible to have controlled, steerable, semi-automatic landing it would be very useful.

Anyway, I'm repeating myself, so I guess we wait and see.

FYI While going through the release notes for latest Drone firmwares I've found an interesting improvement

Version AR.Drone : 1.11.5 and Version AR.Drone 2 : 2.2.6

Improvements

[General] "Too much Angle Emergency" have been disabled above 10 Ft (3 meters)

That is definitely a good move as this should prevent Drones falling out of the sky when flipped over by wind while still being high enough to recover.

Originally Posted by Brandigan

Could you define 'AutoLand'?

What conditions cause the sketch to hand over control to the Drone to Land?

Is a Low battery (after VLBA LEDs have been ignored) treated the same way as flicking the 'Land' switch or a Tx/Rx range/fault error beyond allowable time?

I can't work out what the code at line 1142-???? is doing with the sticks when FMS_LAND is signalled, but if it was possible to have controlled, steerable, semi-automatic landing it would be very useful.

Anyway, I'm repeating myself, so I guess we wait and see.

Autoland is state reached when duration of transmitter signal loss exceeds hard-coded value. In that state, arduino send land command to the drone. Land mode, as implemented by drone pilot program, ignores all further communication from external agents such as idev or mod/arduino, except perhaps emergency command. From this explanation it should be clear that steering while executing standard land command can never be implemented in the mod.

Originally Posted by happul3

Autoland is state reached when duration of transmitter signal loss exceeds hard-coded value. In that state, arduino send land command to the drone. Land mode, as implemented by drone pilot program, ignores all further communication from external agents such as idev or mod/arduino, except perhaps emergency command. From this explanation it should be clear that steering while executing standard land command can never be implemented in the mod.

I thought it was probably something like that. Handing it off to the firmware makes sense if you don't want to recover control. But presumably, Landing isn't all that involved for the firmware either. Does it do more than ignore AILE and ELEV, apply gentle TS_DN until the Ultrasound signals the Drone has landed and turn off the motors?

The Sketch could do much the same and not hand over control to the drone until a few metres above the ground - when you don't need steering any more - and let it kill the motors etc. Until then, it could allow some steering - in the case of 'Land by switch' - and in the case of 'Land by loss of Tx signal', allow TS_UP to regain control when back in range. 'Land by Emergency low battery': unless you can stop the firmware elbowing in and taking over, can't be changed. But if the Sketch can tell the firmware not to worry until the battery is at 1%, but does the Low battery landing itself at 10% (or whatever the point the firmware takes over currently), then it could handle that too.

Not saying it's trivial - although the main loop with extra flags to flash LEDs, reduce steering angles to 'avoid trees only' levels to avoid people trying to continue doing tricks etc. and delay handing over to the firmware until 2 meters above the ground, would just about cover it - but it would be useful.

If nothing else, it could also help complement GPS RTH, when you see it's following a nice straight line into a tree - unless waypoints are going to be implemented soon.

It took a couple of iterations but now it works perfekt. It can be populated for Drone 1 or Drone 2. The cost is about $3.50, the connector is the most expensive part ($1.50 for D2, $1.30 for D1).

Originally Posted by miru

It took a couple of iterations but now it works perfekt. It can be populated for Drone 1 or Drone 2. The cost is about $3.50, the connector is the most expensive part ($1.50 for D2, $1.30 for D1).

Very nice Is the connector the only difference between Drone 1 and 2 versions, or you also need to change some other components?

Originally Posted by pawelsky

Very nice Is the connector the only difference between Drone 1 and 2 versions, or you also need to change some other components?

It's the connector AND the voltage regulator (D1 gets a 3.3V, D2 a 1.8V).

Forgot to mention, the board stacks below the Arduino, which makes misswireing almost impossible.

Originally Posted by miru

Forgot to mention, the board stacks below the Arduino, which makes misswireing almost impossible.

Will you be somehow distributing the populated boards?