Tau Labs CC Radio Failsafe

C

Crash

Defies Psychics
Everyone should have a RX that has built-in failsafe, but what happens when communication between the RX and flight board fail?

The CC code currently doesn't have a radio failsafe. There's no baro so a smart descent becomes difficult. Cutting the motors is not the proper way IMHO and I do understand that there is a lot more involved than most people consider.

I'd like to hear from the end users on what they think the copter should do if the board lost communication with the RX. Then we can listen to the developers on why that's not possible or smart. ;)

MK uses a predefined gas value for a time period that is probably only good for a couple hundred feet altitude depending on the gas value set. After 24 seconds max it cuts the motors.

I think the user should be able to pick which channels the CC board will watch. If one of those channels goes dark, the failsafe should activate. The reason for picking the channels is because I use a head tracker and I don't want one of those channels activating crash mode. The same would be true for the other non-flight related channels.

The channels should go to a user defined value that suits the craft.

MKs estimate hover gas by averaging gas values during periods of low Z movement. Should the failsafe gas value be some percent below the calculated hover gas and revert to a predefined value if hover gas is not sane?

Can the Z ACC be watched so that an improperly set throttle will not rocket the craft into the sky?

Can the ACC be watched so that it turns off the motors at the first impact?

Maybe the motors should be cut if the craft is tumbling?

Different people want different things and I think there should be options to choose.

Maybe there's a better way? What do you guys think?
 

Droider

Droider

Drone Enthusiast
Which other boards have this other than MK Crash:confused:

I want a failsafe that fires a parachute!

Dave
 


D

dankers

Member
Here's where you guys are good and can help, decide here how you want it to act and we will try and get it implemented. We make mistakes and do thing the wrong way at times but we plan to always be self correcting based on feedback. Things like failsafe are important and we need to get it right, there are some failsafe features now but I am not sure exactly what they are.

The hard battle is always convincing James, he is the gatekeeper to solid code, convincing him with good logic and sound reasoning is at least 90% of the challenge.
 



Droider

Droider

Drone Enthusiast
Avatars or aliases are Ok in their place but I really feel this forum is becoming more of a community that its really good to know first names, just makes it a bit more personal and in a way more professional

Dave
 


Droider

Droider

Drone Enthusiast
Ok DDave!

Actually may be I should be DDave as my DH bike is an Orange DD!

Mm but then were getting back to were we started... :confused:

Dave
 

R

RTRyder

Merlin of Multirotors
Crash said:
Multiwii is similar to MK. I don't recall what KK boards do.
Click to expand...

Fall out of the sky, or at least one of mine did...

I see the problem this way, if it's a loss of control signal the best thing to do is get it on the ground ASAP with the motors OFF if the signal can't be restored. There's no certainly that the control will be reestablished so any other course of action may just be delaying the inevitable. That said regardless of the behavior, planned or unplanned, there's always going to be the potential for personal injury or property damage unless the craft is flying in a place where any loss of control will be least likely to cause harm. Any time you are flying in a public place whether near people or not the likelihood of recovering from a loss of control without any kind of damage is low, it’s going to land on someone or something.

So I think the best course of action is to do similar to the MK, go into a programmed descent mode for a set time period, then if signal isn't reestablished, shut down the engines. It would have crashed anyway in that case and if it can get to a much lower altitude or even on the ground first so much the better, at least it gives time for a warning and for people to get out of the way. Heck, if you're crazy enough, run over and catch it to keep from scratching up the paintjob on the car it was about to bounce off of!

My $.02

Ken
 

Pano-Dirk

Pano-Dirk

Member
My tip: use a JETI transmitter and receiver.
It's possible to configure the receiver with failsafe data. If the signal is lost, the receiver changes to predefined values for all channels.
My settings:
Roll, nick and yaw to zero
Throttle to 46% (needed for altitude hold and a sink rate of 0,5 Meters per second)
Switch on altitude hold
Switch on Coming home
Camera servos to a safe Position fot the lens

If the Signal fails, the copter is coming home to the start position and sinks slowly, so I can catch it.

Perhaps you can do something similar with CC.

Dirk
 

Bartman

Bartman

Welcome to MultiRotorForums.com!!
I also like the idea of having the motors shut down and let the copter fall where's it at. Maybe a short period of min power to bring it down a bit more slowly but I want it down in any form rather than flying away like some have seen.
A parachute option would also be nice.
Bart
 

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