Which heli? altitude lock

[ooo5ad]

Hey guys,

I am needing a heli that I can use indoors and that will have an altitude lock option. Something that doesn't solely rely on ultrasonic sensors so that it can stay at a fixed altitude while going over things like a table.

Does anyone have any advice or suggestions?

Thank you in advance for your wisdom

 

[LowFlier]

GPS is right out because you are indoors. That leaves barometric pressure, which has limited resolution. The good thing is that all the flight controllers that do altitude hold have a barometer AFAIK. The bad news is that they may not be accurate enough for the limited vertical space and if you fly near a heater vent for instance that may cause the craft to rise to the ceiling. It's a tough problem.

 

[ooo5ad]

Thanks for your help lowflier! I wonder, would it be possible to build a heli to lock onto a certain point such as a laser or reflector, something I can place on the walls as a reference for it to stay level with? Maybe even a few on each wall that are all at the exact same height?

 

[DucktileMedia]

The DJI naza's alt hold is about as good as it gets. Might try that. But if someone slams a door or yells too loudly at your heli it will affect the heli.

 

[Pelted]

Several years back I was doing some autonomous robot development with the basicx-24 chip. Back then the ultrasonic sensors worked great for range checking and it the same idea today with them in flight controllers. I'm not sure there is anything off the shelf, but honestly the sonar ones are pretty damn good at doing what your asking, the challenge is that the FC has to respond accordingly, but also your positioning of the sensor. As for the idea of developing something with a point of reference on the wall, absolutely possible, just take a look at what people are doing with the autonomous robots. Camera sensors, laser and light sensors, with the open platforms like the Audrinos there are lots of integration options if you want to get your hands dirty.