Carsten Groen

More news about the Android app (which is now also available for general download) : http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/rc-j...l#post11982911
Now includes definitions of airspaces, airfields and no-fly zones

ww2birds

My Feedback: (14)

Hi Carsten,

Been playing with the new telemetry setup with a Samsung AMOLED tablet. It is just stunning, everything worked perfectly on the first try. Nice map images .. out of curiosity .. how large is the data set you needed to do that?

You mentioned the new PSENS with I/O .. how is that coming along?

Also, what's the best way to do firmware updates on the ASSIs (and any other devices).

Dave

Jetkopter

My Feedback: (1)

Dave, I am hoping the snow melts by First In Flight! Got all this kool stuff from Carsten too but its still in the box! Work is really busy right now , hoping to play with this stuff soon!

Regards,
Don

olnico

Hello Dave.
I am sure that Carsten will be delighted to hear your appreciation.

Firmware update is not straightforward. It requires a special programming board and is done via PC to load the micro controller.
At the moment there is no need to upgrade any firmware. As you can see, Carsten releases very stable firmwares without any bug. So the version you have is final.
We only swap firmwares to enable different remote control compatibility.

The new board with I/O is called ADSB. Analog/ Digital Serial Board. It is not meant at replacing the SB-PSENS but complementing it with different functionality.
One of the two main features of the ADSB is that it is able to work as a gear failsafe with its pressure sensor and that it has I/O PWM.

Carsten Groen

Hi Dave,
first of all, MANY thanks for your kind words they mean a lot to me
And sorry, I cheat . The maps used is in fact the maps already available on Android, I use the supplied API (interface) to the map engine. Using this I can let the user define airfields, air spaces and no-fly zones. My program then uses these definitions when your plane races around to check if it is within the defined airspaces/no-fly zones etc.
At a later point, the app will also be able to guide you during landing with respect to a already (by you) defined glide path. This will enable you to know if you are going to make it to the threshold (of the defined airfield) with the current descent rate etc. I have a radar based height sensor in the works (small light unit that will look through a hole in the bottom of the plane) that will enable the system to measure the current height with less than one inch of precision from about 35 meters (100 feet) height down to 0 (above the 100 feet my altimeter takes over to give the height). The current system will just use this sensor together with the rest of the system

Regarding the software updates, the current ASSI device is stuffed with code to do all the stuff it does, so unfortunately it is only possible to update the device using a programming adapter as Oli describes. The CAN-RF module (that sends data to the ground) can be updated using a SD card and so can all my newer devices including the ADSB board. Oli (in Texas) and myself can do the updates, its just a matter of sending the ASSI board to one of us (and as I wrote, it is only the ASSI board that has this limitation)

As Oli writes, the ADSB board is a more advanced SB-PSENSE board. Basically it can do the same as the SB-PSENSE and the a lot more. There is a PWM output that will be used to control your retracts (typically a sequencer), so when pressure drops below a certain level, it will extend the gear. This will work with both Fuataba, JR and Spektrum systems. If you are using a Fuataba SBUS2 capable system (18MZ, 14SG) you will also get the current airpressure on the transmitter, otherwise only on the Android device.
The ADSB board has also a bunch of other inputs that can be used for a lot of stuff, more about that once it is finished

ww2birds

My Feedback: (14)

I see .. SB-PSENSE has Sbus2 and CAN Bus connectors .. so you pick one of them .. and get air pressure on the Transmitter, or on the telemetry unit .. but not both, is that right? I suppose you could plumb two of them into the air line and send one to Sbus2 and one to CANBUS :-)

Looking forward to the ADSB board .. that sounds like a lot of fun!

Re: ASSI firmware .. as you know I have several .. some I've had for a while. Are they all the same firmware version then and no need to update? Is there a way to check?

And .. a RADAR ALTIMETER .. REALLY? You are amazing!! I guess cars have them all over the place now so they must be relatively inexpensive and probably already CAN bus

thanks!
Dave

Carsten Groen

Dave,
nope, you can use both CAN and SBUS2 on the SB-PSENSE (and the ADSB once it is available). IF you only want to have the airpressure on the transmitter, you just need the SBUS2 connection. If you want (also) the pressure on the Android screen, you have to connect the CAN bus also.
Regarding the firmware version of the ASSI, there has only been 1 (one!) incident where there was a bug in the firmware, this was a cosmetic one when used in a special case together with the LCD display and Gaspar ECU's Other than that the new firmware versions just add functionality (Gaspar support, AMT engines, JR support, Spektrum etc) You can always check the current firmware version if you look in the first line of one of the log files on you SD card (the one with the highest number).
Well, the "LIDAR altimeter" is actually using laser for ranging. I have made a small interface board for it so it will connect to, tadaaaa, my CAN bus It will blend in with the rest of the products (the sole reason for choosing CAN bus in the first place, almost all turbine manufacturers could learn something from that instead of using I2C, Yikes !)
The Lidar instrument is not exactly cheap, but I guess it would be cool to be able to get super precise height information, who knows what else we can come up with that this can be used for

olnico

I do

ww2birds

My Feedback: (14)

The Forest Service here uses LIDAR to conduct a tree inventory. Quite an amazing application of the technology. Probably not what Oli was thinking :-)

Regarding terminating resistors for the CAN bus .. I gather there is one on the ASSI and one of the CAN LCD .. do any of the other sensors have them? GPS? Pressure? CAN RF? If I do a setup with multiple things on the bus, talking to an ASSI, but no CAN LCD what's the correct procedure?

thanks
Dave

mr_matt

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Anyone have a source yet for the 4 port pitot for the AoA? I am just about to build one and I want to make sure I am not jumping the gun, mine is going to looking pretty hanky so if there is something slick coming??

Carsten Groen

Dave,
yes I have seen the mappings done using Lidar, it is simply stunning what can be done !!
Regarding the terminating resistors!
The ASSI board has a FIXED terminating resistor, this means that you CAN NOT disable this so the ASSI board(s) has to be at one end of the CAN Bus.
Now, all the other modules I have made, each have a terminating resistor that can be enabled/disabled by the user! There are two solder pads close together usually with a text "Can Trm" besides them. If you bridge the two solder pads with solder the terminating resistor is enabled, if you remove the solder the resistor is disabled! (see attached picture)

Matt,
I would wait just a little, Oli is doing some work right now with a 4 port Pitot! I have tested the first prototype in my wind tunnel and things looks promising! I''m awaiting further samples from Oli and will test these as soon as they show up.

olnico

Something like this?

ww2birds

My Feedback: (14)

Carsten, are you ready for a nutty suggestion? On the Futaba TX's trainer mode, you can select which channels are passed to the slave (student) transmitter, and which stay with the master. I used this when I was teaching my younger son to fly RC, first he just got rudder, then rudder and elevator, then throttle .. it was an interesting way to teach.

Anyway, suppose you set the trainer up so that almost all the channels stay with the master, and only some of the "aux" channels are passed to the student .. but instead of the student transmitter, you make a dummy TX interface that allows the ASSI telemetry unit to send channels as if they were the student transmitter. Presto, you now have the ability to pass actual control info into the master TX, mix with the main channels flying and controlling the jet.

In this case you'd put the trainer switch on a non-momentary and essentially by flying the entire flight in "student mode" .. but with the primary channels all held in the master TX and the "aux" channels coming from the ASSI unit.

Anyway, just a crazy thought. You know they have a wireless trainer interface too... hmm..

:-)

Dave

ww2birds

My Feedback: (14)

Oh .. and I forgot .. a question. To connect ASSI to the Xicoy ECU I have one setup with the special version of the Xicoy telemetry adapter that works with the ASSI. I don't see that device on Oli's website, and Dreamworks only has the non-ASSI version on theirs. What's the source for a few more of these Xicoy telemetry adapters?

thanks
Dave

Carsten Groen

Dave, you are nuts
No, actually not! If you look waaaaay back in this thread, I showed a top secret setup where I controlled two Futaba SBUS servos connected to the SBUS. The ASSI device actually controlled these servos, they were basically controlled by channel 4 from the transmitter (rudder). The ASSI then mixed some movement into this based on the current airspeed measured. This was just an academic test to prove that the ASSI in fact could control flight surfaces etc in a plane ("only requirement" was that they are SBUS servos !).
I have some stuff in my nutty brain for this, more will come later (thrust compensation in dual engine setups etc is just one of the applications )

The telemetry adapter can be bought from Xicoy direct, this is what you want: http://www.xicoy.com/catalog/product...roducts_id=316

EDIT: just found the video showing the servo control from ASSI:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxmsS4HXBuY

ww2birds

My Feedback: (14)

well maybe we're both nuts :-)

But .. just to be clear .. I did not want to stop at controlling servos from the ASSI .. I wanted to create a feedback loop from the standalone ASSI telemetry on the Android device back to the plane.

Now, I suppose if the RF link you are using for telemetry is bi-directional, and can send signals back to the plane .. then that could do it. I was thinking we would have to find a way to "fake out" the main TX and have it upload channels for us, hence the idea about the trainer mode...

Thanks for the pointer on the device from Gaspar. So in order to use the Xicoy ECU, this is the only way, right? You have to have one of these devices? No direct connect like the JetCat?

Dave

olnico

The Xicoy ECUs use their own serial protocol. The Xicoy conversion board translate this protocol into a Jetcat serial protocol that can then be fed into the ASSI unit.

Carsten Groen

Dave, I can live with being nuts
I get your point! The communication link from the Android to the plane are in fact two-way! The data are sent as packets back and forth. 99% of the data flows from the plane to the ground, the other way it is just some "heart beat" messages that are currently sent, but this can be extended!
Only problem with that is latency and real time speed of the communication. But for "non-flying surfaces" it would be more than enough! I will keep this in mind as a possibility for the future.

As Oli writes Xicoy uses their own protocol. The "Serial measures adapter" Xicoy makes is not a JetCat "converter". It only gives me the opportunity to query some parameters from the ECU, but (very) far from the same parameters as the JetCat ECU does. The Xicoy adapter makes it possible for the ASSI device to get all the important parameters such as fuel left, RPM, EGT etc. The ASSI device constantly monitors what engine type (Xicoy/JetCat) is connected and switches between the needed protocols instantly.
The AMT support requires another firmware in the ASSI as the protocol to the AMT is very much different to the one from Xicoy adapter and JetCat ECUs

Hope this explains it well enough

Springbok Flyer

Hi Carsten,

Any idea how the testing is going at AMT - I am still waiting to get all the bits from you?

Regards,

Jan

Carsten Groen

Hi Jan,
I have not heard back from the guys at AMT yet so not sure how far they have come in testing my stuff.
I will try and shoot them an mail and ask how things are coming along

ww2birds

My Feedback: (14)

Perfect explanation, thank you! Having a lot of fun playing with the new telemetry setup in my shop, can't wait to get it in the air!

Dave

Kövi

Hi Carsten,

Have you tested this pitot:

http://www.intairco.net/products.php...and-AoA-inputs

Carsten Groen

Hi Kövi,
wow, no I have not tested that, I did not even know it existed!!
I would be very interested in hearing from others that have tried it (and if the parameters for the ASSI works with that particular tube and/or the parameters needs to be changed (a few constants can be changed for the formula through the ASSI config tool)

Carsten Groen

The ASSI device (as well as the Android telemetry app) now supports AMT engines
A small (crude quality) video can be seen here (running on sampled data from a Titan engine).
Thanks to Bennie and the gang at AMT for helping with protocol descriptions and testing!

Projet ECU's are next (work in progress)!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9G8TCvliZQg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9G8TCvliZQg

Chris Smith

My Feedback: (2)

Carsten, Oli,
Still don't see pitot/AoA tubes on Ultimate jets website yet. Don't mind fabricating my own if you have some dimensional/size suggestions.

Do you suggest any other tubes available in the USA? I don't mind using IAS only for awhile until AoA is available.

Thanks,
Chris