Controlling a 450 size R/C Heli - In theory

[Peter Simpson]

Hello all, this will make you think,
Here we have one of my 450 sized heli's that I use for 3D flying.

Whilst at the field the other day, I was asked by one of the club members would it be possible to control one of the club members planes or helicopters with a mobile phone.

Well the obvious answer is yes, there are lots of videos on YouTube showing phones controlling small but simple fully gyro controlled and fully stabilised hovering devices, but these beasts really are a different cattle of fish. It can take weeks to even learn how hover in one spot 10 feet up in the air, and these are extremely dangerous with spinning head speeds of up to 5000RPM. There are videos on YouTube showing what happens if a 450 sizes heli hits an arm or a leg, it's not a pretty site. Plus rebuilding these things takes hours of calibrating, balancing blades and re-measuring up with a digital vernier caliper(mainly for blade tracking alignment) to make sure everything is perfect for flight, otherwise the heli shakes and moves all over the place

Anyway my question is, in theory how can a phone/tablet control an R/C plane or heli running on frequency 2.4GHz. Please remember that these things just do not hover, you are constantly adjusting the the Throttle/Rudder stick and Aileron/Elevator stick just to get these things to hover. Even with an Align $200 gyro, these heli's are not easy to hover, let alone fly.

The best way to learn how to fly these things is to use a flight simulator, I personally use Phoenix RC which plugs directly into my DX6i transmitter. Each one of my Heli's fly slightly differently so matching them up in the software setting was a nightmare.

There are videos showing phones controlling small cheap rubbish heli's, but that's about it.

Anyway, does anybody have any ideas, in theory???
I'm presuming a Raspberrt Pi or Arduino comes into play at some point with a breadboard

 

[derez]

In theory you can replace the reciever with a phone + IOIO board, operating on the 4 channels by the phone application which has to use its attitude sensors (and gps if you want to send it to a location).
Step 1 : put the IOIO on board, communication with the device in your hands. In the device use sensors for attitude and seekbars (or game controll) for throttle and yaw.
Step 2 : put the phone also on board, with another phone controlling high level functions, like new waypoint etc.
I'm years away form such a project. I understand that the flight control software should be very sensitive and with very quick response.
I'm playing with a big quadcopter (because it has to be able to carry some payload...) and like you said

It can take weeks to even learn how hover in one spot 10 feet up in the air

I'm still struggling.

 

[Peter Simpson]

Hello @derez,

I've just looked at this on eBay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/3308...&ff3=1&ff11=ICEP3.0.0&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=95

A decent quad copter isn't cheap. I've never even held one, I don't know anybody who has one either, I wanna play

I've been flying for about 5 years now, it's not easy at all. I've put friends and family on my flight simulator for 30 minutes. The best that they usually manage is about 30 seconds of seriously uncontrolled hovering lol.

I will never even try to control a plane or heli via a phone or tablet, not one of these anyway. But I would really like to know what would be the theory behind it all.

What exactly are you panning on doing, why the quad copter except that it's easier to control(I've just answered my own question)?
And you get longer flight times too...

 

[derez]

Here is my quad, its 585 frame:

As you can see I added wheels and springs to enable me to land while it is still moving and absorb heavy landings...It helps.
I trained by a simulator but the problem is that I couldn't configure it to the flight mode (it uses rate and I fly the quad in position).
The colors help in identifying the flight direction.
The battery gives me about 5 minutes and I stop earlier because I don't like the idea of it falling down.

 

[Peter Simpson]

I like it. 585mm, that's a beast

5 minutes is long enough on a Li-Po pack. 6 minutes is seriously pushing it and can end up with an expensive repair bill

You can get quad copters for Phoenix RC, I'm presuming that is what you're using as anything else is a waste of time. World champion Alan Szabo and other like him swear by it.

Having colours is a great idea, but what you have done with the springs helps cut down on hard landings. Plus if you add weight(like a small video camera) the springs will help protect it.

I find flying upside down forward a pain, but flying upside down backwards a nightmare as all the controls are flipped. Up is down, left is right etc. I've binned it a couple it times while doing that, lucky a have plenty of spares imported from Hong Kong

I really like your quad. What are you going to put a GPS tracker in it, and let it do its thing @derez?

 

[derez]

Much prior to this, I can put a device and use Erel's cctv program to send pictures. I have not checked yet but in a previous exercise I put a device on a toy car and found that the communication suffers from the motors electric noise. I don't know what is the effect of the quad's rotors.
Anyway, I'm not risking a device on board yet, I have to master the vehicle first.

 

[Peter Simpson]

Phoenix RC
Maybe you should use a choke for the noise.

I've put a little spy cams on my heli and recorded my flights. It works great. The spy cams were only about £10 each from eBay, I purchased 5 of them thinking that I would damage them, they are all still in perfect working order. My spy cams use a Class 6 Micro SD card to save the recording as I fly about.

Trust me when I say Phoenix RC. I will admit it, it's not cheap but it will help you out no end.

 

[DonManfred]

I totally have no plan of how to realize all you both are saying here but i´m a interested reader of this thread

Really fascinating