Page 1 of 3
[SOLVED]ESKY Transmitter
Posted: Fri May 10, 2013 11:15 am
by TheFrog4u
I have my cf UI including ps3 controller up and running, but since I am still waiting for my cf to be delivered (and wonder why it takes so long just for me), I am not able to test it now. However I am also wondering how to make the cf controlable by the ESKY transmitter. I read in a news post that you have some code for it already, but does the cf work with it out of the box or do I have to complie the firmware with some special compiler options or the like?
http://www.bitcraze.se/2013/04/pc-free- ... ntrollers/
You also wrote:
There are still some work left to make RC transmitters works as good as a gamepad but the current source code is good enough to fly.
What exactly is left to be done? Since I am a software engineer I might be able to help in this area.
Re: ESKY Transmitter
Posted: Fri May 10, 2013 12:07 pm
by marcus
Hi,
TheFrog4u wrote:I have my cf UI including ps3 controller up and running, but since I am still waiting for my cf to be delivered (and wonder why it takes so long just for me), I am not able to test it now.
From what I understand there was a lot of parcels leaving China around the May Day holiday so there seems to be some delays there if you have chosen the
registered air parcel for shipping.
TheFrog4u wrote:However I am also wondering how to make the cf controlable by the ESKY transmitter. I read in a news post that you have some code for it already, but does the cf work with it out of the box or do I have to complie the firmware with some special compiler options or the like?
Yes, you will have to compile the firmware yourself to get support for the E-SKY transmitter. If you don't have the development environment set up already the easiest might be to get the
Bitcraze VM.
Use the following to exchange the PC client support with E-SKY transmitter support in the Crazyflie firmware.
TheFrog4u wrote:What exactly is left to be done? Since I am a software engineer I might be able to help in this area.
Arnaud implemented the support for the E-SKY transmitter and he's the only one that has tested it. He's gone a few days, but he gets back in the beginning of next week and then he can fill in the details here.
/Marcus
Re: ESKY Transmitter
Posted: Sat May 11, 2013 9:56 pm
by bstott
Wow! That would be awesome to just grab my Turnigy 2.4GHz and the Crazyflie.
Re: ESKY Transmitter
Posted: Sat May 18, 2013 6:56 am
by bstott
@ marcus
Any update making Crazyflie work on a 2.4 RC radio?
marcus wrote:Hi,
TheFrog4u wrote:I have my cf UI including ps3 controller up and running, but since I am still waiting for my cf to be delivered (and wonder why it takes so long just for me), I am not able to test it now.
From what I understand there was a lot of parcels leaving China around the May Day holiday so there seems to be some delays there if you have chosen the
registered air parcel for shipping.
TheFrog4u wrote:However I am also wondering how to make the cf controlable by the ESKY transmitter. I read in a news post that you have some code for it already, but does the cf work with it out of the box or do I have to complie the firmware with some special compiler options or the like?
Yes, you will have to compile the firmware yourself to get support for the E-SKY transmitter. If you don't have the development environment set up already the easiest might be to get the
Bitcraze VM.
Use the following to exchange the PC client support with E-SKY transmitter support in the Crazyflie firmware.
TheFrog4u wrote:What exactly is left to be done? Since I am a software engineer I might be able to help in this area.
Arnaud implemented the support for the E-SKY transmitter and he's the only one that has tested it. He's gone a few days, but he gets back in the beginning of next week and then he can fill in the details here.
/Marcus
Re: ESKY Transmitter
Posted: Sat May 18, 2013 9:23 am
by TheFrog4u
bstott wrote:@ marcus
Any update making Crazyflie work on a 2.4 RC radio?
I am not marcus, but as menstion above the cf should work with an E-Sky Transmitter (which is an 2.4 RC radio), but other transmitter are most likely not compatible with the cf and never will be (exept of the PPM solution) as long as they don't have the NRF2401AG or the NRF24L01+ chipset.
I finaly have the cf up and running in the air using a ps3 controller, but already bought an Esky ET6i for 20€ on ebay a couple of days ago. Once its delivered I'll give it a try and report how its working.
Re: ESKY Transmitter
Posted: Sat May 18, 2013 10:08 am
by foosel
TheFrog4u wrote:I am not marcus, but as menstion above the cf should work with an E-Sky Transmitter (which is an 2.4 RC radio), but other transmitter are most likely not compatible with the cf and never will be (exept of the PPM solution) as long as they don't have the NRF2401AG or the NRF24L01+ chipset.
I ordered a couple of NRF24L01+ breakout boards which arrived today to take a look at how to turn an existing LP5DSM RC I have into a CF compatible one, wish me luck!
but already bought an Esky ET6i for 20€ on ebay a couple of days ago
I have a sneaking suspicion that it was you who out-bid me
Re: ESKY Transmitter
Posted: Sat May 18, 2013 10:22 am
by TheFrog4u
foosel wrote:I ordered a couple of NRF24L01+ breakout boards which arrived today to take a look at how to turn an existing LP5DSM RC I have into a CF compatible one, wish me luck!
I DO!
foosel wrote:I have a sneaking suspicion that it was you who out-bid me
No, it was a "buy immediately" sale. -> But I have seen et6i widly on ebay going from 15€ to 40€. Those sales which have a receiver included tend to be more expensive (>30€) -but for the cf I didn't need one, so.. just have a little bit of patientce and you should be able to buy one incl. shipping fees for under 25€.
Re: ESKY Transmitter
Posted: Sun May 19, 2013 9:17 pm
by jared
I got my ESKY radio talking to the Crazyflie today. Here are a few observations.
First, as mentioned on the bitcraze blog, you need to flip the switches under the batteries. The radio default is 1: off, 2:on. I reversed them to 1: on, 2: off and it started making more sense although some of the channel directions are backwards so I started playing with the channel reverse switches on the front of the radio. Here are the settings that worked for me:
AIL = Normal
ELE = Reverse
THR = Normal
RUD = Reverse
At this point, I could control the crazyflie and it actually works pretty well although the controls seemed a bit sluggish - especially after getting used to the overly twitchy PS3 controller. With ESKY it felt like it didn't have much power. I know this little guy can be very zippy after playing with the PS3 controller so much. Also, the crazyflie is in + mode which tends to confuse me since I always fly my quads in X mode. I was able to tweak the firmware a bit and now it is much more responsive and flying in X mode.
Here's the tweaks to the code:
https://bitbucket.org/jodell/crazyflie- ... e60764b7de
This seems to be working perfectly although I might tweak the settings a bit more for even more responsiveness (maybe this is just PS3 controller withdrawal). Also, one other observations is the start-up order. It seems to work the best to turn on the crazyflie, wait for the green light to flash, then turn on the radio and wait for the green light to come on solid. Also, be sure to turn the throttle down on the radio before turning it on... doh!
I must say that I'm lovin' my crazyflie!
Re: ESKY Transmitter
Posted: Mon May 20, 2013 4:26 pm
by TheFrog4u
sounds great, alo thanx for your fw modifications and detailed description on how to set the tranmitter switches. I'll definatly give it a try as soon as I have my ESKY
Re: ESKY Transmitter
Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 5:16 am
by bstott
Jared - Thanks for the details. I'll give my 2.4GHz FrSky a try. Maybe there will be connections on this Tx too?