Bitcraze Forums

Hi

I'd like to try pursue PPM input for the Crazyradio. I've seen Arnaud's blog post from last year, but was wondering if any more work has been done since then?

Any pointers appreciated.

Hi,

As far as I know there's nothing else done since we haven't had the time.

/Marcus

Hi,

I was actually thinking at coming back at that.

One year ago I wasn't sure of the protocol I wanted to use to control the copter in standalone mode using the radio in PPM mode (how to pair radio with copter for example). So what has been implemented so far is a USB joystick mode that uses the PPM signal as axis input, this was good enought to validate the concept.

As said Marcus, nothing has been done since then in the dongle but we now have implemented an E-SKY receiving mode in the coper and this protocol would be well suited for the PPM mode so I am planing on implementing it in the radio.

I still have a couple of things on my todo list before the PPM mode, I plan on having something that starts to work in a week or two.

Any help is welcome but mind this bug: https://bitbucket.org/bitcraze/crazyrad ... oader-when, more generally you should always have the capability to flash the radio by SPI when developing on it (currently requires a jtag-key compatible FTDI jtag dongle, I am working on an Arduino programmer to make it easier).

Thanks for the feedback and heads up. So if I want to tinker with the initial PPM-USBJoystick code, I must build a custom crazyradio firmware? I haven't gone digging in the repos or source yet, but will look. Ultimately it will be nice to get the Crazyradio working on nothing but a 5v supply and PPM input - maybe I can help with this.

I got my Flie a couple days ago, and have no intention of purchasing a game controller. I've been into RC for a while, so I want to use my Multiplex Royal Evo. So far I've just assembled my Flie and cobbled together working controls ala PPJoy and SmartPropoPlus. It was a bit of a mission because cfclient requires all 6 buttons to be mapped, and they're not much use with an RC controller.

I haven't flown yet, but testing with props detached seems to do stuff.

The newer versions of the Crazyflie PC client only requires you to map the 4 analog axis so that might work better.

Well, I've got my Multiplex controller working great! It doesn't seem too laggy considering the software PPM decode, and my Flie is manageable.

I'll try the latest cfclient - thanks.

Hi, it's been almost a year, so I thought I'd ask if there was any progress on this subject.

I've found a few resources on the web where people are building their own modules for the popular 9x tx and others (see http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1564343 or http://forums.openpilot.org/topic/32438 ... -nanoquad/), as well as esky protocol integration in the cf firmware.

Right now I am tempted to build a module similar to the one in the first link. I imagine there would be some adjustments to the firmware regarding the nrf24l01 settings and the binging and initialisation of the cf, but other than that it seems to be a straight forward connection between 9x <-ppm-> avr <-spi-> nrf24l01.

Is this the way to go or will there be an easyer way soon (possibly just by further modifying the cr-firmware to directly accept ppm instead of funneling it to the host as HID joystick data and including the setup routines for the cf, and powering it from the 9x). Again, the hardware part seems easy enough, it's the firmware I'm not sure about.

I really need some advice here.

Cheers,

Ali

Hi,

Unfortunately there still haven't been any progress on this due to lack of time. One option is modifying a Devo-7e controller and using Deviation custom firmware (code here) or using an E-sky controller (blogpost here).