Stable flight problem

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Pixelstudio
Beginner
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed May 08, 2013 6:10 pm

Stable flight problem

Post by Pixelstudio »

hya people,

Got a crazyflie and assembled it (i think the right way :) )

Now i have bought a xbox360 controller and trying out some flight fun.
The problem i have is to get a stable flight (or this is intended and i need to practice more).

From what i understand it should be possible to flight the crazyflie and hold it stable in the air (straight up).
When i thrust my crazyflie goes up, but into a direction (cannot get it to stable flight, straight up).

So what can be the problem (center of mass?, propellor balancing) ?
Or is it related to the controller..?

Any ideas welcome!
Best regards,
Martijn
jtang613
Beginner
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu May 02, 2013 5:58 pm

Re: Stable flight problem

Post by jtang613 »

Yes, all of the above.

I'm also using a xbox controller. I have not tried a PS3 controller, but I can say that the xbox controller requires a delicate touch. Although, with that in mind, it does fly quite nice. Find an large room to practice in. Also make sure you set your controller mappings and start with "Normal" mode, rather than "Advanced" mode.

Propellers and balance will have an impact on the flight characteristics. Wandering caused by pitch and roll offsets can be controlled using the pitch and roll trim settings. The motor mounts can also be individually pulled in or out to compensate for certain fly dynamic eccentricities, but this should probably be last on the list of things to try. Start by ensuring that all 4 are completely "in".

For me at least, the majority seems to have been a lack of experience flying. I started off terribly because I tried to do too much too fast. Shortly after, I changed my approach to "skill building" rather than "ad-hoc".

My "skill building" learning plan has been:
- Maintain heading and position on the ground (with motors at ~25%).
- Hover at low altitude (ground-effect).
- Hover at "flight" altitude (no ground-effect).
- Perform predictable and consistent translation (pitch and roll) from A -> B at flight altitude.
- Perform predictable and consistent yaw adjustments while hovering.
- Land without crashing - within a 1m diameter target.
- Fly to and land at 3 separate way-points (1m targets).
- Fly forward, turn around 180deg (using yaw) and return back.
- ... continue with increasing complexity by combining above skills.

I'm still not flying like Marcus and Tobias, but I think I'm on my way.
marcus
Bitcraze
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Location: Sweden
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Re: Stable flight problem

Post by marcus »

Nice description jtang613 :D

If you place it on the floor and just push the thrust without compensating the roll/pitch it might be a bit tricky, it's not that stable. Especially just as you take off it tends to drift in some direction. We have been fine-tuning this but there's still work to be done.

Once you are in the air you should be able to keep it fairly still, but it will drift a bit so you will have to compensate. If you feel that it's too far off you could set the trim in the cfclient. The "digital" pad on the Xbox 360 controller will not be able to be configured for the trim (see this issue)
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