Simple , Slow Flight for CF2 (Flow Deck)

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ryanemp
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Joined: Fri Jul 06, 2018 6:53 am

Simple , Slow Flight for CF2 (Flow Deck)

Post by ryanemp »

I have some young nephews who are always interested when they see me flying the CF2. Naturally, they want to take a turn as well but the problem is they have difficulty steering and piloting.

My goal is to make the CF as simple and steady as possible, so they can enjoy it also (even if it's very slow to the point an adult would be bored!).

I've been making some simple changes:

1. Reduce slew limit.
2. Reduce slew rate.
3. Reduce max thrust.
4. Reduce max angle.

That has helped but I'm also thinking of adding the Flow Deck v2. My question is:

Does the Flow Deck only add the ability to enable the hover feature? Or does the Flow Deck also help for a more stable flight in general (whether in hover or not in hover)?

Any advice or help is much appreciated.

Looking forward to sharing the fun with all ages!
arnaud
Bitcraze
Posts: 2538
Joined: Tue Feb 06, 2007 12:36 pm

Re: Simple , Slow Flight for CF2 (Flow Deck)

Post by arnaud »

The flow deck is used in all flight modes: it provides information about the Crazyflie velocity and absolute height.

This allows to implement hover mode and very accurate heigh-hold mode but it also affects normal unassisted flight: without assist mode you control the Crazyflie roll/pitch angles, if everything was perfect this should result in controlling the X/Y acceleration. When using the flow, the estimator will use the velocity measurement to keep X/Y acceleration to 0 when you request a roll/pitch of 0, this means that when releasing the joystick you will get your crazyflie to move at constant velocity in X/Y and when making the Crazyflie tilt you will get constant acceleration.
ryanemp
Beginner
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri Jul 06, 2018 6:53 am

Re: Simple , Slow Flight for CF2 (Flow Deck)

Post by ryanemp »

Great, thank you for the quick response.

Am I also on the right track by just reducing the slew, thrust and angle variables I mentioned?
arnaud
Bitcraze
Posts: 2538
Joined: Tue Feb 06, 2007 12:36 pm

Re: Simple , Slow Flight for CF2 (Flow Deck)

Post by arnaud »

One problem with reducing angle range is that you also reduce the amount of control you have: since tilting a quadcopter produces acceleration, even with limited tilt range you can reach quite high velocity and then you do not have the control required to break and avoid obstacles. So limiting the angle range can help up to a point, if you do it too much it actually becomes harder to fly.

The easiest flight is hover mode: in that mode you control the platform velocity so releasing the X/Y gamepad just stops the flight.
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