Freefall detection ready for prime-time?

Firmware/software/electronics/mechanics
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nimble
Beginner
Posts: 19
Joined: Tue Dec 16, 2014 12:20 am

Freefall detection ready for prime-time?

Post by nimble »

Hi,

I have just upgraded my firmware for my 2.0, and enabled the freefall detection. Upon usage of the default values, I find it works fine if I simply drop the crazyflie.
However, if I am actually flying, and I release thrust, then FF kicks in and thrusts the crazyflie all the way up to the ceiling and goes nuts on the ceiling until the battery runs out... (or I can grab it!)

Any thoughts on why this is happening?
chad
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Location: New York, USA
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Re: Freefall detection ready for prime-time?

Post by chad »

nimble wrote:Hi,

I have just upgraded my firmware for my 2.0, and enabled the freefall detection. Upon usage of the default values, I find it works fine if I simply drop the crazyflie.
However, if I am actually flying, and I release thrust, then FF kicks in and thrusts the crazyflie all the way up to the ceiling and goes nuts on the ceiling until the battery runs out... (or I can grab it!)

Any thoughts on why this is happening?
I'd forgotten that the situational awareness feature got into the firmware. I decided to enable it as well and see how it worked. I broke a motor mount. :(

I couldn't get the same behavior as you when I cut off thrust. I have one room with a high ceiling and even if I got it up all the way near the skylights (I'm guessing 20+ feet high), I couldn't get it to kick on in free fall.

On the other hand, if I tossed the CF up and let it fall, the motors always kick on but the result seems kinda random. It never did a normal "rise up" kind of action. It mostly just shot around here or there and tumbled in the air. Once, it hit the window and broke the motor mount (not the window fortunately).

In any case, I have no idea why it's happening so I'm not much help. But I figured I'd relay my experience anyway.
Crazyflier - my CF journal...
4x Crazyflie Nano (1.0) 10-DOF + NeoPixel Ring mod.
3x Crazyflie 2.0 + Qi Charger and LED Decks.
Raspberry Pi Ground Control.
Mac OS X Dev Environment.
Walkera Devo7e, ESky ET6I, PS3 and iOS Controllers.
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