Girish sir, why don't you develop the joystick into something like this, with a gymbal in left hand side for throttle control and the force feedback joystick in the right hand side for pitch,roll and yaw control

that way it would solve the problem of the awkwardness of holding the joystick in one hand and flying because this can be mounted in something like tx trays with sholder straps for comfortable flying

this might sound confusing so refer to the pics

flying with a tx like this would be an unforgettable experience for people like me who can never fly a real airplane

Thanks Bilal,
The genius was an inexpensive option to check if the concept worked.
It is going inside this next

http://www.flipkart.com/m/thrustmaster-t-flight-hotas-x/p/itmczx3xutearsqz?pid=ACCCZX3WRSHTDURY

dont underestimate yourself bilal.. you CAN fly a real airplane..

Abhay, +1 for your reply

Bilal, atm I'm  also focussing on writing a firmware implemented usb host so any joystick tan be connected. The USB protocol is convoluted and you guys will have to give me little time. Part reason i plunged into upgrading the hardware so early. Cannot guarantee but will not lose hope.

Some updates on the m8 (5channel basic version) for all those watching this thread:

1) Size Comparison with a turnigy 9x.
2) Embedded the radio inside with the aerial sticking out. Gusty sir, this suggestion comes from you
3) Backlighting on, This thing is crystal clear to look at even in the sun
4) Front view, with the power and backlighting switches

more updates finished today

1) Added the PPM port right below the programming port. This port doubles up as a charging port for the embedded NiMH, when the Tx is switched off. Creating a connecting cable for JR/9x is easy. Havent wandered into Futaba connectors as yet. Don't have a Futaba Tx but should not be difficult
2) Made some changes to the menu system, the flickering numbers have reduced. More stable display now and better formatted. Showing values like -100 to +100 now, with the "+" sign. And status of the flaps (5th Channel)
3) Easy to hold, much like a ground radio.

I have a small worry! but before that COngratulations. to your for a wonderful experiment and success in it

Models that we fly are very small and need very precise movement of the stick!! we use tip of the finger to control it!

For this Joystick we have to use complete plam all fingers and thumb... now they cant be so precise as compared to tip of the finger!!

what you think Girish whats the way out for this challenge ?

I am sure you will find a way to beat this too !!

Arvind,

Many thanks for the congratulations.

This is *strictly theoretical* at the moment and has to go through a lot of bashing and practical feedback, but I've a two pronged theory:

1) On a standard Tx, the stick length (lever arm) is smaller, in this case the lever arm is large (almost 3 inches, instead of the 1.5 inch on a tx); apparently the stick has to move larger angular distance (same angle) to cause the same effect, which gives room for precision. The same concept when we change the servo holes/control horns to achieve larger/smaller throws.
2) The more sugar is added, the sweeter it gets. The joystick I;m using right now is kind of crappy; I'm hunting for a really "good" joystick, which has butter like movements, and ain't flippy.

Yes I do agree that smaller planes will be difficult to control but then testing early and often is going to get this better . Besides, this I will replace the pots with hall effect sensors or rotary encoders, but that has to wait unless it turns out to be a first class requirement after testing on real equipment.

 

apart from technical upgradations..we need to work on our plam also.... precise effort made by one tip of finger vis-a-vis by complete palm need to be calibrated with lot of practice!.

All the best

Absolutely agreed. There is a learning curve, I've been using it a while on the sim and I feel it's not too difficult, in fact fun; esp if one has been switching between modes (unfortunate me), I don't have to think if the elevator is on the left or the right

Hello Girish,

Can this thing also work!!!! just a thought from motion sensors from mobile......

no sticks at all just a grip in hand and move it in air to maneuver the plane...

concept !!! ( or its already in market!!!) I have not seen something like this.

Sir,
absolute sweetness...

No reason why this should not work...A Wii motion controller to start with would be a good. Anyone's got one? willing to donate for this wickedness? I am kicked!

The firmware maybe a tad complex (I havent done much research with gyros and accelerometers) but not rocket science...I don't know of anything similar available...

I dont know much ... both gyros need to be in one plane no need for vertical or horizontal....
a quad copter FC card ( 4 axis) can give the required signals and throttle can be a push button.... not sure how but i am sure we can extract signals from FC card...

if its correct then we will have an FC card in hand controlling a plane / quad equipped with with FC controller !!!

That will be nice .... even for a trial....

Superb job Girish! If not for regular RC pilots, a new breed of FPV/AP RC Pilots would love to use it in their Ground Station housed inside their car or Van!
I doubt if using it while standing like we do we with our regular TX would ever be practical, but still it is a great move towards Simulation and FPV flying.
Question - Why cant we retain the USB interface and develop a Board with USB header and MUX/DEMUX, finally synthesizing the correct PPM with a Arduino board ?

@rastsaurabh - Way to go I guess with the FC board. I'vent worked with multirotors as yet, I'm sure I can get loads of info from you on the same.

@ujjwana - I am looking at the Max 3421 to do the favors of retaining the USB on board, atm only to a joystick in the next version (m32) ; That will infact help reduce the IO pins to a single serial line, much savings for prefab boards and more peripherals. However, since I did this as an experiment and wanted to keep the costs and efforts low for DIYers, I initially thought of doing a software impl of the usb firmware but speed is limited. Options are really large at this moment    The reason not to use an Arduino was because it's a board . Going down the native route keeps the ff low

Sorry they stole my idea before i could think..... Girish its there and pretty much as i thought...

Yups, sure they've done it, but I don't see that deterring us . The elevator control and the throttle control can be added on. I see it's going to be a little hard to control and when that arm is tired of holding out the remote, there is no way one can bring it down, it will qualify as an input .

This is more like it


www.starlino.com

Guys,
I'm stumped. I've been using VMLAB for compiling code (and much because it provides simulation); Since yesterday, the following error has started popping up all of a sudden, failing the build

sed: invalid option -- s

I have basic idea of what sed is but I do not know anything about sed having an option -s. Attached is the compilation log. I really cannot make out how to come over this. Request if anyone has some info on this, esp. the Linux guys. This has started happening all of a sudden. Have already done the basic things like restarting etc but no help.

What I cannot understand is why has VMLAB started generating the -s in the command line if it's invalid, and that too all of a sudden. Tried creating a solution from scratch; doesn't help.

Many thanks
GS

Attaching as PDF as that's one of the allowed options.

Weekends are a good initiative for rejuvenating oneself and what could be better after one has kept his promises to take out the wife for a movie; the whole 8 hours of sleep were mine to work...

so here are some updates. I've been able to unstump myself from the roadblock. The makefile seemed to be causing problems, so I rewrote the make file and now it works on both Windows and Linux.

In the video below, I talk about compiling the stuff from source and programming it to the Atmega using some little scripts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcH1Vaep3ds&feature=youtu.be

And in this video, I've reorganized the menu system to come up with something that's much intuitive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuoC4PdnbSU&feature=youtu.be

More to come...

Guess I've been sleeping, while everyone has been working for the sweeps

So, guys here is the firmware for the 8 channel version, since I'm doing something that needs things to be done is software alongwith hardware, attached are some screenshots. One can see 8 channels in the scope, the first one throwing out 1800 ms and the minimum ones 800ms

Hardware updates (with photos, by a newspaper ) to come soon.

dude this is full power gizmo for me man as im in f and b 

Quintessential updates:

- Added graphical LCD support to the firmware using a ks0108. The JHD12864 display is big, yet neat to look at. (screencaps from development environment attached. The four sides represent trims, and the solid black square represents the handle as seen from the top. The smaller white rectangle represents rudder position. The right hand empty side will be used to show pot status of other channels

- the channels can now be configured as analog or digital from the firmware. Analog signals will give complete trimmed range and digital channels will give the upper or the lower value (useful for gear/flaps etc)

- digital switches can be programmed as temporary (1 when pressed, 0 when unpressed), latched (toggle between 0/1 everytime pressed). Coming soon, increment/decrement mode (inc/dec the value by n on every keystroke)

- PCB design done to use the ATMega32. Toner transfer print done. etching starts tonight.
- The Thrustmaster T-flight X is on its way. Flipkart!

PS: Since we are talking about HOTAS here, the background looks appropriate