always building
Introducing the Tailsitter VTOL Project Date: 2025-01-10T00:00Z After putting the Aurora TVC Hopper project on pause last fall, I've been deep into learning about fixed-wing aircraft configuration, simulation, and modeling—exploring everything from OpenVSP optimization, stability analysis, CFD, GNC, and more. I'll be using a lot that I learned on the Aurora project for this vehicle as well. What…
After some deliberation, I think I am going to put the Aurora TVC Hopper project on pause for the time being... Probably not even a full pause! Life has been very busy the last few months, and I haven't been able to really dedicate any time to the project. I've also been a little bogged down with code integration - doesn't quite scratch my engineering itch as much as everything else does.…
I am still having issues with getting the xBees working. Everything seems to work normally when they're both connected to my computer, but when I connect them to an arduino/STM32 and try to send/receive serial data, nothing happens... It seems like it should be easy? There's a decent number of basic arduino tutorials out there. I suspect there's an issue with my STM32 code/setup. Should just be a…
Here is the datasheet for the contrarotating motor I'm using. Since it is a TVC/VTOL platform, I need more than just a 1:1 TWR to fly Because of cosine thrust losses , when the motor pivots, we will lose a component of the vertical thrust produced If the motor pivots 10deg, assuming a starting thrust of 1400g, the resulting vertical thrust will only be 1157g. In order to maintain altitude during…
Haven't started working on it yet, but planning to do something similar to ardupilot groundstation what if I just used LabView ? Maybe not as sleek as other options, but just for simple data collection it could save some headache not married to labview, just a thought Looks like a pretty decent amount of people have done drone control projects with labview, specifically about 10 years ago with a…
Finally, after over a week of troubleshooting, I am able to communicate with the onboard sensors on the MatekH743! I have been attempting to read data from the onboard ICM42688 IMU. According to the Matek docs, the sensor is connected via SPI1. Since I know the board pinouts, it should've been a simple matter, just standard SPI communication using an STM32 board. However, it stumped me for over a…
The provided code tests all GPIOs as CS pins. A response different from 0xFF likely means you've found the correct CS pin. Some sensors require specific register reads (WHO_AM_I) to respond. If no response: Try different SPI modes ( SPI_MODE0 , SPI_MODE1 , etc.). Verify power connections. Use a logic analyzer to check SPI activity. #include <SPI.h> // Define SPI bus (adjust to match your sensor's…
Still not having any luck reading the onboard sensors... I have gotten way into betaflight and an arduino library for the sensor, but with no luck. I am not sure why that isn't working... Next Steps: Try to read the barometer - I have only been focused on reading the IMUs, maybe I would have better luck with trying a different sensor Directly copy the relevant betaflight code for initializing this…
Gyro SPI Comms Still can't get gyro communication working over spi, even though I think I have the correct pin defs I found this betaflight gyro config code, would be interesting to dive into. Might be able to just copy/paste it into mine... at the very least I can use the ways it wakes the gyro and stuff I think my problem has not been pin defs, but rather comms protocol? Maybe using a wrong…
The Arduino IDE makes it surprisingly easy to program microcontrollers that aren’t part of the Arduino ecosystem—like STM32 devices. This is a useful feature for my project with the Matek H743 flight controller, which runs on an STM32H743 chip. It’s not a typical development board, but with a bit of extra effort, I’ve managed to get it working. Handling DFU Mode Programming an STM32 board isn’t as…