Question on camera control

[oldjarhead46]

I would like to use a micro servo to control camera tilt. Is there any way to use the flip control command somehow to do this?
Is there any way to do this with the WIFI setup?
Thanks

[garrock]

Both Tilt and Roll would be ideal to control.
Then the video feed would be normalized no matter how the drone is oriented during flight.

The Mission Fulfillment Module will support multiple RC servo channels.

[oldjarhead46]

What is mission fulfillment module?

[pawelsky]

I would like to use a micro servo to control camera tilt. Is there any way to use the flip control command somehow to do this?
Is there any way to do this with the WIFI setup?

Somebody earlier suggested to use LED animations to trigger certain actions on the AR.Drone. It shall be pretty easy to detect LED state using an Arduino board connected to one of the motor boards. The same Arduino board could also drive the servo(s).

[oldjarhead46]

Thanks for the reply's
Where can I find information on controlling led animations?

[pawelsky]

Thanks for the reply's
Where can I find information on controlling led animations?

In AR.Drone SDK or tutorials like this or that one.

[oldjarhead46]

Thanks for the information. I think I could handle the hardware part but I am not sure of the code. I am using Drone Control with a Ipad and a 60beat controller. So I will have to change code in Drone control to use buttons to move camera servo and then change code in drone to send correct pulses to led's and then trap them with aurdino board on way to motor led's which would drive servo? The motor led's have reversable polarity to get different colors? Do you have a source for motor board and main board schematic?

[pawelsky]

Thanks for the information. I think I could handle the hardware part but I am not sure of the code. I am using Drone Control with a Ipad and a 60beat controller. So I will have to change code in Drone control to use buttons to move camera servo

Drone Control is not open source so you would have to convince AR.Tommy to add LED animations to Drone Control. The other option is to switch to e.g. Drone Ace, which already does support LED animations.

then change code in drone to send correct pulses to led's and then trap them with aurdino board on way to motor led's which would drive servo? The motor led's have reversable polarity to get different colors? Do you have a source for motor board and main board schematic?

You don't have to change anything in Drone's firmware, all you need is an Arduino board connected to the serial line of one of the motor boards (same as we did for the Frankendrone - you will find the connection diagram in the zip archive).

The serial protocol for communication with motor boards is described here
http://blog.perquin.com/blog/ardrone-motor-controller/
but it is a bit outdated - especially the LED part.

The Ardiuno code is pretty trivial. Actually I just did a quick test and it works no problem. Here is a short video using Drone Ace.

Direct link: http://www.youtube.com/v/dUOHw5Aaoao

[oldjarhead46]

Thank You Pawelsky for your help,
This looks like what I need. Is Drone Ace available in US? I can't find it.

[pawelsky]

Thank You Pawelsky for your help,
This looks like what I need. Is Drone Ace available in US? I can't find it.

I can't find it either I'm afraid. Looks like it was pulled from the appstore

Maybe contact the developer (http://drone-apps.com/) to get some more info?

[oldjarhead46]

I forgot to ask earlier. Can you program the led control to the 60beat buttons?
Thanks

[pawelsky]

I forgot to ask earlier. Can you program the led control to the 60beat buttons?

Depends on app. In Drone Ace it looks like you can do it for Drone 1.0 (see attached picture).

drone_ace.jpg

[AR.Tommy]

Hello,

actually Drone Control supports LED animations since 2010. If you need something special you can contact me. I'm very interested in supporting this idea.

[pawelsky]

Hello,

actually Drone Control supports LED animations since 2010. If you need something special you can contact me. I'm very interested in supporting this idea.

As I mentioned in your thread probably the best way to implement it would be to make the 1-4 button actions configurable.

From the Arduino decoder POV it would be the best if the animation is repeated with the given frequency as long as the button is held. Releasing the button would restore the standard LED pattern. Changing the frequency would allow to modify speed of camera movements. I've been testing that with the other app and it works pretty well. I also have some idea for the simple camera tilt mechanism - ordered some parts, once they arrive I'll maybe share some more details.

[oldjarhead46]

Thanks to all for the help. I would also like to get parts ordered. Which arduino board do I need and will any micro servo work? I have my tilt already working. I just have to make bracket for servo after I get servo.