RadioLink Turbo PIX, User Manual

Page 1: ...Radiolink Electronic Ltd www radiolink com TURBO PIX User Manual Compatible with Fixed wing Glider Multirotor Helicopter Car Boat Robot CE FCC RoHS ...

Page 2: ... Poor visibility can cause disorientation and loss of control of pilots model Never use this product in a crowd or illegal areas Always check all servos and their connections prior to each run Always be sure about turning off the receiver before the transmitter To ensure the best radio communication please enjoy the flight driving at the space without interference such as high voltage cable commun...

Page 3: ...s 1 This device may not cause harmful interference and 2 this device must accept any interference received including interference that may cause undesired operation Changes or modifications not expressly approved by the party responsible for compliance could void the user s authority to operate the equipment Packing List No Items Qty No Cables Oty 1 Turbo Pix 1 Piece 9 SUI04 PIXHAWK Connect Cable ...

Page 4: ...ltitude Hold Mode 22 3 6 4 Auto Mode 23 3 6 5 PosHold Mode 25 3 6 6 RTL Mode 25 3 6 7 Simple and Super Simple Modes 27 3 6 8 More flight modes 29 4 F S failsafe Setting 30 4 1 Radio Failsafe Setup 30 4 2 EKF FailSafe 34 5 Optional hardware setup 35 5 1 Install Turbo Pix on aircraft 35 5 2 Connect Turbo Pix to the aircraft 36 5 2 1 Motor order rotation select 36 5 2 2 How to recognizing clockwise a...

Page 5: ...light time The 8 channel output fits all models including fixed wing helicopter car boat 3 8 copters Turbo Pix can carry 6 pcs SUI04 ultrasonic ranging sensor transceiver to realize horizontally and vertically overall obstacle avoidance including forward backward left right upward downward Alt Hold Real time detective and sensitive to the surrounding avoids the possible collisions during high spee...

Page 6: ...gest that you use Turbo Pix following below steps 1 You have to install the mission planner and driver from here and familiar with the menu Download the latest Mission Planner from here http www radiolink com cn firmware MissionPlanner MissionPlanner latest exe Download the driver form here https www microsoft com net download dotnet framework runtime net462 ...

Page 7: ... then connect receiver to AutoPilot to finish the calibration of transmitter Accelerometer and compass 5 Setup RC transmitter flight mode 6 Assemble aircraft and finish the pre flight checklist 7 PID usage 8 Advanced configuration 2 Mission Planner 2 1 Install Mission Planner Net Framework 4 6 2 need to be installed first beforeMission Planner you can download form here https www microsoft com net...

Page 8: ...you open the MP at the first time The first pop up clicks Yes and the others click NO There are six Menu Button in main menu FLIGHTDATA flight attitude and data will show in real time on MP FLIGHTPLAN planning the flight mission INTIAL SETUP for firmware installation and update Mandatory Hardware and Optional Hardware setup CONFIG TUNING including detailed PID setup and parameters change SIMULATIO...

Page 9: ...rame drone 3 1 Download and Install Firmware Please connect your Turbo Pix and computer via USB cable Open the Mission Planner and select the right COM port drop down on the upper right corner of the screen near the Connect button Make sure the Baud rate is 115200 as shown Attention 1 Do not click CONNECT before you upload the new firmware please click DISCONNECT if you have connected successful b...

Page 10: ...he firmware Disconnect the USB cable click OK and then reconnect USB cable immediately Pay attention Turbo Pix will have failed to connect if there are more than one COM please remove other equipment if disconnect Red status LED means the Turbo Pix is loading the firmware After upgrade firmware 3 1 or after version 3 1 there will be a pop up warning motors will run at idle speed after disarmed Ple...

Page 11: ...se set Layout from Basic to Advanced in CONFIG TUNING menu if any of the three questions as below encontered when you installing the Mission Planner 1 It takes a long time to read the parameters 2 There is no option of Load custom firmware or Pick previous firmware ...

Page 12: ...ter List in INITIAL SETUP 3 2 Frame Type Please setup as below 1 INITIAL SETUP 2 Mandatory Hardware Frame Type 3 Choose Quad or Hexa or other frame types as you need 3 3 Accelerometer Calibration Make sure the Turbo Pix is keeping horizontal when do the accel calibration ...

Page 13: ...ts RIGHT side and press any key to save setting 4 Place vehicle DOWN and press any key to save setting Direction points to left Keep Turbo Pix perpendicular to the horizontal plane Direction points straight ahead Keep Turbo Pix horizontal Direction points to right Keep Turbo Pix perpendicular to the horizontal plane Direction downwards Keep Turbo Pix perpendicular to the horizontal plane ...

Page 14: ...n 1 Without GPS use internal compass 2 With GPS use external and internal compass Calibrate interface will shows as picture below when use with GPS If the GPS mounted with the same direction with flight controller then it need not to setup the direction of GPS in MP but if you mounted the GPS with the different direction of Turbo Pix you have to setup in the MP Direction upwards Keep Turbo Pix per...

Page 15: ...er when TS100 have Keep the same direction with flight controller positioning Please fixed Turbo Pix and TS100 then click Start and turn Turbo Pix and TS100 till the progress bar of Mag 1 and 2 to the end and comes out the MAG_CAL_SUCCESS marked words Calibrate the compass as these steps below Hold the vehicle in the air and rotate it slowly so that each side front back left right top and bottom p...

Page 16: ...mission planner will keep recording the data that collected by the compass sensor and the progress bar and the percentage will keep change when you calibrate the compass if the percentage have not changed please check if the compass is connect success ...

Page 17: ...then reconnect Turbo Pix to computer compass calibrate success after restart the Turbo Pix Attention When the progress bar moves to 100 and then restart from 0 it may because of the wrong calibrate action or interference You can have a try to calibrate again till compass calibrate success or setup the Fitness is Relaxed and recalibrate ...

Page 18: ...calibrate the compass of Turbo Pix 3 Buzzer need to be installed as the notification when calibrating the compass with the transmitter 4 Power on the transmitter the throttle gimbal stick should be at the lowest position 5 Power on Turbo Pix annd wait until its self check is complete The normal notification should be RED indicator flashes quickly buzzer makes DEE sounds Red and Green indicators fl...

Page 19: ...ontrol vehicle movement and orientation Copter and Plane minimally control throttle pitch roll and yaw while on Rover we just control throttle and roll Each of these control signals are mapped to transmitter stick switch s and in turn to autopilot channels from the connected receiver Calibrating each of the transmitter controls channels is a straightforward process simply move each of the enabled ...

Page 20: ... 1 second press Push button again when the display pop ups Are you sure you will find out DDD sounds come out with Please wait the mode type MULTIROTOR have setup success after the DDD sounds have finished 3 Setup CH3 THRO REV in REVERSE menu setting steps Press Mode button about one second to into BASIC MENU and then turn the dial to choose REVERSE press Push button to into the REVERSE menu turn ...

Page 21: ...pop ups after you click OK one for make sure both your transmitter and receiver are powered on and connected and the motor of your drone does not have power and without propellers And then click OK and move all RC sticks and switches to their extreme positions so the red bars hit the limits ...

Page 22: ...blue LED of R9DS means work as SBUS signal You can check if every corresponding red bar for every channel is work as below CH1 low position roll towards the left up position roll towards the right CH2 low position pitch forward up position pitch backwards CH3 low position reduced speed up position speed up CH4 low position yaw towards the left up position yaw towards the right Click OK to save the...

Page 23: ...and receiver connect the RC port of Turbo Pix and make sure receiver work as SBUS signal 2 Make sure transmitter bind to receiver success 3 Make sure Turbo Pix connect to Mission Planner success and click INITIAL SETUP Mandatory Hardware Flight modes you can setup the flight modes you want in this menu In flight modes menu it s very clear that the flight modes the PWM numerical interval of six fli...

Page 24: ...oose a 3 Posi SW and a 2 Posi SW to control the attitude 3 Setup Flight Mode 1 is Stabilize both in Mission Planner and transmitter Make sure the swt is ON by press the 3 Posi SW or 2 Posi SW to make it ON or OFF and then you can setup the PWM data Setup the PWM value according to the default numerical interval change the value by turn the dial press the Push button when you choose the right value...

Page 25: ...if the autopilot fails to control the vehicle Maintaining control of your copter is your responsibility 3 6 2 Acro Mode FPV Acro mode Rate mode uses the RC sticks to control the angular velocity of the copter Release the sticks and the vehicle will maintain its current attitude and will not return to level Acro mode is useful for aerobatics such as flips or rolls or FPV when smooth and fast contro...

Page 26: ...tial to apply to the pilots stick inputs that only applies to ACRO mode By default ACRO mode is much more responsive even in the center sticks positions than the other modes so this parameter allows the pilot to fine tune stick response in the control to match what they feel when they are in other modes such as Stabilize AltHold PosHold etc The default value of 0 applies 30 expo to Roll and Pitch ...

Page 27: ...pon the deflection of the stick When the stick is completely down the copter will descend at 2 5m s and if at the very top it will climb by 2 5m s These speeds can be adjusted with the PILOT_VELZ_MAX parameter The size of the deadband can be adjusted with the THR_DZ parameter AC3 2 and higher only This params value should be between 0 and 400 with 0 meaning no deadband 100 would produce a deadband...

Page 28: ...ight mode then raise the throttle The moment that the throttle is raised above zero the copter will begin the mission If starting the mission from the air the mission will begin from the first command the moment that the flight mode switch is moved to Auto If the first command in the mission is a take off command but the vehicle is already above the take off command s altitude the take off command...

Page 29: ...ol the copter s location horizontally and vertically with the control sticks Horizontal location can be adjusted with the Roll and Pitch control sticks with the default maximum lean angle being 45 degrees angle can be adjusted with the ANGLE_MAX parameter When the pilot releases the sticks the copter will lean back to bring the vehicle to a stop Altitude can be controlled with the Throttle control...

Page 30: ...ter was in when it was armed This means if you execute an RTL in Copter it will return to the location where it was armed In RTL mode the flight controller uses a barometer which measures air pressure as the primary means for determining altitude Pressure Altitude and if the air pressure is changing in your flight area the copter will follow the air pressure change rather than actual altitude unle...

Page 31: ...V_SPEED_UP 2 To use RTL GPS lock needs to be achieved Blue GPS LED and Blue APM LED on solid not blinking before arming and takeoff to establish the home or launch position 3 Landing and re arming the copter will reset home which is a great feature for flying at airfields 4 If you get lock for the first time while flying your home will be set at the location of lock 5 If you set the RTL_ALT to a n...

Page 32: ...ll feel that the controls are all reversed I e if the pilot inputs right roll the vehicle will move to the left from the pilot s point of view Simple Modes Similar to the care free mode on other systems this mode allows you to fly your copter as though it were pointed in the direction it was pointed when it was armed regardless of its current heading orientation So if you hold the pitch stick forw...

Page 33: ...antage over simple mode is that the controls are applied from the pilot s point of view even when the copter flies behind the pilot home location If the pilot holds full right roll the vehicle will fly a circle clockwise around the pilot although the circle s radius may tend to grow slightly with each orbit due to lag The disadvantage is that mode require a GPS lock because so you should ensure yo...

Page 34: ...before attempting to use AutoTune as the feature needs to be able to twitch the copter in the roll and pitch axis Land Mode LAND Mode attempts to bring the copter straight down Break Mode This very simple flight mode simply stops the vehicle as soon as possible using the Loiter controller Once invoked this mode does not accept any input from the pilot This mode requires GPS Throw Mode This slightl...

Page 35: ...st contact and there are two ways that it can do this the method depends upon the receiver Low Throttle method the receiver pulls the throttle channel normally channel 3 to a value below the bottom of its normal range normally below 975 With the LiPo battery disconnected 1 Connect your flight controller to the mission planner and select Initial Setup Mandatory Hardware Failsafe 2 Set the Failsafe ...

Page 36: ...nic Ltd www radiolink com 32 transmitter is off 2 at least 10 lower than your channel 3 s PWM value when the throttle stick is fully down and the transmitter is on 3 above 910 Click OK to into the failsafe setting menu ...

Page 37: ...to Launch RTL if the vehicle has a GPS lock and is more than 2 meters from the home position 4 LAND if the vehicle has no GPS lock OR is within 2 meters of home OR the FS_THR_ENABLE parameter is set to Enabled Always Land If the Failsafe clears i e transmitter and receiver regain contact the copter will remain in its current flight mode It will not automatically return to the flight mode that was ...

Page 38: ...er s Flight Data screen Test 3 ensuring flight mode changes to RTL or LAND when throttle is above zero Switch to stabilize mode arm your motors and raise your throttle to the midpoint Turn off your transmitter The Flight Mode should switch to RTL if you have a GPS lock or LAND if you do not have a GPS lock the flight mode and GPS lock status are visible in the Mission Planner s flight data screen ...

Page 39: ...ess the safety switch and have a try to disarmed mount on the propellers if the drone can disarm success then you can go to flight 5 1 Install Turbo Pix on aircraft Mount the Turbo Pix at the barycenter of the drone make sure the arrow of the Turbo Pix is point to the front Keep the GPS with the same direction of Turbo Pix if you need to use Turbo Pix with GPS If the installation can t be done wit...

Page 40: ...ink Electronic Ltd www radiolink com 36 5 2 Connect Turbo Pix to the aircraft 5 2 1 Motor order rotation select Green means CW Blue means CCW Legend for motor order diagrams Quadcopters Hexacopter Octocopter ...

Page 41: ...olink Electronic Ltd www radiolink com 37 Y6 X8 Tricopter Note Since there s no voltage output from the flight controller an extra BEC module needs to be connected to power supply servo for this model frame ...

Page 42: ...scalloped and usually thinner edge as the trailing edge You can use these features to recognize propellers of the correct direction of rotation 5 2 3 Connect the Spare Parts Receiver use a 3 pin connect wire to connect the receiver SBUS signal output port to the RC IN port of PIXHAWK Buzzer and safety switch use a 5 pin GH connect wire to connect Safety Switch and Buzzer to the SAFETY BUZZER port ...

Page 43: ...ype of flight controller and the battery capacity Monitor Voltage and Current or Battery Volts Sensor Supported power module or Other APM ver Flight controller e g Pixhawk Battery Capacity Battery capacity in mAh The bottom section of the the Battery Monitor screen allows you to calibrate the voltage current measurement in order to verify that the measured voltage of the battery is correct You can...

Page 44: ...X4 s reading by doing the following 1 On Mission Planner s INITIAL SETUP Optional Hardware Battery Monitor screen set the Sensor to Other 2 Enter the voltage according to the hand held volt meter in the Measured Battery Voltage field 3 Press tab or click out of the field and the Voltage Divider Calced value will update and the Battery voltage Calced should now equal the measured voltage ...

Page 45: ...ed Yellow flashing repeated sounds Battery failsafe activated Yellow flashing High High Low sounds GPS data error or GPS failsafe activated Safety button indicator Continous flashing quickly System auto checking Flashing intervally System is ready Press the button to activate the system Always on Ready to be armed 5 3 2 Arming and Disarming Arming the motors causes ArduPilot to apply power to your...

Page 46: ...changed from their default values 1100 and 1900 and for channels 1 to 4 MIN value must be 1300 or less and MAX value 1700 or more Barometer failures Baro not healthy the barometer sensor is reporting that it is unhealthy which is normally a sign of a hardware failure Alt disparity the barometer altitude disagrees with the inertial navigation i e Baro Accelerometer altitude estimate by more than 2 ...

Page 47: ...below INS checks i e Accelerometer and Gyro checks INS not calibrated some or all of the accelerometer s offsets are zero The accelerometers need to be calibrated Accels not healthy one of the accelerometers is reporting it is not healthy which could be a hardware issue This can also occur immediately after a firmware update before the board has been restarted Accels inconsistent the accelerometer...

Page 48: ... causing the failure Push the Write Params button Ideally however you should determine the cause of the pre arm failure and if it can be resolved return the Arming Check parameter back to Enabled Disarming the motors Disarming the motors will cause the motors to stop spinning To disarm the motors do the following 1 Check that your flight mode switch is set to Stabilize ACRO AltHold 2 Hold throttle...

Page 49: ...t the MOT_PWM_MIN to 1000 and MOT_PWM_MAX to 2000 If using OneShot ESCs set the MOT_PWM_TYPE to 1 for regular OneShot or 2 for OneShot125 Note only supported in Copter 3 4 and higher Begin this procedure only after you have completed the radio control calibration and Connect ESCs and motors part of the Assembly Instructions Next follow these steps Before calibrating ESCs please ensure that your co...

Page 50: ... and the calibration is complete 9 If the long tone indicating successful calibration was heard the ESCs are live now and if you raise the throttle a bit they should spin Test that the motors spin by raising the throttle a bit and then lowering it again 10 Set the throttle to minimum and disconnect the battery to exit ESC calibration mode 5 5 Level Calibration If the Mission Planner shows the dron...

Page 51: ...fence centered on home that will attempt to stop your copter from flying too far away by stopping at the fence if in Loiter mode and using Copter 3 4 or higher or initiating an RTL The maximum circular distance and altitude and the vehicle behavior when the fence is reached can be configured using Mission Planner ...

Page 52: ...out which will again switch the copter to LAND if it continues away from home Enabling the Fence in Mission Planner The Fence can be set up by doing the following 1 Connect your flight controller Turbo Pix to the Mission Planner 2 Go to the Config Tuning GeoFence screen 3 Click the Enable button 4 Leave the Type as Altitude and Circle unless you want only an Altitude limit or only a Circular fence...

Page 53: ...e position and we want to ensure the copter never travels far outside the fence This behavior will occur regardless of the flight mode If a LAND sequence is not desired the pilot can retake control by moving the flight mode switch 7 The backup fences are created 20m out from the previous breached fence not 20m out from the vehicle s position This means if you choose to override the fence you may h...

Page 54: ... a switch 3 Remove the camera gimbal or any other parts of the frame that could wobble in flight 4 Select which combination of axis roll pitch yaw you wish to tune using the AUTOTUNE_AXES parameter 5 Set the autotune s aggressiveness using the AUTOTUNE_AGGR parameter 0 1 agressive 0 075 medium 0 050 weak normally start with the default 0 1 6 For large copters with props at least 13inch or 33cm dia...

Page 55: ...nge back to the original PID gains 7 Put the ch7 ch8 switch into the LOW position then back to the HIGH position to test the tuned PID gains 8 Put the ch7 ch8 switch into the LOW position to fly using the original PID gains 9 If you are happy with the autotuned PID gains leave the ch7 ch8 switch in the HIGH position land and disarm to save the PIDs permanently If you DO NOT like the new PIDS switc...

Page 56: ...ve the file with the parameters to your computer Write Params write the parameters that have modified to Turbo Pix Refresh Params exhibit the newest parameters which have modified no the Mission Planner Compare Params compare the current and the previous parameters Load Presaved load the parameters that Radiolink upgrade the files which design for 210 250 frame racing drone to Turbo Pix ...

Page 57: ...t in different ways Dataflash logs use the Turbo Pix onboard dataflash memory which you can download after the flight On Plane and Rover dataflash logs are created soon after start up On Copter they are created after you first arm the copter Telemetry logs also known as tlogs are recorded by the Mission Planner or other ground station when you connect ArduPilot to your computer via a telemetry lin...

Page 58: ...Radiolink Electronic Ltd www radiolink com 54 More details about how to use PIXHAWK Turbo Pix APM please check on this website http ardupilot org copter docs common mission planning html ...