TRI-PHAN - THRUST VECTORING TRI-COPTER BY MONOPHAN

PsyBorg

Wake up! Time to fly!
Nice start with the FPv. I will suggest if you plan to fly visually you at least set the camera with 10-20 degree up tilt for forward flight so you can see whats ahead of you as well as keep track of the horizon. Unless you are going for your full on instrument rating. Having the artificial horizon is Ok for high altitude but not so much under ~10m or so as it reacts too slow to be useful and safe. This will save you a ton of money and time from repairs if you can see where you are and are headed better for sure.

FPV is fun and amazing but it surely requires a reconfiguration of how you think when in flight. It only gets more fun and addictive as time goes by and your skills increase. Welcome to the rabbit hole!!
 

VAALLEON

Active member
Nice start with the FPv. I will suggest if you plan to fly visually you at least set the camera with 10-20 degree up tilt for forward flight so you can see whats ahead of you as well as keep track of the horizon. Unless you are going for your full on instrument rating. Having the artificial horizon is Ok for high altitude but not so much under ~10m or so as it reacts too slow to be useful and safe. This will save you a ton of money and time from repairs if you can see where you are and are headed better for sure.

FPV is fun and amazing but it surely requires a reconfiguration of how you think when in flight. It only gets more fun and addictive as time goes by and your skills increase. Welcome to the rabbit hole!!

Thanks for the tips bud! Totally agree! I cannot keep the goggles on for more than 10 seconds yet:) FPV is weird... I adjusted the cam angle and got a much better video, with some fun at the end. Did one and a 3/4 speed runs just for you:) Not the full speed but maybe around 75%???

The purpose of the flight was to closeup to a tree and test the accuracy of the optical flow position hold. It was quite successful. Held the position quite well. But I had a couple of small drifts here and there during the flight. I am continuously working on the code to make it a little smarter, so it will take a little while until I get it to where it needs to be. The first version was a very simple and solid version. If I cannot pull it off, I will revert back to that code.

I think I may also add sonar obstacle avoidance to feel more comfortable. But first, the GPS.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqvFwuSeTRA

 

VAALLEON

Active member
Did some more fine tuning and had a good test. Went up to 52m or 170ft with a solid position hold and back. All of this flight video, except the hand launch and hand landing has been done in crawl mode, and baro hold. The position hold performed very well, even when I got as close as inches to a tree top. I believe I am getting very close to my target of having a precision position hold which can also perform at higher altitudes. The next step is installing a front sonar to avoid contact at closeups. Then, I will also install a GPS as a backup system.

I am pretty confident that the system will work in even higher altitudes but I cannot test that in my neighborhood park. Need to get out to the fields.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iH7B64sEU0o

 

VAALLEON

Active member
A better test of crawl mode + optical flow + sonar + Baro. A longer precision approach to a tree with the tractor beam. I can easily adjust the distance with the 5th ch knob while all systems are taking care of the pos hold. I consider this mission accomplished. Maybe some further fine tuning but nothing further is necessary. I will probably post a couple more videos of a precision approach to some objects and a cliff.

Ground cam
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cggfBAHqhl4

Onboard cam
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ui0rA5PUKFg
 

VAALLEON

Active member
Testing the performance of the position hold in some relatively strong gusts. I had to do this before declaring glory on this project. 20-25mph gusts. The unit is fully under pos/alt hold right after take off. Stays within a radius of 2-3m. Hardware and software work well together and beat the wind. Good performance. Thx...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSKxnJuUJlU

 

VAALLEON

Active member
TriGami:) This is a 100% foamboard construction from my MonoPhan origami series. It is arduino supported and can either be navigated without tilting only with thrust vectoring like my older TriPhan units, or it can fly just like any other tricopter, via differential thrust. This was one of the hardest units to tune. Outdoors maiden, 5 short flights with different settings…

Flight #1 & 2: Rough tuning, PID too tight. You can see the unit nose diving when I cut the throttle during the flight, which means that its grossly nose heavy. The ESC calibration is off.

Flight #3: ESCs calibrated, PID eased off, unit weight balanced: 100% thrust vectoring navigation, a tiny bit of differential thrust to support. Pretty stable but not very responsive.

Flight #4: 50% thrust vectoring navigation, increased differential thrust (hybrid). Unit more responsive but not very stable.

Flight #5: No thrust vectoring (except yaw), pitch and roll controlled with differential thrust. Wobbling due to increased leveling input. I am not confident at all, land the unit early.



Need to further tune PID and find the right setting.



 

Vimana89

Legendary member
TriGami:) This is a 100% foamboard construction from my MonoPhan origami series. It is arduino supported and can either be navigated without tilting only with thrust vectoring like my older TriPhan units, or it can fly just like any other tricopter, via differential thrust. This was one of the hardest units to tune. Outdoors maiden, 5 short flights with different settings…

Flight #1 & 2: Rough tuning, PID too tight. You can see the unit nose diving when I cut the throttle during the flight, which means that its grossly nose heavy. The ESC calibration is off.

Flight #3: ESCs calibrated, PID eased off, unit weight balanced: 100% thrust vectoring navigation, a tiny bit of differential thrust to support. Pretty stable but not very responsive.

Flight #4: 50% thrust vectoring navigation, increased differential thrust (hybrid). Unit more responsive but not very stable.

Flight #5: No thrust vectoring (except yaw), pitch and roll controlled with differential thrust. Wobbling due to increased leveling input. I am not confident at all, land the unit early.



Need to further tune PID and find the right setting.



I love all your designs and shells, but this one's especially cool to me, for being made out of FB and for the "classic" triangle UFO shape(y).
 

VAALLEON

Active member
I love all your designs and shells, but this one's especially cool to me, for being made out of FB and for the "classic" triangle UFO shape(y).

Thank you sir! Yeah, after all that work mow it turned out really nice...

I had tens of tests, PID variations, ESC replacements, crashes... I totaled the old unit and re-built trying to fix all design issues, adding carbon fiber enforcements, changing the servo drive method, etc. If I went through all issues it would take a couple of paces... Anyway, at last, the unit flies like a dream. It is probably more stable and smooth than anything else I flew. This is a short, first fully successful test. More videos to follow...

 

VAALLEON

Active member
Getting the unit dialed at last... Strong winds today. The unit flies really good. I switched back and forth between thrust vectoring to differential flight a couple of times during the flight. Optical flow works but was unable to compensate the wind push. I will increase the compensation and try again.

 

VAALLEON

Active member
At last I can rely on this unit not to fall out of sky and have some fun… It is a little wobbly and has some servo oscillation but I really like it like that. I think it gives the unit character😊

The flight begins with a flight with differential thrust, then I switch ch 5 to mid and it switches to thrust vectoring. It is a little slower response but still flies really good. Then ch 5 low activates optical flow and baro. There is a nice close-up that show how the servos compensate and keep the unit in place. The wind is not strong but you can certainly feel it.



The best part is this unit excites me and makes me want to fly more, and push it further… Everything works perfectly and nothing heats up, except the battery… Buying this battery was a mistake…



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQXnSrtlayo
 

cranialrectosis

Faster than a speeding face plant!
Mentor
Getting the unit dialed at last... Strong winds today. The unit flies really good. I switched back and forth between thrust vectoring to differential flight a couple of times during the flight. Optical flow works but was unable to compensate the wind push. I will increase the compensation and try again.



Sound reminds me of a Star Wars Tie Fighter. :)

Ever push it to see how fast it can go or is that how you 'totaled the old unit'?
 

VAALLEON

Active member
Sound reminds me of a Star Wars Tie Fighter. :)

Ever push it to see how fast it can go or is that how you 'totaled the old unit'?

I totaled the first one while tuning it. I did do full stick in the thrust vectoring mode on this unit a couple of times but for short periods. The servo range on this unit is less than the prior carbon fiber units. So it is not as fast but not bad for a foamboard triphan😁 I will do a video to demonstrate the speed at some point.