Quadcopter Simulator (In Development)

[jhitesma]

Looks great, I'll have to check it out soon!

Any chance of adding HITL support for open pilot and TauLabs?
https://wiki.openpilot.org/display/WIKI/HITL

Would love having a multirotor sim that lets me actually fly my real hardware in the computer

 

[Blueteak]

Long-time linux user checking in. This is making me pretty excited. Do you have a linux build yet?

Since I'm using unity I can build for Linux easily, however, I don't have a linux machine to test on, so if you would like to be a guiana pig...

Here's a build that is newer than the current released beta: Linux Build Zip

Looks great, I'll have to check it out soon!

Any chance of adding HITL support for open pilot and TauLabs?
https://wiki.openpilot.org/display/WIKI/HITL

Would love having a multirotor sim that lets me actually fly my real hardware in the computer

That looks pretty awesome, I have an openpilot cc3d board that I will be using to build a quad from scratch, and so I'm sure I'll get fairly comfortable working with their software.
However giving you what you have in mind (where you see something resembling YOUR quad in the simulator) is a very large undertaking that requires writing a data interpreter to read what hardware you are using and then fashion a 3D model of it on the fly.
I definitely want people to be able to modify the control algorithms (since that is what got me interested in the first place), so that will be implemented wether I use HITL or not.
I don't see it being added in the near future (as I'm still working on getting the menus set up and the quad responding nicely to different transmitters) but I think that it would be an invaluable tool for many pilots, so I will definitely keep it in mind.

 

[jhitesma]

I'll keep watching HITL is something I'd like since I experiment with custom firmware on my Tau projects and would love to be able to test fly some things in a sim first. I mostly want it for quads and the simulators that are currently supported (and what I can afford) don't do quads very well. I'm not looking for 1:1 modeling of my exact craft - so much as letting me check basic operation between builds without risking broken props as often

So far I've had no luck with it on windows, and very little on linux (mostly because my linux machine is a 10+ year old notebook that can barely run the GCS software let alone a simulator.)

I got your windows build running last night and it looks promising. I had a hard time getting the throttle setup until I read the thread and saw your video. I think the problem is I was trying to set "down" as well as "up" and it was getting the same axis for it.

With that figured out I got it flying with my Turnigy 9x and a hobbyking USB adapter. Something about it just didn't feel right in the air though. I think it's modeling a bigger quad than what I usually fly which explains some of it. But it seems almost like there's something about the throttle that doesn't respond at all like a real quad. I need to play around with the adjustments a bit more to say for sure what feels wrong.

 

[daxian]

hi all ....
not able to use the tx, so went back to the x-box controller....may be just me ,but the controls are not right !!!
i can get forward ,back ,roll left and right, turn left and right, but not combinations !!! so if i push forward and roll left it does not track correctly ...the way my quad does !!!

 

[Blueteak]

@jhitesma
Have you tried adjusting the throttle power and throttle expo in the Quad Settings? The throttle is something that isn't really affected by the stabilization algorithm, and fairly simple to code (just prop speed depending on power, and that adds a force up on the arm to counter gravity). So it may be able to respond like a quad you are used to using if you were to adjust the amount of "up force" you give it.
That being said, I may need to add a Time-Scale slider, in case the physics seem too fast/sluggish for some people.

@daxian
Can you explain a bit more about what you mean? Are you in stabilized or acrobatic mode (I'm still tweaking acro mode, as it doesn't like to stay in an angle). Do you have an issue making the quad go somewhere, or is it that they way in which it moves is not accurate?

 

[Blueteak]

Here's a pic of what I've been working on recently, it's a modified DJI Inspire

Which is also a type of H Quad, and required a slightly different algorithm to work, so now I have two different control systems, one for X Quads and one for H quads.

 

[Balu]

Just a quick update, I wasn't able to get "back" configured with my Taranis connected to my Mac. All other directions were correctly identified, but "back" wasn't. Not sure why yet, will try again if I find a moment.

I also wonder why there is no "maximum level calibration". I remember that when using analog joysticks I had to move them to all extends so the software knew how far they'd go. Is that not required here?

 

[CharelZa]

Hats off to you Blueteak.
I don't normally visit sim pages cause I no longer really use them, but with the winter approaching over here I started looking arround and got a couple of sims with quads to keep myself bussy if the weather is crap.
So by chance I saw this post and thought I'll check in and have to say I'm super impressed and greatfull that you're putting so much effort into this sim.
I will download the windows version and give it a try.

 

[Blueteak]

@Balu
It's just not in yet. Inputs go from -1 to 1, my controller's throttle right now goes from -0.974 to 0.866, so I will be adding the range checking in the future to adjust them to correctly find the extremes of the joysticks.

 

[CharelZa]

Downloaded and got it working sort off with my Esky sim controller.
All calibrations done and assigned except for up and down.
When doing the assassinating it gives me + values for both up and down.
Might be an problem on my side though, but I also know this controller works on all the other sims I have.
Will try my flying radio and see what response I get.

Looking good though, but the quad seems very unbalanced, might be due to the calibrations not taking full affect or if it is the physics.

 

[Balu]

@Balu
It's just not in yet. Inputs go from -1 to 1, my controller's throttle right now goes from -0.974 to 0.866, so I will be adding the range checking in the future to adjust them to correctly find the extremes of the joysticks.

Can I enable some kind of debug output to see how far my controller's go?

 

[Blueteak]

Not currently, there's no debug console in the beta build.
I will either add the controller maximums or some sort of console for the next build.

 

[jhitesma]

That sure sounds like something is way off on your physics if you have to create a different controller for an H layout vs. an X.

They're both the same - the motors are in the same positions doing the same things. All that's different is the frame connecting the motors together.

I'm curious about just what and how you had to change for H vs. X the way you're doing the sim.

 

[Blueteak]

It actually had to do with the axis that is facing forward, for the X copter, Motors 1 and 3 are along the X-Axis, 2 and 4 are along the Z-Axis (so more like a plus). On the H quad the Axes go through the cross bar and the middle.
The physics with the motors is identical, but the way the 'control board' spins them up changes because the "gyro" telling the quad which direction is which has to shift.

So the physics doesn't change at all, it's the control board's handling of the motor placements (similar to how the cc3d board needs to know how it is placed on the quad) that has to change.

So I'm treating an X quad like a + quad. I realize that it's my fault that this requires two control systems (not too many lines of code different) but now if I ever need to import 3rd party 3d quad models, then it doesn't matter the orientation, I just call it an H or X quad depending.

 

[Blueteak]

Going to be taking a break from this for a while, FatShark and Immersion RC have teamed up to make something almost identical to what I was working on.

Check it out on Steam

It's already been greenlit by the steam community, so it should be released in the near future.

 

[rcspaceflight]

A lot of RC flight simulators out there and a lot of people are working on making them.

I myself wanted to make one but quickly lost interest in actually doing it.

It is one of those things that you have to do for yourself. Do for the fun of it. Even all of those add ons that I made for RC Desk Pilot didn't see too many downloads. I mean they did, and they didn't. But I did it for the fun of it. I had fun making them, and fun flying them. And that's all that counts.

 

[BasicJim]

EDIT 2:

Going to be taking a break from this for a while, FatShark and Immersion RC have teamed up to make something almost identical to what I was working on.

Check it out on Steam

It's already been greenlit by the steam community, so it should be released in the near future.

You should keep working on yours. If you watch this trailer, look at the prop closest to you when the video starts. That quad won't even get off the ground. They have a CCW prop on a motor spinning CW.

Jim

 

[Tmarter]

Resurrecting this thread because I found this in the Steam store for PC...and was surprised to see that this is the same thread that I originally found back in November '15. I also read that there is support for the Interlink controller from RealFlight, so I'm definitely picking it up soon. Looks awesome!

 

[Conrod]

How did you go? Is it finished? I am looking for a Sim to teach me to fly. I have a Flamewheel450 and a Turnigy 9XR from 2014. I am retired now and starting to have fun.

 

[Daniel Kezar]

and now liftoff is 20 bucks on steam. wish i had gotten it ages ago but i didnt want to spend the money lol. i might get it sometime when it goes on sale.