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Lab 11 - Motors and Controls
Summary/Overview
In this lab, we finalised the calibration and setup of the DATX and flight controller system. We were finally able to validate our mapping and control parameters in the real world/with real hardware, as we attached servos and a brushless motor and ESC to our flight controller and were able to verify that our parameters were set up correctly and corresponded to the expected real-world actions.
Calibration
The process for DATX calibration involves setting the bounds or limits of the control sticks. To calibrate the sticks, you put them at the ends of each position so the software knows the limits of your inputs. Once calibration was done, we connected the DATX to the cube using the RX. This process ensures that each part of the system is able to properly read from and communicate with the other parts of the system instead of “guessing” or “estimating” based on generic parameters.]
RC Map
Name
Channel Number
RCMAP_BRAKE
0
RCMAP_FLAP
5
RCMAP_PITCH
2
RCMAP_ROLL
1
RCMAP_THROTTLE
3
RCMAP_YAW
4
There are no rows in this table
Servo Function
Name
Value
SERVO1_FUNCTION
FlaperonRight
SERVO2_FUNCTION
FlaperonLeft
SERVO3_FUNCTION
Throttle
SERVO4_FUNCTION
Throttle
SERVO5_FUNCTION
VTailLeft
SERVO6_FUNCTION
VTailRight
SERVO7_FUNCTION
Rudder
There are no rows in this table
These tables represent the channels used for different control inputs and how they correspond to the transmitter’s axis or “channel” or to the servo rail’s physical outputs - the servo rail uses a PWM-type signal to communicate with different components - with SERVO1 being the port labelled 1 in the servo rail, and so on.
This view visualises the servo output corresponding to the transmitter’s inputs over time
This image show that the DATX is connected to the reciever/flight controller.
Table
Channel
Column 2
Column 3
Text
1
Roll
FlaperonRight, FlaperonLeft
Right Stick Horizontal
2
Pitch
VTailRight, VTailLeft
Right Stick Horizontal
3
Throttle
Throttle
Left Stick Vertical
4
Rudder
VTailRight, VTailLeft
Left Stick Horizontal
5
Flap
FlaperonRight, FlaperonLeft
Switch
There are no rows in this table
This table is essentially a combination of the RC Map and Servo Function tables from above, with the addition of text to link stick movements to the channels.
Table 2
Channel
Column 2
Column 3
Text
1
Roll
FlaperonRight, FlaperonLeft
Right Stick Horizontal
2
Pitch
VTailRight, VTailLeft
Right Stick Horizontal
3
Throttle
Throttle
Left Stick Vertical
4
Rudder
VTailRight, VTailLeft
Left Stick Horizontal
5
Flap
FlaperonRight, FlaperonLeft
Switch
There are no rows in this table
The final step of this lab was getting to validate our work - controlling a micro servo and motor/esc on a test stand. We were able to verify that the DATX inputs corresponded to the motor’s outputs, as well as powering the entire system off of a power supply instead of over USB for the first time since starting this process.
Reflection:
This lab was the most interesting one we’ve done in a while, to me, as it represents the culmination of our work from past labs, as well as the application of what we had learned from lecture earlier in the semester, finally visualised. It’s always satisfying to see something work, especially since most of the configuration of these systems has been troubleshooting or things not working as expected/ intended. This has certainly been the most fulfilling of the labs thus far.
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