Radio Setup - FPV-Combat/Main_board_v2 GitHub Wiki

FPV_COMBAT_LOGO2

Overview

FPV Combat system functions controlled by PWM signal read from TRIG pin on combat boards.
The PWM signal is expected to be 950us (-100%) to 2050us (+100%).

Either connect TRIG pin directly to your receiver or wire it via a flight controller.
Assign a separate channel for this signal in your radio controlled by (preferably) a momentary switch.

Note: Usually CH6 or higher would be used for trigger function. The examples below use CH1 (non standard).

The TRIG signal pulse width (1000-2000us) controls what function is activated of the combat system.
Check some examples of individual radio configurations used by some of us.

Pulse Ranges

Table below gives overview of supported pulse widths and how they are interpreted by combat board firmware.
Configure your radio transmitter so send pulses as shown in "Radio Config" column.
PWM pulses can come with jitter or read with some error by firmware, so each function is triggered when pulse is detected in a range.

Command Radio Config Allowed Range Comments
LED brightness 1000-1500 950-1550 1000us LEDs brightest, 1500us LEDs off
HIDE sight and traces 1600 1550-1650 Use with head tracking, activate when pan is off-center
MENU (up, back) 1700 1650-1750 Long press to enter OSD menu, then short press for UP and long for BACK
SHOOT (down, enter) 2000 1850-2050 Long press to ARM. When in menu: short press DOWN, long press ENTER

Basic Operation

For basic functionality (arming and shooting) configure your radio transmitter to send SHOOT command.
Upon boot, the board is unarmed. To arm you need to generate continuous SHOOT signal on TRIG channel for at least 2 seconds. Board beeps twice, armed and is combat ready now.
You then can activate guns (shoot) by generating SHOOT command. Short press is enough to shoot once, you can shoot continuously too by holding trigger. Mind the ammo though.
If no other commands configured, the boards stay armed until power cycled.

Control LEDs Brightness

Addressable LED strips can be connected to the combat boards to indicate life, ammo and combat events.
You can control LED brightness by sending LED command with pulse of desired width, see table above.
It is convenient to control LED brightness with a Pot or Slider on radio transmitter.

Hide Sight and Traces

It may be confusing with head tracking setup to have sight/crosshairs and bullet traces shown on OSD when pilot looks aside.
That's why we implemented a command to temporarily hide such OSD elements.
Configure a logic function or a mixer in your radio transmitter to send HIDE command when pan is off-center.

Show and Navigate OSD Menu

Combat system can be configured by different means: desktop companion, gadget and also via built-in OSD menu. To enter menu, please send MENU command continuously for at least 2 seconds. After two beeps the menu appears on the screen.
Navigate menu (UP, DOWN) by sending short MENU and SHOOT commands (usually, short presses of respective momentary switches).
To enter a submenu or start editing a menu item value, send long SHOOT command. To exit editing or go back in menu, send long MENU command.
Exit menu from the menu's main page by sending long MENU command.

In battle, you can enter menu too. But the battle menu is limited and there you can only exit from the battle or reboot the board.

Step by step configuration using OpenTX (or equivalent)

What follows is an explanation of one of the ways that you can configure your (OpenTX based) radio mainly using "SPECIAL FUNCTIONS". As always many other solutions might produce same result, so this is not intended to be the only right way!

Setting up the trigger

SCOPE: configure 1 switch to trigger burst (shoot)

  1. navigate to tab "SPECIAL FUNCTIONS"
  2. create a special function
  3. assign it to the the switch that you want to use as "TRIGGER"
  4. select the type of function "Override"
  5. select the channel that is used as trigger
  6. set value +100 (corresponding to 2000us)
  7. set the checkbox (to enable the function)

example of setup on TX16 with SHOOT function configured: image

Setting up the menu navigation

SCOPE: configure 2 switches to easily navigate in the menu

  1. navigate to tab "SPECIAL FUNCTIONS"
  2. create a special function
  3. assign it to the the switch that you want to use as "MENU UP"
  4. select the type of function "Override"
  5. select the channel that is used as trigger
  6. set value +40 (corresponding to 1700us)
  7. set the checkbox (to enable the function)
  8. repeat steps 2-7 to configure the "MENU DOWN" and using the value +100 (same as trigger)

example of setup on TX16 with SHOOT, MENU UP and MENU DOWN functions configured: image

NOTE: if your radio doesn't have 2 or more momentary switches, consider to use one unused trimmer switch as momentary buttons! in the example pictures to navigate in the menu is used one "TRIMMER" button (in OpenTx Tu = Throttle trim UP and Td is Throttle trim DOWN)

Disable trim switch (if want to use a trimmer to navigate in menu)

SCOPE: Disable beep and trimmer effect if one trimmer is used to navigate in the menu

  1. navigate to the tab "FLIGHT MODES"
  2. select the desired flight mode (FM0 if you don't use flight modes)
  3. change the desired trimmer switch (most likely the throttle) to setting "--" (DISABLED) leave other trimmers as default (":0" = ENABLED)

image

Brightness control of leds

SCOPE: configure 1 knob/slider to control the brightness of addressable leds

  1. navigate to tab "MIXES"
  2. create a new mixer on the trigger channel
  3. (optional) set a name e.g.: "Led br"
  4. "Source" select the desired knob, slider or switch that you want to use to adjust let's brightness
  5. "weight" set to +50%
  6. "Offset" set to -50%
  7. leave the rest as default (or compare with screenshot)
  8. verify that the trigger channel has new range -100/0

image

Disable sight and traces

SCOPE: configure switch to disable the sight and traces (mostly used with head-tracker when not centered)

  1. navigate to tab "SPECIAL FUNCTIONS"
  2. create a special function
  3. assign it to the the switch that you want to use to hide (might also be a "logic switch")
  4. select the type of function "Override"
  5. select the channel that is used as trigger
  6. set value +20 (corresponding to 1600us)
  7. set the checkbox (to enable the function)

image

Logic switch to disable sight

SCOPE: configure one or more logic switch(es) that monitor one channel (e.g. the Pan channel of an head-tracker) and compare the value to a fixed parameter. The effect is that when using an head-tracker the sight and bullet's traces will be visible only when the camera is centered (more realistic).

  1. navigate to tab "LOGICAL SWITCHES"
  2. create a new logical switch
  3. "Function" set to "|a|>x"
  4. "V1" select the channel that you want to monitor (e.g. the pan of an head tracker)
  5. "V2" set to 10%
  6. (optional) repeat steps 2-5 and change the "first variable" to create an other switch that monitors the "tilt" of the head-tracker
  7. if you are monitoring more than one channel(pan and tilt), set the "AND Switch" to the previous logical switch
  8. set in the "SPECIAL FUNCTION" that disables the traces the last created logical switch as input

image