RCG Announcement - rotorflight/rotorflight GitHub Wiki

It's time to make it official...

Rotorflight is a Flight Control software suite for RC helicopters. It is based on Betaflight, the famous flight controller for multirotors.

Rotorflight has been in the make for some time now. It is now in a beta-testing phase, and there are dozens of brave people already using it - and getting rather excited about it!

So, now is a perfect time to share the love with a wider audience!

FEATURES

Rotorflight is more than just an FBL gyro. It's a Flight Control Software Suite, consisting of the firmware (to go into the FC board), the Configurator software, and the Data Log Analyzer (blackbox) software.

It is forked from Betaflight 4.2, but also borrows ideas and code from Heliflight3D.

As such, it inherits all the great features Betaflight is known for, including

  • Support for plethora of FC boards
  • Many RX protocols: PPM, Spektrum, FrSky, CSRF, XBus, etc.
  • Many telemetry protocols: FrSky, HoTT, S.Port, MSP, etc.
  • Many ESC protocols: PWM, Oneshot, Multishot, DShot, etc.
  • Blackbox logging
  • In-flight tuning
  • Video OSD for FPV
  • LED strip support
  • And MUCH MORE

Rotorflight then adds RC helicopter specific features in the mix:

  • PID control loop designed for helis
  • Main rotor speed governor
  • Motorized tail support
  • Two stage rescue
  • Tail torque assistance (TTA/TALY)
  • Flexible motor/servo mixer and configuration
  • Advanced gyro filtering / RPM filtering
  • Control normalisation
  • Piro compensation
  • Swash ring
  • And MUCH MORE

Rotorflight is an open source software (GPLv3) project, meaning

  • it does not cost anything
  • the source code is available
  • anybody can contribute to the project
  • it is supported by the community, rather than a company

There is no Rotorflight specific hardware available - RF is compatible with most drone flight controllers designed for Betaflight/INAV, and there is extensive documentation on how to set up common FC boards for use with Rotorflight.

RESOURCES

Rotorflight is available on GitHub, https://github.com/rotorflight

The Rotorflight Wiki is the main source of up-to-date information, https://github.com/rotorflight/rotorflight/wiki

There is a Discord chat room for Rotorflight related discussions and help, https://discord.gg/FyfMF4RwSA

Finally, this thread will hopefully offer lots of useful information as well.

CURRENT STATUS

The RF firmware is fully functional, and is flying beautifully once tuned correctly.

Currently the beta-testers are flying RF in various heli models, including OMP M2, OMP M1, Trex 450, Trex 500, K110, K120, and more.

Development effort is going into the Configurator software, which is still missing some of the features already found in the firmware.

Testing and documentation improvements are also being worked on by a group of contributors.

There are future plans for many advanced features, but only after the whole software suite is fully functional, thoroughly tested, and available to a wider audience.

Detailed status can be found in the Wiki, https://github.com/rotorflight/rotorflight/wiki/Status

GETTING STARTED

The best way to start is to head over to the Wiki, and get familiar with the details, even before buying any hardware. There are lots of things to consider, so a little patience won't hurt.

It's also a good idea to join the Discord chat room. There are lots of people who can help with the hairy details. Also, sharing your experience about using Rotorflight is most welcome!

There are also a few step-by-step writeups in the Wiki for building a mini helicopter with RF.

CHALLENGES

Installing and using Rotorflight is more involved than most commercial FBL gyros. While this is nothing new to the drone pilots, it is certainly more complex than a typical RC helicopter build.

  • Selecting the right FC board - the market is saturated with FC boards at the moment!
  • Installing the FC board requires custom wiring and soldering.
  • The FC board is a bare PCB. Sometimes an enclosure is needed.
  • The Rotorflight firmware must be installed and configured for the board in question.
  • Rotorflight must be tuned to match the flight characteristics of the model (similar to a multirotor).
  • Until the Configurator is fully matured, some configurations must be done via the command line interface (CLI).

In return, you will get the very latest flight control software for your helicopter, and will learn lots of new things about flight controllers and helicopter tuning! Rotorflight will continue to be based on Betaflight and will benefit from all the advancements that come to that project. The community is also very open to suggestions, so if something is missing, there is a high chance it can be added rather quickly!

CONTRIBUTORS

Big thanks to all those who have contributed to Rotorflight, and of course to Betaflight.

Origins:

  • Dr.Rudder (main author & developer)
  • pkaig (testing, configs, Wiki)
  • egon (testing, Wiki)
  • mopatop (testing, Wiki)
  • James-T1 (Heliflight3D fork)
  • Westie (Heliflight3D Configurator)