Project challenges - terrytaylorbonn/auxdrone GitHub Wiki

This wiki page is much longer than most, but I highly recommend that any "lone wolf" (working by yourself) "newbie" (newcomers to the drone hobby/profession) read this to understand what you are getting into before investing your time. Contents:

  • 1 The unexpected challenges
  • 2 A recent example (24.0324)
  • 3 Ordering from mainland China (or "US-based" reps)
  • 4 Switch to proprietary systems?
  • 5 The SpaceX school of drone dev

1 The unexpected challenges

There have been some unexpected, rather challenging aspects of this project:

  • Few examples with (complete) details. This is THE big challenge. Usually you can figure out what to do for your particular configuration if you have just one well documented step-by-step example. For example, the Intelligent Quads Youtube series (AP1-5) gave me my start with drones. The series is almost 5 years old and outdated, but it has step-by-step instructions (which would have been much much easier to use if it was (1) updated constantly and (2) steps were numbered, as is the norm for ZiptieAI).
  • No organized conceptual overview. The Quads example was one of the very few examples that really focused on the conceptual overview (also a norm for ZiptieAI).

The reason for this is quite simple: The key hobbyist drone software is open source.

  • A few (really great) developers do the core work for free. But they have limited motivation to make it easier for newbies to get involved (after all, they spent a great deal of time hacking their way into the business). The result is a lot of things are missing or outdated.
  • Drone expert hobbyists (often Youtube bloggers) create documentation (docs, Youtube, demos, etc) for their fellow hobbyist-experts (not newbies). They may claim its for the newbies, but they leave out key details or gloss over problems (you don't notice the missing core info until you try to do something). They are also very concerned about maintaining good relationships with manufacturers that send them free stuff to praise on their blogs.

2 A recent example (24.0324)

I recently for the first time connected (wirelessly) an RC (below left, what you hold in your hands while manually flying a drone, often called a "transmitter", "TX") to the "receiver" (below right in the red square, the small device on the drone, sometimes referred to as "RX"). Note that both devices transmit and receive :) (something never explained).

image image

The configuration for this was insanely complicated (many steps), chaotic (errors), and confusing (terminology, no docs) (the dreaded 3 C's). For details on how I accomplished it for my setup (2 days of effort) see chapter "RC<>RP1 setup" in 3.1-4_hitl1_px4_final_testing_.docx (yea, yea, I realize the text is rough, spelling, punctuation, grammar errors, but the critical info has all been accurately recorded). The best source of info was from the wild, straight-talking, irreverant "drain man" Youtuber (link in the doc).

I spent 2+ days on this. I had to downgrade (to 3.11) Python on my PC. I had to first install an old version on the RX before installing the latest version. Nowhere did I find a basic simple explanation of (1) what we were trying to do and (2) the steps to do it (for just one example configuration; my docx is a WIP that will explain this). I really appreciated the responses I got to my posted question in a forum, but nothing helped ("everything you need to know is in the docs", no, the details are NOT there).

3 Ordering from mainland China (or "US-based" reps)

Most of the components are from mainland China, which causes concerns about

  • Payment methods (sharing your credit card info).
  • Quality issues (returns), documentation, etc.
  • Delivery.
  • Installation of drivers and software from China (I will address these issues in the future).

Note that even if a company is ostensibly US-based, its still run like a mainland based company (I lived in the mainland for years, recognize certain habits).

4 Switch to proprietary systems?

An option would be to switch to DJI or other proprietary systems. DJI is maybe made in China, but their Western rep offices really are western companies. But then you really are just a consumer, and have very limited options to learn the inner core of how things work (a possibility with open source). ZiptieAI is about learning the ropes, self-education, so that you can ziptie together great custom solutions to specific requirmements ASAP (not just know how to operate the latest toys). And this kind of knowledge just might be your ticket to a new drone dev job.

5 The SpaceX school of drone dev

The solution to all these challenges is the "SpaceX school of drone dev". Rather than trying to get everything perfect for that first liftout, you just start ziptieing together whatever you can get working ASAP and test. If one thing doesn't work, then try another option. If you hit the wall, go around it.

For example, for now I have given up on using the RC to do the first flight of my near-future flyable drone (amazingly, I have spent months on this project and have yet to fly an actual drone; I have been focusing on simulation and AI). I can't figure how to connect it to the Pixhawk 6c flight controller (FC) (I connected it wirelessly to the "receiver", and the receiver (RP1) is wired to 6c TELEM2, but I dont think the RP1<>6c connection is working).

I thought I had found the info in a youtube expert video (see chapter "1a Mad’s: Holybro X500 V2 PX4 Drone - Pixhawk PX4 Development Kit" in document 4_C1_5_drone-build_v06_24.0103_0323.docx). He builds the drone kit that I will order (very soon) and build. But after learning hands-on more about how things work, I realize that he left out (glossed over) some rather important details (that typical buyers of this kit need).

For example, @ 18:00 in the video he shows the wired FC. Fantastic. But he never talks about the all of the details of the wiring and config!

image

But the big part I was waiting for was how he got the RC connected to the FC, and then calibrated in QGC @21:45. I have never seen the details anywhere (I talked about my problems with the RC above in section "2 A recent example"). I tried several ways, but some little detail is not right. Its probably not rocket science, but why can't anyone simply give the details?

image

Anyway, I will eventually get a copter into the air, even if I cant fly it with the RC (try to fly it with a simple mission (flight plan), control it with QGC, and if necessary keep the drone on a "short leash"). But I backordered SIK radio links that might solve the problem. While waiting for them I will focus on the AI again (Jetson Nano computer and camera). The main thing is the ZiptieAI (SpaceX) approach: Keep working toward the goal, ziptie together anything that works, and go back and fix things later.