Converter I2C to PPM

This is a protocol converter for I2C to PPM. It allows the use of standard ESC controler on Mikrokopter or similar.

One of the major drawback of I2C currently, is in case of severe failure on one controller, you may impact all other controllers connected to the I2C bus and lost all motors.
Choosing PPM is more reliable, as each controller is connected separately, it may not interfere with others and reduce a lot the risk of loosing all motors. It allow also to use well proven standard controller with a wide range of choices.

Features:
- I2C input from Mikrokopter or similar Flight Control supporting same I2C protocol
- output PPM signal suitable to standards ESC motor controllers
- support 4 or 6 controller (8 controller version coming soon)
- optimized for Turnigy plush or TowerPro Mag8 (re-flashed for Fast PPM)
- smoother motor handling
- PPM frequencies available: 400 Hz (recommended), 200 Hz, 50 Hz (for standard servos)

Any ESC may not work good enough for smooth control on a multikopter. If unsure, tests to check both PPM frequency and motor reactivity.
Also, there is *no* feedback from the ESC to return current or temperature from the controllers, so information such as current consumption from the controllers will not be available anymore.

The version 4/6 from Flyboard is available here:
http://www.flashrc.com/flyboard/6633...4_6_voies.html

Update on DSSS and video TX

This is an update to my previous measurements and comments on DSSS/FHSSS technology:
Some spektrum measurements

Recently I had problems with transmission video. It looks that some videos TX in 900 Mhz or 1.2-1.3Ghz band may generate harmonics on the 2.4Ghz band. See this thread:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1311059

So it may be very dangerous if you switch ON your RC equipment *before* the video TX: as in DSSS only 2 channels are used, you may well be unlucky and your RC may choose some channels that will be used also by the harmonics of your video TX.

To reduce this problem, you may try to switch ON your RC *after* switching ON the video TX, because then the RC will choose a free channel among those remaining free by the video TX.
But this solution is not very safe, there is another one here:
low pass video filter or here.

Overall, surely the best solution is to add this filter, but you can note that DSSS technology is not very safe in that situation.
Unless DSSS system could dynamically reallocate a new channel if the current one is detected as being saturated, FHSSS or better AFHSS has more chances to work fine in this environment, as shown here:
Review: Hitec Spectra AFHSS 2.4GHz receiver and Optima 7 module (part 2)

PPM serializer v2

A new version of the serializer is ready.
It features:
* channels from receiver are serialize on one wire
* Compatible with Mikrokopter electronic and more RC receivers
* Neutre stable on all channels
* available in 8 or 12 channels (PPM8 ou PPM12)
* with external crystal for better temperature stability
* all channel entries are protected

You can buy it at the shop www.flash-rc.com in Mikrokopter section.

Some news about the project

It has been a while since I have updated the blog. In fact, I was waiting for a supplier to cut the aluminium plate for the transmitter. But unluckily, the supplier could'nt do the job after 3 months. This is a bad news :(. So I now have to find another solution, or do it myself (a good method also).

Meanwhile, I have been working on a PPM serializer for Mikrokopters. It is now finished and available in the shop "flash-rc". The PPM serializer allows to put 8 channel on one single wire for the Mikrokopter Flight Control.
This board can also be used for other purpose in electronics. It has:
- Port D and Port C protection with resistors
- Quartz 16 mhz
- voltage regulator (5v or 3.3v in option).

If you interested to know more about it, please contact me.

A picture of the prototype:

Bending aluminium

To bend aluminium for the enclosure, I built a simple basic machine make with plywood and some metallic rigidifiers. With the tube installed, the round corner is 10mm radius, which is exactly what is need for the transmitter enclosure. The thickness of the alu should be less or equal than 1mm. Some pictures below:

Bending aluminum 2

The second corner:

Enclosure

Some update about the enclosure: changes of the trim buttons, add holes for loudspeaker, reduce hole size for lcd and sticks, add logo. Top and bottom faces are made with aluminium.

Transmitter

This is transmitter for next version of the radio. It is made with aluminium 10/10, bended on the side with a "tube" technique. I'll explain in more details how to this bending. The up and down side are made from pcb epoxy with soldered corners.

Assan receiver channel output

Here is the ouptut of an Assan X8R6 receiver channel. The delay between pulse is 20msec, which is nice for most servos, and the max voltage is 3.4v. That may be unsufficient in some cases for old servos or regulator. Click on the picture for bigger image.