Joystick Control

[EnduranceRC 0]

Hello,

Just wanted to get some comments on my new software...

One of my most requested features or RealVision/RealDriver was to have the ability to map any joystick axis/button/slider/etc to any channel on an r/c radio. Basically this could give a user the ability to do FPV flight with a joystick and flight control system or even control a car or helicopter with a joystick without FPV.

So I have done it.... My current software gives the user the ability to use a joystick or game pad and use it to control your model. It also has z800 headset support if you wish to use that as well. End point, mid point, channel sensitivity, and user profiles are able to be configured but I know there is always something that I cannot think of. If there is anything else someone wishes to add please let me know what you would like to see.

Here is a small screen cap:

-Phil

[Mark Harris 0]

Could you post a larger screenshot perhaps?

[EnduranceRC 0]

No problem.

The red boxes indicate that the device is not connected to the PC. The red text indicates that the values are not set and need to be in order to start sending data to the transmitter. All the tabs look the same so you are seeing most of what needs to be seen.

Thanks.

Edited November 6, 2007 by EnduranceRC

[Mark Harris 0]

404

[EnduranceRC 0]

Stupid....case sensitive....good to go now

[saabguyspg 0]

Hi there, I am using glovePIE to emulate my head tracker movements to the mouse movements.... is there a mouse input available on your program?

Also can you add exponential rates?

Mixing options would be good.

Also can you add a "slow down effect" such that the servo would only move at a maximum set rate? This would allow for landing gear to come out nice and slow / smooth.

Plus... when can we get our hands on it to try it out?

I have plans to order your PCtx for my FPV flight project.

Steve

[saabguyspg 0]

I assume you can assign any key to any servo as well? not just joystick?

oh btw I could also use glovePIE to emulate trackir.... so does your program support trackir?

[EnduranceRC 0]

Steve,

Thank you, excellent tips!

I should be able to get most of your suggestions added to the software.

[saabguyspg 0]

Great! I think this will be a very good program.

Now I was about to purchase this great little device you have called the PC-TX but it seems there is quite a noticable delay from the joystick input / mouse input to the servo's actual movements.....

I am getting this info from a video I saw on youtube where a guy demonstrates the pc-tx sofware....(it's not an official demo, but rather an ozzy bloke) he claims about 6ms and when he moves his joystick there is a noticable delay in the video.

My questions are...

1) Does the delay exist, and how noticable is it?

2) Is this delay going to be reduced in later versions of the product?

Thanks in advance!

Steve

Edited November 13, 2007 by saabguyspg

[EnduranceRC 0]

There is very little delay, in the ms like Mark says.

[saabguyspg 0]

UMM.... Mark said, "could you post a larger screen shot".... and "404 happy face".... or at least that's all I see here....

is there another thread I should be reading?

good to know though, I guess "very little delay" is relative to the user, at any rate seems like a good product so far.

[saabguyspg 0]

Umm.... Mark said, "could you post a larger screen shot".... and "404 happy face".... or at least that's all I see here....

is there another thread I should be reading?

good to know though, I guess "very little delay" is relative to the user.

At any rate seems like a good product so far.

Keep us posted

Edited November 13, 2007 by saabguyspg

[EnduranceRC 0]

He mentions it in the video that you pointed out.

It updates the PPM signal at 50Hz which is fairly standard for r/c electronics. Several data frames can be sent to the device from the PC within this time meaning at most you will experience a 20ms delay waiting for the last PPM frame to be generated. This is worst case scenario however.

This thread has gone off topic so if you wish to discuss this further please e-mail me.

[saabguyspg 0]

ooooh... ok that is Mark in the Video... too funny.... I had no idea. Small world.

I guess we are onto the hardware topic so yeah we are a bit off...

Hope we can get those other suggestions in your program otherwise it's gonna be tough to fly a delta wing.

[EnduranceRC 0]

This has been released. Thanks for the feedback.

[Mark Harris 0]

saabguyspg, yes thats me :eek: heh. That was with a really early beta version of my software which used the EMATracker object, not EMADevice.

Phils program is far better suited to it

[EnduranceRC 0]

OK...one more thing. A web interface has been added to the ServoCommander software. Using the PCTx server application provided free, you can now send joystick, mouse, z800 data over the web to a remote PC running the PCTx or servo controller.

I wouldn't recommend doing FPV flight over the web though!

[Dimitris76 0]

Can I mix channels, set up dual rates, throttle hold with a keyboard button, etc through this software?

I am interested in controlling a heli as you might have guessed.

Dimitris

[EnduranceRC 0]

Mixing yes. Throttle hold not with a keyboard but you could use a joystick for this. Dual rates no.

[Dimitris76 0]

EnduranancePC,

could you post a picture of the Mixing page, please?

Dimitris

[EnduranceRC 0]

http://www.endurance-rc.com/media/ServoCom...nstructions.pdf

See this for the mixing options. You don't see much with that however. Most of the options are visible from the main screen.

Edited December 7, 2007 by EnduranceRC

[Dimitris76 0]

Thank you for the pdf EnduranceRC!

At the servo setup screen, is it necessary for the Left End-Point to have a lower value than the Center Point and Right End-Point curve even bigger than center?

Or you can adjust for example the throttle channel:

Left End-Point = 255 @ low stick

Center = 0 @ middle stick

Right End-Point = 255 @ high stick position

in order to be able to perform inverted flight?

A nice addition for a future version would be the ability to set the servo travel values at 5 different positions of the joystick travel (low, 1/5, 2/5, 3/5, 4/5 and high - maybe even more than five increaments) instead of only at low/middle/high. That way you would be able to assign more accurate 5 point pitch and throttle values (like in all modern transmitters do) instead of only 3-point ones.

A dual rate option for alternative sensitivity settings for every channel with a push of a keyboard/joystick button would be a nice option too.

Dimitris

[EnduranceRC 0]

At the servo setup screen, is it necessary for the Left End-Point to have a lower value than the Center Point and Right End-Point curve even bigger than center?

Yes if you want them to move. They can be all set to the same value but in that case the channel would be locked in the current position/disabled from movement.

Left End-Point = 255 @ low stick

Center = 0 @ middle stick

Right End-Point = 255 @ high stick position

in order to be able to perform inverted flight?

Im not sure what you mean by this.

A nice addition for a future version would be the ability to set the servo travel values at 5 different positions of the joystick travel (low, 1/5, 2/5, 3/5, 4/5 and high - maybe even more than five increaments) instead of only at low/middle/high. That way you would be able to assign more accurate 5 point pitch and throttle values (like in all modern transmitters do) instead of only 3-point ones.

Each channel is fully proportional. There is not just 3 positions like you describe. Left/Right/Mid points are used for input device setup. For example, say you set a left point and right point. This will just prevent the servo from moving past this point (so it doesn't over extend). It also defines the position of the servo for button presses.

Middle would be the value set to something like the center neutral position on a joystick. When moving the joystick the left and right motions would start from this point.

I hope I explained this well enough.

[Dimitris76 0]

Im not sure what you mean by this.

Have a look here and you'll understand what I mean:

http://www.littlerotors.com/setup/throttle...lesettings.aspx

scroll down at the idle up curves.

Lets just say 0 is servo's left end-point 255 all the way to the other side (right) and 127 the middle of it's throw. In order to program for example the idle up 2 curve that you saw on the above mentioned link, you need to be able to set 255 (or 0 if the channel is reversed) as left end-point something around 153 (or 102 if reversed) at the center , in order to have 60% actual throttle and then again 255 at the right end-point.

Edited December 7, 2007 by Dimitris76

[EnduranceRC 0]

Ok I think I understand now. Basicall the servo only moves from center to left or right no matter what way the axis is moved.