Jump to content

Accelerometers


oipigface

Recommended Posts

I was practising the other day, when the thought came into my mind that it would be really nice to know exactly what is happening when a plane goes round a corner. It's very hard to tell just by looking at it, and even harder to remember each corner out of maybe 300 or so in a session. So the thought of fitting an accelerometer and some kind of data logger came to mind.

I found this on line: https://www.dimensionengineering.com/info/accelerometers, but if I bought any of the models they mention, I wouldn't know what to do with it to turn it into the kind of device I have in mind.

Does anyone know of something I can get that will log data from a 3D accelerometer? Are there devices that will capture a log of Tx stick movements? (I use a Futaba 12FG.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Rob Thomson

Well...

If you had a Taranis...

You could use the triax sensor, and log the g force in relation to stick movement.

But alas... You have a futaba :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What does the triax sensor go up to?

(number 11........)

 

Do Taranis knobs go to eleven? ....  :)

 

Ro.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Is a triax sensor the same as a 3D accelerometer? Or does it sense something other than acceleration? Is 8g really not enough?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think it would be good to do what you suggest, Pete, IN ADDITION to measuring the forces on the plane. In the first place, in order to understand flight patterns, you need to measure how the aeroplane is moving relative to the air. In the second place, the attempts I have seen at using GPS to track F3F planes have all suffered from resolution problems. In the third place, I may be wrong, but I don't think 3D GPS exists. If it did, and it was sufficiently accurate, it would be very useful indeed, since information about windspeed and (3D) direction could be inferred from the data.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Local positioning systems (LPS) can produce very accurate readings to within a few cm. all you need is 4 fixed points to triangulate a location in 3D.

There have also been systems developed that use a combination of radio, infra red and ultrasound which are able to calculate weather distortion and therefore compensate for it.

The technology is definitely possible, but I don't know if anything suitable is commercially available.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...
chiloschista

Hi John,

 

I just landed on this thread.

Are you aware of UavDevBoard?

 

I did test flights for several years for this team and helped pushing the development.

You can watch several of those flights on my youtube channel.

 

The board is an autopilot controlled by a firmware called MatrixPilot.

This firmware is capable of stabilized and autonomous flying. In this last mode you can program a flight with the usual waypoints system or using LOGO for advanced features.

 

Coming to your interest, the firmware can log the entire flight and generate a spreadsheet full of data and a GoogleEarth file.

 

Attached you will find a couple of files as example (I have plenty :) ).

In the kmz file you can watch the plane attitude at 4Hz, but I guess this could be increased if needed.

You can even see wind horizontal direction, changing during the flight, computed by the accelerometers (really smart feature).

In the spreadsheet there is also vertical wind speed, so one can have an idea of lift etc.

I enclose a picture of the plane attitude of a spin as example also.

 

There is a dedicated OSD that can show accelerations in real time also. You can watch an example in

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.