AeroQuad is an open-source hardware and software project dedicated to the construction of remote controlled four-rotor helicopters, also known as quadcopters or quadrocopters.
AeroQuad hardware typically consists of an Arduino microcontroller (Mega-2560 or Uno) as the flight controller board, and an AeroQuad shield with various sensors, such as an accelerometer and gyroscope.
AeroQuad software, written mostly in C and uploaded to the micro-controller via the Arduino IDE, currently supports Rate (Acrobatic) Mode that uses only the gyroscope for flight assistance, and Attitude (Stable) Mode that use both the gyroscope and accelerometer for auto-leveled flight assist.
There are also additional sensors that provide a number of other optional functions, such as heading or altitude hold.
Here are some key features of "AeroQuad":
Multiple flight configurations are supported:
· Quad X
· Quad +
· Quad Y4
· Tri
· Hex X
· Hex +
· Hex Y6
· Octo X
· Octo +
· Octo X8
Multiple flight angle estimation algorithms supported:
· Improved DCM (best with magnetometer)
· ARG (best with no magnetometer)
· MARG (experimental)
Flight options supported:
· Heading hold with magnetometer or gyro
· Altitude hold with barometer
· Altitude hold with ultrasonic sensor (best for low altitude hold and terrain following)
Enhanced battery monitoring options:
· Enable auto descent
· Specify battery cell count
· Integration with On Screen Display (OSD)
Multiple receiver options:
· 6 or 8 channel receivers supported
· PWM receivers
· PPM receivers
· PPM using hardware timer
· Specific support for Spektrum, Graupner, Robe, Hitec, Futaba, Hitec, Sanwa & others
Telemetry options:
· Wireless telemetry on dedicated serial port
· Open Log binary write
Camera stabilization support:
· Dedicated servo channels for roll, pitch, yaw
Custom OSD support for MAX7456:
· Specify video standard to use
· Specify callsign to display
· Built in attitude indicator
· Display altitude in feet/meters
· OSD system which allows remote PID tuning
Requirements:
· AeroQuad Flight Software v3.0
What's New in This Release: [ read full changelog ]
· Fixed transmitter calibration
· Ability to recall previous accelerometer, magnetometer and transmitter calibrations
· Improved Uploader, removed timeout delays from Configurator
· Improved performance for compilation of Flight Software in Uploader
· Uploader checks if correct folders are configured in Settings, Uploader warns if incorrect folder detected
· Optional user selection to close terminal windows in Mac version afer Uploader finished
· Compatibility updates for Mega 2650 R3 to Uploader and Configurator
· Ask user to auto connect to AeroQuad after Flight Software upload
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