It looks like a Mikrokopter knockoff, except some of the processing power looks better. http://www.service-drone.com/en-gb/technology/multirotor-flight-control/
It does look very much as though they were "inspired" by MK. Is it actually available for purchase? Andy.
Yeah it is it looks like there intent is to sell as a package with RC Jetti Transmitter and ground station. 5600 Euros!
Jeepers! It better be a helluva better for 5600 euros ... If it's similar to MK, then that's a lot of cash for a blue spray job and ipad connectivity!
It looks like 3100 Euro is for the licence fee. I suppose hardware wise its a 32bit microprocessor versus the 8 bu so better computing power. This one maybe more precise and because of the ability to have a faster sample with its sensors. I am not sure throw 5600 bucks for umm.... or 7000 dollars ish in US currency that half the movi gimbal. Shaun
While this seems like way too much money for a multirotor based flight controller, I am really interested in the direction this is going. I believe it is dual 32-bit processors. I think this is a signof the future for MR FC's. If my $100 phone has the processing power of my laptop from college, surely there is readily available technology that will outperform the current line of FC's. Does anyone have more insight into this? Is it simply down to the approach manufacturers have taken thus far that is using the current processors?
An additional data point is the BeSteady gimbal, not the current one, but the larger one they are developing, and perhaps (pardon my ignorance, especially within this forum) the electronics behind the Movi. Rather than a limited board with a few BL controllers and an underpowered processor, the besteady is based around an ARM processor.
Agreed, it doesn't look like you are necessarily paying for the Hardware, as much as the firmware on board which is just if not more important than the hardware itself. Looking at this thing closer, looks like they have a dedicated accelerometer for each axis instead of just one 3 axis. This is better in the you can factor away more error you can correlate the three and get a more precise solution. The 32 bit processor is what I really like. MK has obviously an 8bit for the FC and 16bit ARM 9 for the NC. But dual 32 bit will do somethig that none of these autopilots of and that is create a true inertial navigation. If they the algorithm right not that I can do one better, but I can ARMchair quarterback a little,No pun intended If they did it right they will mix the accelerometrs, not only in the vertical movement like FC 2.2/2.5. They can use this data to measure true lateral movements making position hold super precise by preventing the system to solely rely on the GPS alone. With 32 bit processors there is no reason for toilet boweling because with inertial systems mixed in they would be able do a more robust algorithm allowing the magnetometer to be updated regularly. DJI and Ardutoy i mean pilot attempted to do this but not very well. They use the raw GPS as a reference when the copters in motion. But its better than nothing but still doesn't work well without trickery. My one critique of this system is that it is designed to plug into the worst ESC's in the industry, WTF was their decision on that? It is a sign that there are attempts to fly these multirotors out of Toyland and into professional pilot land as long as they ditch these ESC's or MK BL's. Enough of my rants Shaun
At that price, this should be well out of toyland, yet I agree why stick with the BL-CTRLs??? Here are two additional interesting projects using 32-bit processors, both are open source as well, so if one had the ability, they could implement some of the ideas you are talking about. It does appear that both use one 3-axis accelerometer, however. http://autoquad.org/wiki/wiki/development/ http://www.aeroquadstore.com/AeroQuad_32_Flight_Control_Board_Version_2_p/aq32-001.htm As you said, in the end it will come back to the software running it all.