/dist/images/branding/favicon

RADIAN SOFTWARE .problem on my pc

Discussion in 'Radian' started by kjetil tønnesen, Sep 21, 2012.

  1. Arthur Vieira

    Arthur Vieira Flight Squad

    Joined:
    Jun 29, 2012
    Messages:
    185
    Likes Received:
    24
  2. Janne Hoglund

    Janne Hoglund Member

    Joined:
    Oct 4, 2012
    Messages:
    364
    Likes Received:
    23
    So many Mac users but Software only for PC?
    Please Tabb give us real SW for our Macs, are You not a Mac user yourself :)
    Regards.
    /Janne
     
    olli collins and siim227 like this.
  3. Peter Gøthche

    Joined:
    Aug 21, 2012
    Messages:
    136
    Likes Received:
    14
    Ok i need a bit of help here! What do i change it to in the radian sofware when iam using a usb port? In device manager it just says USB serial port, i cant change it to a com port :-(.
     
  4. John Cunningham

    Joined:
    Jul 5, 2012
    Messages:
    183
    Likes Received:
    13
    Hey guys,

    The problem with it appearing as a mouse is an old windows issue where it thinks anything giving it serial data during installation is a ballpoint mouse.

    It happens if the USB is connected to the PC while the Radian is powered and connected.

    I researched this a bit on the web and it seems microsoft have done their usual trick of screwing everyone up for no good reason and made it very difficult to circumvent.

    The solution is easy if you remember : plug in the USB programming module to the PC before you power up (or connect) the Radian.
     
  5. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Jul 31, 2012
    Messages:
    10,383
    Likes Received:
    1,164
    Thanks for doing that research, John. I dimly remember seeing that problem before, but would have had to do lots of Google searches to find it.
    How do you fancy programming in Java, John?
    Theory: Write once, run everywhere.
    Practice: Write once, debug everywhere. :rolleyes:

    Andy.
     
  6. Jonathan Lederer

    Jonathan Lederer New Member

    Joined:
    Oct 15, 2012
    Messages:
    20
    Likes Received:
    1
    Mr. Cunningham,

    Hi there, it's Jonathan Lederer. Finally I got a 3-axis setup of your newest creation; the radians. Installed them on my 3-axis CS gimbal, but am having an odd problem. I am using VMware with Windows XP SP3 on my Mac laptop, just for complete picture of what's going on. I set the comport of the programmer to com10 to ease connecting to be units. I am able to connect without problems to the radian I have on my pan axis, and it is working as expected, including receiving signal from the spektrum satellite I have plugged in to it. Then I realized the .02 update was available, and so went ahead and updated all 3 devices firmware successfully. Now, I am experiencing issues trying to communicate with roll & nick radians. No problem when trying to communicate with the pan radia just as before. Went ahead and reloaded the nick and roll firmware once again to be sure there wasn't some weird error while upgrading, but still cannot connect to either of them, despite their accepting the firmware without issue!!

    anyone got any ideas?
     
  7. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Jul 31, 2012
    Messages:
    10,383
    Likes Received:
    1,164
    Any chance you might be able to try using a PC, Jonathan?
    I'm grasping at straws that the firmware upgrade might have changed the communications protocol such that it's giving VMWare/Windows problems. I had similar kinds of issues with VMWare 5 on a Mac so cut over to Boot Camp and Win7 and it still seems a bit fragile a connection, but better than no connection.

    Hope this helps
    Andy.
     
  8. Jonathan Lederer

    Jonathan Lederer New Member

    Joined:
    Oct 15, 2012
    Messages:
    20
    Likes Received:
    1
    just to clarify further, as i think i may have been unclear in my original description:

    I never have been able to communicate with either nick or roll radians. the order of things was: setup pan radian without issue, next went to webpage and noticed newer firmware, then without ever testing communications between other two radian modules went directly to updating firmware for all 3 units, then retried setup for pan -- no problem, then tried to setup either nick and roll -- no connection -- timeout. very strange. the crazy thing is that if i place those two problem units into bootloader mode and "connect to device" they identify firmware 1.02 accurately and allow for me to reupload the firmware file. WTF?!

    Now for crazy behavior, the LEDs, upon applying power behave as follows (this is the same for both nick and roll radians on the CS 3-axis gimbal):

    When I plug in the castle creations BEC set to 5.5volts, the radians flash the green light once, then it goes off very briefly, then the orange light flashes once, then the green light flashes very quickly for a period equal to two orange flashes, then the servo begins to rotate counter-clockwise while the lights' status is green solid and orange flashing. The crazy thing from this point is that if I alter the position of the radian by manually operating the nick of roll axis on the gimbal, suddenly the green light begins flashing in unison with the orange light, while the servo stops its output and then i am left with flashing LEDs.
     
  9. Jonathan Lederer

    Jonathan Lederer New Member

    Joined:
    Oct 15, 2012
    Messages:
    20
    Likes Received:
    1
    furthermore -- if you think that having a pc is the solution, i will just go out to best buy right now before they close and buy myself a netbook or something similar.

    Note: just realized I could have provided more possibly useful data -- regarding LED states:

    the pan axis module works as it should -- i can connect to it and it initializes and is responsive to transmitted commands on chosen channels through the setup tool.

    both the nick and tilt axes modules, upon powering them via a castle creations BEC set to 5.5volts behave as follows:

    immediately upon applying power to each, at first the green light illuminates, then goes out very briefly, during which time the orange led blinks once, then the green flashes very quickly for a period equ
     
  10. Jonathan Lederer

    Jonathan Lederer New Member

    Joined:
    Oct 15, 2012
    Messages:
    20
    Likes Received:
    1
    sorry for the double-post
     
  11. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Jul 31, 2012
    Messages:
    10,383
    Likes Received:
    1,164
    Hi Jonathan: No problems with the double post. if you move your mouse down to the lower left of the window of the post you can delete it if you like. I could delete it too, but didn't wish to presume.... :)

    Can you confirm a couple of things, please -- I'm still trying to get my head around what you're seeing and the easiest way of doing that is to work just on the pan servo for the moment (you might even want to pull out the servo connector that I presume you have in port 3 of the pan servo and connecting to either the roll or tilt servo).

    1. You talk about a servo beginning to rotate counterclockwise. Is this the pan servo? If so, then it sounds like the pan servo is in stabilized slew mode and is rotating the top of the copter (be that the star plate or the hub/boom assembly depending on what you have mounted). This is normal behavior for the pan servo. See FAQ #3.

    2. If it's not the pan servo rotating counter clockwise, could you clarify whether it's nick or roll, please?

    3. Could you check out the LEDs section on the last but one page of the Radian documentation and describe what you see in those terms? The LEDs can flash slowly or rapidly or be on solid, and it would be helpful to know which you're seeing.

    5. Do you have the Mode control for the pan Radian sensor set up and working? (You can verify this by looking at the Radian Software diagnostic window while the Radian adapter is connected to the pan sensor.) I'm curious to know what mode the pan Radian sensor is operating in.

    Thanks
    Andy.
     
  12. Jonathan Lederer

    Jonathan Lederer New Member

    Joined:
    Oct 15, 2012
    Messages:
    20
    Likes Received:
    1
    first off, let me apologize. In my attempts to be very clear and specific, I seem to have unnecessarily complicated the description of the problems I am encountering. hopefully, this second attempt to explain things will be understandable.

    I purchased a three axis radian configuration for use with my Cinestar three axis gimbal. it was (and still is) my understanding that the radians are all the same as they come from the package, and only become specialized for specific axes after being configured by the software on the pc. that being the case, I arbitrarily chose modules to put in three positions: pan, nick, and roll. Initially, I daisychains the three units in accordance with the manual's suggested connection diagrams. Then I remembered tht since they were in default configuration, the servos might bind if they were not configured beforehand, so I disconnected the daisy chain from one module to the next, leaving oly the servos plugged into the port 4 of each radian. For safety's sake, though, I disengaged the belts going from each servo to the gimbal so as to avoid stripping gears or burning out servos. At this point, I decided to program each radian as though it were a standalone unit, and oly after completing the initial configuration would I re-establish the daisy chain and figure things out from there.

    The first module I connected to was the pan axis radian. Things went without a hitch, as I followed Tabb's advice from one of the tutorial videos and programmed the interface to operate on COM 10 via device manager. I was able to communicate with the radian and was even more satisfied upon connecting a pre-bound Spektrum satellite receiver to the pan radian and having immediate communication with the module from my 12X transmitter! The Radian product website just so happened to be visible on my screen and my eyes caught a glimpse of the link to firmware 1.02, and I figured that I might as well update ll the units before proceeding any further, to avoid possibly having to redo the setup twice if I chose to do it later. Note that, at that time, I had never even attempted to connect to either of the other two units. I went ahead and booted each radian into bootloader mode and used the tool provided I the website to update the firmware. Thy each were initially on v1.0 and afterward they showed successfully updated and now when I do the same operation and press "connect to device" it accurately shows radian stabiliser with version # 1:02!

    Here is where I enountered (and am still having) issues. I am still able to connect to and change settings on the module assigned and mounted in the pan position of my Cinestar gimbal and everything is working as I think they should with that particular unit -- it responds correctly to transmitter slew commands and responds to the channel I specified to be the mode switch, etc.At this point I was delighted with the ease of operation of these radin units, as everything was working as indicated.
     
  13. Jonathan Lederer

    Jonathan Lederer New Member

    Joined:
    Oct 15, 2012
    Messages:
    20
    Likes Received:
    1
    (continued...)

    Now the issues explained:

    So after much success and ease-of-installation, I unplugged the programming interface from pan module, and moved on to the module that is in place of roll position on my CS gimbal. For some reason, I keep encountering "Timed Out" when attempting to program the module. Important to note that the following behavior and frustration is identical for the Nick/Tilt radian -- obviously I attempted to skip the problems encountered with the Roll radian (described below, but oddly i have the same exact response from the third radian module as well! :( ) The LEDs behave in the following way:

    Upon applying power, the orange LED begins a slow flashing pattern tha does not change ever. The green LED, upon the radian being powered, first displays a very quick flashing for about a second, followed by steadily illuminating. So after the brief initialization period, I end up with solid green and slow flashing orange, and during this behavior, the servo (FreeFly) connected to radian output channel 4 rolls constantly in a counter-clockwise direction as viewed from above the servo. The lights remain in this manner indefinitely, or so i thought at first. Just out of curiosity, while the LEDs were in the state described above, I moved the gimbal's hardware around to see if I could get the servo to change its output in some way (like maybe to stop or reverse it's motion in response to my simulated inputs. Instead of a proper counter-reaction, what happens is that the servo will cease its counter-clockwise output altogether, and at the same moment both green and amber LEDs begin slow flashing in unison. it's very strange.

    Just to verify that what I posted earlier was in fact the case, I booted both of the troubled units into boot loader mode and pressed "connect to device". The software accurately reflects that, indeed, they are both on version 1:02 of the firmware, so it's fair to conclude that the software upgrade was successful, despite the inability to further communicate and configure them.

    I'm sorry for the super-long posts here, and I desperately hope that I have made progress in clarifying the situation and not just wasted lots of time (both yours and mine) with the level of detail that I've presented. I am so looking forward to finally putting these fine components to use after they've sat unopened and shelved since buying them months ago, due to delays I've encountered whilst constructing the machine that will carry the combo (SkyJib 8 Heavy-lift configuration using Andreas Baier's Herkules III esc/PDB board).

    In summary, I basically have two of three radians inoperable due to the inability to configure them, despite being able to upgrade their firmware successfully. Please help, I must be so very close to having this system working properly! I just cannot seem to get past this bump in the road!

    Looking forward to a resolution, so thanks again to everyone, in advance, for taking the time to help a fellow pilot/builder!!
    Have a great day!
     
  14. Janne Hoglund

    Janne Hoglund Member

    Joined:
    Oct 4, 2012
    Messages:
    364
    Likes Received:
    23
    Hi Jonathan, I too did try the same path, but that did not work.
    Borrowed a PC and everything works fine :)

    Regards from Mac-user in Sweden.

    /janne
     
  15. Jonathan Lederer

    Jonathan Lederer New Member

    Joined:
    Oct 15, 2012
    Messages:
    20
    Likes Received:
    1
    Thanks so much for the suggestion, I will buy a cheapie-pc from best buy and try the process again using that intel based windows computer and post back my results. I hope they include reports of a properly stabilized camera gimbal! Thanks again to all!
     
  16. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Jul 31, 2012
    Messages:
    10,383
    Likes Received:
    1,164
    Jonathan: Thanks for taking the time to type all of that in.
    Where you say: "So after the brief initialization period, I end up with solid green and slow flashing orange, and during this behavior, the servo (FreeFly) connected to radian output channel 4 rolls constantly in a counter-clockwise direction as viewed from above the servo." do you have the belt connected?

    The reason I ask is that for the roll sensor, it's going to try and level the gimbal. Of course, if you don't have the belt connected it cannot, so it will command the servo to move -- and i will keep moving because it's not connected.

    I'm surmising that, after a given time period has elapsed, if the sensor detects that the gimbal is not coming to level in roll, then the sensor will report an error (the slow flashing orange LED, meaning IMU self-test fault).

    The communications issue that you're having, based on my experience coupled with Janne's suggests that it might be a VMWare/COM Port driver virtualization issue, so buying the cheapie PC is the way to go as the next move.

    Let me know regarding the drive belt mounted or not question, please.

    Thanks
    Andy.
     
  17. Jonathan Lederer

    Jonathan Lederer New Member

    Joined:
    Oct 15, 2012
    Messages:
    20
    Likes Received:
    1
    Andy, I have to admit, you are definitely the go-to guy for these problems, and rightfully so. As a recent graduate with a degree in computer engineering, I am a bit embarrassed that I was not able to successfully analyze this behavior, but that's beside th point. The bottom line is that you have just explained a very likely scenario that explains what's going on with the LEDs -- probably the only explanation that would make me go out and buy a pc with confidence that it might actually resolve my current probem. Thank you for being a great support rep/moderator and here I go to best buy to purchase a cheapie pc. Thanks again. Maybe you can relay this message to Tabb and John Cunningham -- my commendation of your handling if support requests. It makes me not have any regrets for spending the premium price associated with such a high end product. Now, ets just keep our fingers crossed that the pc is the real fix here, otherwise we have some more work to do. I'll be back from my best buy outing in about an hour and then I'll proceed with the recommended resolve.

    Thanks again!

    Jonathan
     
  18. Jonathan Lederer

    Jonathan Lederer New Member

    Joined:
    Oct 15, 2012
    Messages:
    20
    Likes Received:
    1
    Oh I forgot o confirm your suspicion: the drive belts are in fact removed during the tests that I posted the long story about. you are sharp, my friend.
     
  19. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Jul 31, 2012
    Messages:
    10,383
    Likes Received:
    1,164
    Thanks for the compliments, Jonathan. I've been a computer systems programmer for "a few decades." In some ways being used to computers makes us more literal, logical thinkers and I find I sometimes have to turn that off to see what might be causing problems -- especially when faced with apparently contradictory evidence.

    Tabb and JohnC both patrol this forum so they'll see your postings.

    Let's see if putting the belts back on and using a cheapie PC fix the problems....

    Again, thanks for the compliments!
    Andy.
     
  20. Jonathan Lederer

    Jonathan Lederer New Member

    Joined:
    Oct 15, 2012
    Messages:
    20
    Likes Received:
    1
    my fears about the feasibilitoy of using a PC to erradicate this particular problem has been confirmed. As i had pretty much suspected, after spending about 400 on a new cheapie laptop and unboxing it and installing all the programs needed from scratch, i am nowhere closer to resolve. thinking about your inquiry regarding the drive belts being connected, I decided to reconnect them for a moment to see if the behaviour of the units were any different. As suspected, no progress -- simply the SOS (same old shit). When I compare both tilt and roll axes to the operational pan axis radian module, it appears that the LED behaviour is totally different. For the one good radian module (pan), the startup consists of a quickly flashing (initializing) green LED then I don't remember exactly, but the major difference that I can put my finger on is that pan radian never flashes orange at any point in time while starting up. This is not the case with the other two radian modules. Whether there is anything connected to the port 4 or any other port of the module, the orange light begins slowly flashing as soon as power is applied, and any attempts to communicate with the unit result in a Timed Out message. Its pissing me off now, as I just spent a pretty decent chunk of time going to buy this laptop, not too expdnsive, but approx 400USD on a computer i don't need, and time to try and resolve the issues that these brand new units that I am so excited to haveoperational. This is pissing me off since I've never even seen the other two work AT ALL. I guess i am just used to all the freefly products working as they should from the beginning. Im beginning to lose my patience here and really need some of this stellar customer support that I've definitely ponied up the dough for in investing in all these products.

    Someone with some pull please call me at 310 three 8 six - 4 zero 4 zero and have a 2 minute voice call to provide a great customer some badly needed one-on-one help here!

    sorry for the rant, i just have problems investing so much time and money in a product just to see it work for the first time and fail.
     
    olli collins likes this.

Share This Page