Taming the Tail-Sitter: Hover to Forward Flight Explained

Ғылым және технология

Thanks to PCBWay for sponsoring this video--check out their website for an instant quote on custom PCBs, 3D printing, or even CNC machined parts: www.pcbway.com/?from=Nicholas
In theory, tailsitter VTOL aircraft are incredibly simple--just add a wing to something like a quadcopter, pitch it over 90 degrees, and cash in on the sweet, sweet efficiency benefits of forward flight. But there are actually 4 key challenges to address in the flight controller for a smooth transition between hover and forward flight.
Patreon: / nicholasrehm
My Website: www.drehmflight.com/
dRehmFlight VTOL flight controller used in this video: www.drehmflight.com/drehmflig...
Tailsitter specific code: www.rcgroups.com/forums/showp...
Drone flight controllers that support transitioning VTOL configurations often simplify the complex task of performing a transition to the flick of a switch. This is awesome for people who like stuff that just works, but terrible for people that like to understand how things work. So how do you actually tell a flight controller to perform a VTOL transition? Rather, how does a flight controller tell the airplane to perform a transition? Tailsitter VTOLs need extra care in the flight controller through their transition, mainly because the definitions of roll and yaw control with respect to the body flip between hover and forward flight. This requires careful remapping of stabilized controls out to the motors and servos, in addition to a flip of the fundamental aircraft frame of reference. Another key to a smooth transition is tuning PID gains separately for each flight mode, and ensuring a seamless and smooth fade between all of these flight mode differences. This video covers how I did this using a little bit of custom code in my opensource flight controller, dRehmFlight. If you found this video interesting, don’t forget to subscribe so you can be up to date on future projects like this!
Intro: 00:00
Flight Controller Basics: 00:54
Problem 1 - Switching Roll & Yaw: 02:58
Problem 2 - Switching Frame of Reference: 04:30
Problem 3 - Gain Staging: 06:58
Problem 4 - Smoothing it Out: 08:04
Conclusions & Crashes: 09:45
#VTOL #Tailsitter

Пікірлер: 304

  • @NicholasRehm
    @NicholasRehm9 ай бұрын

    I want to demystify these sorts of drone concepts all the way down to the actual implementation. Did seeing the code help, or bore you?

  • @martijnknol8690

    @martijnknol8690

    9 ай бұрын

    It was super interesting to see the code! Makes it all more clear and interesting :)

  • @bradleybauer1041

    @bradleybauer1041

    9 ай бұрын

    Seeing the code was helpful, thanks!

  • @moochasas

    @moochasas

    9 ай бұрын

    Love seeing the code..... it takes a while for me to understand it.... never boring... I have spent hrs and hrs on your projects.

  • @RizHassan

    @RizHassan

    9 ай бұрын

    This was a well thought out application challenges/educational video; however, I cannot help to think if you had simply added two rudders behind the motor thrust-line so regardless of the flight mode you had same control inputs. Any thoughts?

  • @tomtom9184

    @tomtom9184

    9 ай бұрын

    Very interesting. I need to learn to code though.

  • @nacorti
    @nacorti9 ай бұрын

    This is probably the most cogent explanation I've seen about tailsitter flight dynamics. Breaking down the problems one step at a time, plus not being afraid to show code, makes this super easy to understand. Excited to see your next build!

  • @NicholasRehm

    @NicholasRehm

    9 ай бұрын

    Hearing this gives me the awesome feeling of "mission accomplished", thanks a ton!

  • @nacorti

    @nacorti

    9 ай бұрын

    @@NicholasRehm 🫡 Least I can do when my latest bicopter is powered by dRehmFlight!

  • @cory884

    @cory884

    9 ай бұрын

    Seeing each step was fantastic! I'm especially impressed he was willing to fly all of the intermediate steps that he knew were going to fail. It's so easy to just think through these problems and skip to what you assume is the finished solution, but actually testing the physical response of using a binary transition or not changing the forward flight gains really drives the lesson home.

  • @mikegofton1
    @mikegofton19 ай бұрын

    "Hey look, it's RC test flight"😀. Great explanation of the transition problem.

  • @dronefootage2778

    @dronefootage2778

    9 ай бұрын

    this video actually took work to make and offers something unique. all RC test flight does anymore is drive around in a boat.

  • @aerialcombat

    @aerialcombat

    9 ай бұрын

    ​@@dronefootage2778inaccurate

  • @noatreiman

    @noatreiman

    9 ай бұрын

    @@dronefootage2778tbh tho im still here for the boat stuff (i started watching in like 2017 for the solar plane project 🤩)

  • @GeahkBurchill

    @GeahkBurchill

    9 ай бұрын

    @@dronefootage2778I’m wondering where your great output of high effort work is?

  • @dronefootage2778

    @dronefootage2778

    9 ай бұрын

    @@GeahkBurchill i just watch youtube

  • @isaacbrewer5616
    @isaacbrewer56169 ай бұрын

    I’ve been wanting to make a tailsitter for a while now! Great video!!! Keep it up!

  • @NicholasRehm

    @NicholasRehm

    9 ай бұрын

    Thanks! Hope this inspires you to follow through with it

  • @farkhodkhikmatov4738

    @farkhodkhikmatov4738

    9 ай бұрын

    ​@@NicholasRehmwhat parameters on ardupilot should we pay attention to in order to smooth and tune our quad tailsitters? Please let me know!

  • @andresmonagas7662
    @andresmonagas76629 ай бұрын

    The fact that you give such a good explanation into how and why you did things, makes this video to be into a whole other level. It passes from being an entertainment video to be a super good educational video + still being fun to watch. I'm exited to see the next project.

  • @NicholasRehm

    @NicholasRehm

    9 ай бұрын

    Thanks for the kind words

  • @BloodyMobile
    @BloodyMobile9 ай бұрын

    This is the most impressive "unimpressive" piece of foam I've watched in a long while.

  • @Brian-S
    @Brian-S9 ай бұрын

    Yep, I think it's time to breakout the drehmflight board again and play with it some more! You really have made something special here with your software and videos. I appreciate you taking the time to share this stuff with the world

  • @irkedoff
    @irkedoff9 ай бұрын

    Thank you for adding the code in the video. It helps me to understand. I can't wait to see the next video.

  • @flomojo2u
    @flomojo2u9 ай бұрын

    Nice! It's always cool to see people who are able to do physical design/builds, complemented with coding skills to solve both problem domains. Really looking forward to your large, folding design!

  • @NicholasRehm

    @NicholasRehm

    9 ай бұрын

    Thanks! Hoping to have that one flying any day now

  • @irkedoff

    @irkedoff

    9 ай бұрын

    ​@@NicholasRehmI hope it goes well!

  • @smacksille1951
    @smacksille19519 ай бұрын

    so smart that you put a timeline on yr advertisement.. I watched the whole ad rather than clicking ahead, because I knew the length.

  • @crashfactory
    @crashfactory9 ай бұрын

    fabulous video. i really like the progression: stepping through each problem on the path one at a time, and placing the viewer in the mode of expecting each change to be the last one, but then exposing the remaining issues to address

  • @NicholasRehm

    @NicholasRehm

    9 ай бұрын

    Hey thanks! It was a fun process to work through and I'm happy I could share

  • @JasonEsquivel
    @JasonEsquivel9 ай бұрын

    I don't recall how I stumbled upon this channel but I'm happy I did. The way you explained all that gibberish was impressive. Keep doing what you're doing!

  • @wearemany73
    @wearemany739 ай бұрын

    You make such brilliant, groundbreaking videos with some nice engineering work too. We’ll done Nicholas, another one in the can.👍

  • @NicholasRehm

    @NicholasRehm

    9 ай бұрын

    Thanks so much!!

  • @anonymous.youtuber
    @anonymous.youtuber9 ай бұрын

    Very nice video ! Especially great that you let us in on the engineering process. ❤ this !

  • @SlowerBurrito
    @SlowerBurrito9 ай бұрын

    Amazing in-depth vid, thanks for inspiring others!!!

  • @robertstark3326
    @robertstark33269 ай бұрын

    Nicholas, your videos are great and this one is particularly excellent. That was a great demonstration of engineering synthesis and how to systematically go about solving multiple problems. It was great that you were able to show how the VTOL behaved under the various steps of the design process.

  • @NicholasRehm

    @NicholasRehm

    9 ай бұрын

    Thanks for following along!

  • @k.o.0
    @k.o.09 ай бұрын

    Great technical overview! I purchased Horizon Hobbies Xvert 5 years ago. Great VTOL and performs like your plane for transitions. This plane is a ton of fun to fly and very inexpensive. Keep it up! Love your videos.

  • @NicholasRehm

    @NicholasRehm

    9 ай бұрын

    Lots of fun tech packed into that plane!

  • @TheEragoon
    @TheEragoonАй бұрын

    So you basically need 2 FC profiles, different PID values, reference orientation & controls. Neat! Also, the fade part is smart!

  • @lasersbee
    @lasersbee9 ай бұрын

    Well done... Flies and transitions much smother now.

  • @Ma_X64
    @Ma_X644 ай бұрын

    Glad you was able to hear what I was screaming through the screen from the beginning of your video about you need a factor changing the weight of control and two different controllers for diffenent modes. :D

  • @knight907
    @knight9079 ай бұрын

    The only thing your “unimpressive piece of foam” needs to be my dream aircraft is a camera, vtx, and code that pivots the camera mount 90 degrees during flight mode transition. Your next project looks absolutely stunning! I can’t wait to see it! Thanks again for all your hard work and for sharing it with us. 🙏

  • @NicholasRehm

    @NicholasRehm

    9 ай бұрын

    That sounds like it would be a sweet setup. Check out my buddy peter's mini-qbit for something eerily similar kzread.info/dash/bejne/iWSo1sqJg7HUgqg.html

  • @knight907

    @knight907

    9 ай бұрын

    I suppose a second camera and a PWM-controlled switch would be about the same weight as a servo and linkage, with less mechanical complexity. If the camera switch signal was sent as part of the flight mode transition function, it would make the transition even simpler. Thanks for the video suggestion. 👍

  • @bob2859
    @bob28599 ай бұрын

    That tease of a reconfiguring quad-to-fixed-wing looks VERY cool.

  • @EssGeeSee
    @EssGeeSee9 ай бұрын

    Congratulations. Very impressive.

  • @PCBWay
    @PCBWay9 ай бұрын

    This is so GOOD, Nick! 👍👍

  • @phpn99
    @phpn999 ай бұрын

    You are brilliant. Everyone wants to see you build a single-seater VTOL machine capable of 1 or 2 hours of flight time, will essential avionics (com, nav, weather), and some safety features (enclosed blades or jet ; crash parachute...) ; plus a pivoting nacelle - that would be THE airborne motorcycle

  • @NicholasRehm

    @NicholasRehm

    9 ай бұрын

    That would be sweet

  • @dempa3
    @dempa39 ай бұрын

    Very well explained! Outstanding! I'd like to fly a foam VTOL like this!

  • @flack3
    @flack39 ай бұрын

    Great project! Thanks for the video, Ill be waiting for more!

  • @NicholasRehm

    @NicholasRehm

    9 ай бұрын

    Hey thanks!

  • @taterbits
    @taterbits9 ай бұрын

    Bruh..... this science of yours seems a lot like magic 🤯 (nice work!)

  • @NicholasRehm

    @NicholasRehm

    9 ай бұрын

    Hopefully a little less mysterious once its broken down!

  • @clonkex
    @clonkex9 ай бұрын

    As a programmer, as soon as you had the violent transition working I was like, ok nice, the final step is just an easy lerp from hover to forward!

  • @licencetoswill
    @licencetoswill9 ай бұрын

    great explanation, detailed and clear.

  • @goldbornmusic2025
    @goldbornmusic20259 ай бұрын

    Awesome video, excellent well done.

  • @ilkoderez601
    @ilkoderez6019 ай бұрын

    You have some AWESOME videos! Thank you!

  • @NicholasRehm

    @NicholasRehm

    9 ай бұрын

    Hey thanks!!

  • @RizHassan
    @RizHassan9 ай бұрын

    Looking forward to your next Tailsitter larger project.

  • @AerialWaviator
    @AerialWaviator9 ай бұрын

    Flight dynamics and controls is such a challenging problem. So many important details! Great clear walk-thru of the basics leading up to achieving stable transitions. Being able to make reasonably smooth transitions to level flight without airspeed or angle of attack sensors is pretty amazing. The ultimate test would be to fly the tail sitter through a loop, or barrel roll ... involving transitions to hover at various points in the maneuver.

  • @NicholasRehm

    @NicholasRehm

    9 ай бұрын

    That would be fun. Wish I had more time to dig a little deeper

  • @andrewfleenor7459
    @andrewfleenor74597 ай бұрын

    I get how a smooth transition between hover and forward flight is better, but dang that sharp transition looks kinda badass, too.

  • @gyrogearloose1345
    @gyrogearloose13459 ай бұрын

    Awesome work! Incredible what a single - very intelligent and hard-working - individual can do. Many thanks for the fun and inspiration.

  • @NicholasRehm

    @NicholasRehm

    9 ай бұрын

    Thanks for the kind words!

  • @gyrogearloose1345

    @gyrogearloose1345

    9 ай бұрын

    No problema señor@@NicholasRehm. Keep up the good work!

  • @greatoak7661
    @greatoak76619 ай бұрын

    Hey, I know you aren't impressed with your "piece of foam", I am impressed. I've been trying to get a plane working but struggling with the balance because I have older, heavier equipment. Basically, another awesome job! Well done.

  • @NicholasRehm

    @NicholasRehm

    9 ай бұрын

    Thanks for the comment, keep at it with your project!

  • @susheelkumarpippera7877
    @susheelkumarpippera78779 ай бұрын

    dude, i always love your videos. Now they are getting funny too with your crazy humor😍🤩

  • @ZeJuggler
    @ZeJuggler9 ай бұрын

    It's an interesting coincidence that the KZread silver play button and quadcopters both have 4 corners🤔👀 Great video, keep it up!

  • @renatomsgomes
    @renatomsgomes9 ай бұрын

    You have a great talent to explains things

  • @NicholasRehm

    @NicholasRehm

    9 ай бұрын

    Appreciate it!

  • @jnicks
    @jnicks9 ай бұрын

    Love your videos. You're a great engineer.

  • @NicholasRehm

    @NicholasRehm

    9 ай бұрын

    Thanks!!

  • @grimtagnbag
    @grimtagnbag9 ай бұрын

    Love how to showed the code and talked about how. Peeps leave out the details so thanks for the info cause I want to do this shit but I ain’t that so any info is awesome!!

  • @NicholasRehm

    @NicholasRehm

    9 ай бұрын

    I made this video for curious people exactly like you 😄

  • @0xBE7A
    @0xBE7A9 ай бұрын

    Really interesting video!

  • @sakarrc5001
    @sakarrc50019 ай бұрын

    Thank you man! Great to do :)

  • @moochasas
    @moochasas9 ай бұрын

    Perfect..... are you putting the raw code up like you did with the F35? This would be awesome to have... or is it documented somewhere. cheers

  • @NicholasRehm

    @NicholasRehm

    9 ай бұрын

    I think I'll be doing a write up on the rcgroups thread and I'll post it there--excited to see what you cook up! Hope you're doing well

  • @moochasas

    @moochasas

    9 ай бұрын

    That would be awesome....... I have tried a few tail sitters but nothing worked hence the excitement and comment.. Still flying the F35, made a few tweaks to the transition timing so its dialed in and does not dip down when going into FFF..... I have the Nemo set up ready just waiting to assemble the printed parts.. also have another teensy ready to be set up for a small F18...... I was wondering how big a plane you could use this board on as I have a few larger foamies that I want to try it on just for stabilisation.... as for me I just retired 3 months ago and we have been travelling and just relaxing..... if you want to see some of the plane stuff I have been doing since retiring feel free to check out my YTch ... I hope all is well there with you, stay safe and keep up the great work.. BTW I still check in the RCG thread to keep up with what is going on... cheers from downunder @@NicholasRehm

  • @theoldknowledge6778
    @theoldknowledge67789 ай бұрын

    Amazing video, thank you very much!!! Can't wait for the next one...

  • @iforce2d
    @iforce2d9 ай бұрын

    Reminds me of something :) I was planning to try the gradual transition sometime, but using a little simple sin/cos scaling. Seems to me that the relation to gravity magnitude is what matters, and that does not change linearly with pitch angle.

  • @TitanTrigger

    @TitanTrigger

    9 ай бұрын

    Maybe not gravity... It's true the gravity stays constant but I think the distinction is because regardless of pitch angle, air provides the same control authority from a control surface regardless of the direction that the plane is flying. Air gives the same resistance regardless of whether you fly up or sideways.

  • @LanceCSTCuddy
    @LanceCSTCuddy9 ай бұрын

    Well that freaked me out. I was across the room listening to the end of the video and I hear (seeming to come from someone in the room) “hey look it’s RCTF” and of course the next thing I hear is Daniel’s voice as a video I had started yesterday auto-played. I was utterly confused for about five seconds. Well done lol

  • @NicholasRehm

    @NicholasRehm

    9 ай бұрын

    That's hilarious hahah

  • @TheBillzilla
    @TheBillzilla9 ай бұрын

    A very informative video, many thanks.

  • @anantpandey6035
    @anantpandey60359 ай бұрын

    great work

  • @EricSampson
    @EricSampson9 ай бұрын

    Great explanation

  • @fenotesin6739
    @fenotesin67399 ай бұрын

    i am impressed man , pls tell us more about this nice piece of foam. :D

  • @senorjp21
    @senorjp219 ай бұрын

    Wow that works really well

  • @morkovija
    @morkovija9 ай бұрын

    this is indeed the easiest way to transition. Cant wait for the big project!

  • @tuberroot1112
    @tuberroot11127 ай бұрын

    The code is very clear and simple and well written. Thanks for making that available, it helps see how all this works. Have you done any more on the spinning 3-wing drone. I love the way it looks in straight flight. You left a teaser at the end of "part3" but I don't see anything since and that was a year ago.

  • @turner3d1
    @turner3d19 ай бұрын

    "unless you're an investor" 😂

  • @moochasas
    @moochasas9 ай бұрын

    Thanks for the arduino version added to the RCGroups page... now to sort the wiring out..... if you only knew the amount of times I tried to set up a tailsitter years ago using other flight controllers....this seems too simple to be true.... now to dust off a few old wings.... and print some more glue on motor mounts..... cheers

  • @user-pw5do6tu7i
    @user-pw5do6tu7i9 ай бұрын

    great video.

  • @chuckraymond3564
    @chuckraymond35649 ай бұрын

    Do a short video on the hardware and programming environment you used for your development, Nice Video

  • @JW-lp8oz
    @JW-lp8oz3 ай бұрын

    This tailSitter looks so much fun! I want to build one ❤ I found that you provide the final code over at Patron! You should totally rebundle this video as a build video, and market it as: a cheap sub 250 project you can build with your kids and have a great intro to programming 🎉 This is basically kiwico without the parts. And you buy working code by signing up for Patron 😊

  • @wsshambaugh
    @wsshambaugh9 ай бұрын

    Not sure if you realized, but at the end with the scaling factor you reinvented “fuzzy logic control”

  • @NicholasRehm

    @NicholasRehm

    9 ай бұрын

    I guess you're kinda right!

  • @PalmliX
    @PalmliX9 ай бұрын

    This would be a great way to get beginners flying.

  • @ltpinecone
    @ltpinecone9 ай бұрын

    So cool!

  • @NicholasRehm

    @NicholasRehm

    9 ай бұрын

    Thanks!!

  • @sixtofive
    @sixtofive9 ай бұрын

    Very interesting!

  • @JoeTaber
    @JoeTaber9 ай бұрын

    "The sensor fusion algorithm is not AI, unless you're an investor in which case it's definitely AI." 👏😂

  • @MorningView
    @MorningView9 ай бұрын

    Vtol amazing. Great movie.

  • @Tritone_b5
    @Tritone_b59 ай бұрын

    I have built my own "tail sitter" I used iNAV in heading hold mode. I find the transition of roll to yaw and vice versa confusing, although given in my case, I don't need it to land in hover; given I have an advantage that my craft can do high alpha up to a hover. IMO the advantage to roll and yaw switching is in tilt rotors. Still a feat to do it all on your own code.

  • @ryanellis4383
    @ryanellis43839 ай бұрын

    This settles it, I'm making a Drehmflight FC PCB thats actually made properly. Last time I tried it really wasn't up to spec, but seeing what you can do with it tells me it's worth it to go again.

  • @NicholasRehm

    @NicholasRehm

    9 ай бұрын

    Check out @michaelrechtin's 3d printed quad project...he made a pretty sweet pcb breakout and I have a few on my desk now. Here is another someone made: github.com/joerenteria/dRehmFlight-PCB

  • @margrietwubs3028
    @margrietwubs30289 ай бұрын

    Ooh new video

  • @WilsonFunTech
    @WilsonFunTech9 ай бұрын

    cool tech 👍

  • @tuberroot1112
    @tuberroot11122 ай бұрын

    You could also call this one the aileron sitter. If I was doing this I may want a bit of stand-off so it was not actually landing on the control surfaces.

  • @JinKee
    @JinKee9 ай бұрын

    I remember designs for carrier based tailsitters for the US navy in old popular mechanics magazines. Without fly-by-wire they would have been death traps.

  • @JustInTime0525
    @JustInTime05259 ай бұрын

    This is an awesome project and walkthru for the "hover to forward" flight problem, I followed your thoughts the whole way and it is so satisfying! One thing I'm not sure about is at 8:20, did you set the fade transition time on a fixed timer, or is it something else that's controlling/adjusting how fast or slow the fade phase should be? Thanks for answering my question and for creating such awesome content, keep up the amazing work!

  • @NicholasRehm

    @NicholasRehm

    9 ай бұрын

    It's on a fixed "timer"--in reality it's just rate-limiting how much that variable can increment with each flight controller loop if that makes sense. I tune that increment size which directly corresponds to total time from 0 --> 1

  • @johgude5045

    @johgude5045

    9 ай бұрын

    @@NicholasRehm as your flight controller loop has a fixed frequency, a fixed rate also results in a fixed transition time... or where am i wrong?

  • @mitseraffej5812
    @mitseraffej58129 ай бұрын

    Very cool.

  • @6Twisted
    @6Twisted9 ай бұрын

    If anyone would like to try designing and programming this in a game I recommend Main Assembly

  • @shiningirisheyes
    @shiningirisheyes9 ай бұрын

    From Ireland thanks

  • @alexanderfaucher1619
    @alexanderfaucher16199 ай бұрын

    So neat. Is this something someone could pickup and flash to a tailsitter or are there bonus steps?

  • @makhloufhennine6894
    @makhloufhennine68948 ай бұрын

    wow it is insane

  • @markifi
    @markifi7 ай бұрын

    i liked the violent mode switch more it made a cool sound

  • @AzaB2C
    @AzaB2C9 ай бұрын

    Great project, results and walkthrough of your process, and learnings. What software do you use for the visuals/diagrams? Cheers!

  • @NicholasRehm

    @NicholasRehm

    9 ай бұрын

    PowerPoint haha

  • @darkenblade986
    @darkenblade9869 ай бұрын

    very cool man. really good break down. I feel you should show more code examples but that could just be my cs brain talking! lol

  • @NicholasRehm

    @NicholasRehm

    9 ай бұрын

    I'm doing everything I can to work more code in, but people click away real fast once it hits the screen :(

  • @matthewallen3375
    @matthewallen33759 ай бұрын

    "trust me, I'm an engineer."😂

  • @lombokFPV
    @lombokFPV7 ай бұрын

    amazing

  • @Yukihuru
    @Yukihuru9 ай бұрын

    飛行制御において姿勢制御プログラムの重要性がよく分かる映像です。 市販されているドローンにも言えますが、自動姿勢制御機能が備わっていないモデルは操作が非常に難しいですね。

  • @bowmanzz1
    @bowmanzz19 ай бұрын

    Where has this been all my life? I'm putting this control scheme in my AIM-7 for next years FF!

  • @NicholasRehm

    @NicholasRehm

    9 ай бұрын

    YOU'RE THE SIDEWINDER GUY????

  • @bowmanzz1

    @bowmanzz1

    9 ай бұрын

    @NicholasRehm I had the big white missile, with the dual drone motors, it was technically an aim 7 sparrow

  • @charliezhuo6950
    @charliezhuo69509 ай бұрын

    Would it help to read forward airspeed using a pitol tube, set a target airspeed, and base your transitional mixing on those.

  • @bonafide9085
    @bonafide90859 ай бұрын

    Your channel are so good that I unsubscribed and subscribed again! Nice project, keep them coming! Thank you!

  • @NicholasRehm

    @NicholasRehm

    9 ай бұрын

    Thanks!😁

  • @DomanStuff2022
    @DomanStuff20229 ай бұрын

    Very interesting. VTOLs are on my list for ages now... I did some contraptions years ago, but the electronics/hardware were a limiting factor, not now tho. Next thing, deciding on type of VTOL, less dead weight + less moving parts = grater efficiency... so this type looks very promising, but as usual, it got downsides... I'm very interested where are you going with this, keep us posted :-)

  • @NicholasRehm

    @NicholasRehm

    9 ай бұрын

    Primary downside of this particular design is susceptibility to wind, further complicated by reliance on motor thrust for control authority (ask me about how easy it is to control while descending at low throttle….). I’ve got a design I’m cooking up that I think solves some of these issues at the expense of a little more mechanical complexity!

  • @DomanStuff2022

    @DomanStuff2022

    9 ай бұрын

    @@NicholasRehm"little more mechanical complexity" - hhehhh, that's where problems and fun begins, good luck m8!

  • @geoffcooper4476
    @geoffcooper44769 ай бұрын

    Just wondering what motors, esc, and battery combo's you're using here....Oh and keep up the fantastic work!

  • @NicholasRehm

    @NicholasRehm

    9 ай бұрын

    Cheapest dys sunfun motors they sell on getfpv, some cheap knockoff blheli ESCs from Amazon, and lots of 1500mah 4s batteries. That basically flies 90% of what I build

  • @yancymuu4977
    @yancymuu49779 ай бұрын

    Incredible work! Do you have any thought as to the increase in range in airplane mode. Thanks.

  • @NicholasRehm

    @NicholasRehm

    9 ай бұрын

    definitely more

  • @pat_makes_stuff
    @pat_makes_stuff9 ай бұрын

    the transition between hover and forward flight reminds me of the antagonist machines' movement in the Matrix...

  • @vincentjeremyalcaraz5013
    @vincentjeremyalcaraz50134 ай бұрын

    Hi, I'm new, trying out a tail sitter VTOL. Am I required to use a CW+CCW motor combination? Or I can just use a CW+CW to make this work? I would really like to know. I'm so inspired to make one of these. Thanks in advance!

  • @GregFPV
    @GregFPV9 ай бұрын

    @nicholasrehm thinking about making your own flight controller or a variant of the teensy board with the IMU integrated now that you are working with PCBWay?

  • @odifyltsaeb8846
    @odifyltsaeb88469 ай бұрын

    I wonder what happens if you use pitch input as a transition fader, for 90 deg pitch use all hover, for 0 deg pitch use all airplane control settings, and mix proportionally for all pitches in between. Maybe you won't even need a dedicated switch, but instead, push the stick forward to transition. I mean, remove the notion of two different modes altogether and use a single control law for both, blending two different control laws based on the current pitch?

  • @NicholasRehm

    @NicholasRehm

    9 ай бұрын

    Unfortunately the ambiguities/singularities of euler angles complicates this

  • @odifyltsaeb8846

    @odifyltsaeb8846

    9 ай бұрын

    ​@@NicholasRehm Interesting, thanks.

  • @katanamd
    @katanamd9 ай бұрын

    This is an awesome project! I love things that are mechanically simple and reliable yet work really well. One thing I don't agree with is the "quadcopter" control layout when in hover mode. As an rc pilot with 30 years experience. My brain naturally would tell me to fly this plane shaped vehicle with an airplane control layout. Using the yaw stick to control yaw as if it was pointing straight up, and roll to twist around the vertical axis. This would also make the configuration much simpler.

  • @NicholasRehm

    @NicholasRehm

    9 ай бұрын

    Agreed, sometimes my brain confuses me too being primarily an airplane guy. Thanks for the comment!

  • @piconano
    @piconano9 ай бұрын

    Loved the video. I just finished a project using the ESP32-S2. It was a big one. 1.1MB in Flash. I know even the ESP32-S3 doesn't have the power of a Teensy 4 (@600MHz), but does it have the power to run your code decently? Would it be the clock speed (240MHz) that's not fast enough? Was ESP32 available when you wrote your code? Or you just went with the best and biggest horsepower? 6:23 looks yummy! Soon I hope...

  • @NicholasRehm

    @NicholasRehm

    9 ай бұрын

    Some people have ported the code over to the esp32-s2 and said it runs just fine. The teensy 4 has STUPID compute overhead for this relatively simple code, I just like having the option if I want to load it up with other stuff :)

  • @piconano

    @piconano

    9 ай бұрын

    @@NicholasRehm Great. I hate to learn yet another hardware.

  • @sanjikaneki6226

    @sanjikaneki6226

    9 ай бұрын

    @@NicholasRehm interesting, also did they use Arduino or ESP-IDF? Also i am not that surprised it runs well on ESP32-s2 since unlike an arduino uno or RP2040 it has a floating point math unit and for the type of math that you are useing it is a great gain in speed. Also remember NOT to use core0 when useing the WIFI/BT since it may lag important code running on it . The tensey 4 was a huge overkill to begin with (unless you wanted to ad video/photo to SD)

  • @StuartRobinson123
    @StuartRobinson1238 ай бұрын

    is "yaw" spinning about the vertical axis wrt to the earth? or wrt the plane. new to all this but i was under the impression it was spinning around an axis perpendicular the wings surface

  • @markfew1134
    @markfew11349 ай бұрын

    Fantastic video, is there a version of the code specifically for this tail sitter, I would like to try building one of my own?

  • @NicholasRehm

    @NicholasRehm

    9 ай бұрын

    I'll probably post the modified version from this project in my rcgroups thread sometime soon

  • @AlsoDave
    @AlsoDave9 ай бұрын

    Love a good lerp

  • @mrityunjay1234
    @mrityunjay12349 ай бұрын

    Great video. Love how you explained different aspects of the problem the approach to resolve it. I am thinking of buying a teensy and build one of these. Will it work on a nano goblin which has only one motor or will need a lot of tuning and changes to the code?

  • @NicholasRehm

    @NicholasRehm

    9 ай бұрын

    Sure you can throw it on a nano goblin to stabilize forward flight, but I don't think you'll be able to hover it

  • @mrityunjay1234

    @mrityunjay1234

    9 ай бұрын

    @@NicholasRehm thanks for the reply. I was more interested in the hover actually to make the nano goblin a vtol. Any specific reason why this would not work?

  • @mrityunjay1234

    @mrityunjay1234

    9 ай бұрын

    @@NicholasRehm will putting this on a heewing t1 ranger hover it? That has 2 motors but a real elevator instead of elevons. I am assuming no. But just confirming.

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