I thought a gyro-stabilized gimbal would improve the video footage from my quad. I decided to go with X468 carbon fiber gimbal. The servos are driven by the naza controller. It works nicely as you can see below.
So I crashed again 
. I was at a local park and it got out of control. Rather than injure someone or something, I dropped the throttle and grounded it. Looks like I’m going to need some more arms …
After the last video I posted of the ardupilot loitering, I decided that I was trying to tune it blind. I’ve never had any other quad, and the frame on that one I had built from scratch. In order to truly know what needs to be done to improve the frame, I need to fly one that is a finished design. After much searching, I decided on a DJI F450 frame. This provided an agile quadcopter frame and I liked the Naza electronics. Unfortunately the directions are poorly written English and I put the magnetometer on incorrectly. This caused it to be out of balance and crash. After some epoxy and zip ties, she was flying properly. You can see the result in the video.
I’m slowly starting to get more comfortable with the automated modes on my ardupilot. The first step to success is loiter mode. In this mode, it uses GPS and the altimeter (or barometer) to stay in one location. You can see my first result. The PIDs do need tuning, but its not a bad first shot.
Many of you don’t know, but most of the stuff I blog about here is just my hobby. For my real job, I am a director of software development. Recently I left Medco where I had been for 8 years. I’ve started a new position doing something similar, but on a slightly smaller scale. Below is my new office and the beginning of a new journey!
