Manuals:BXFbl:AttitudeFlying/de

AttitudeControl während des Flugs zuschalten

Separate channel

Usually we use a separate free channel on the transmitter to activate/deactivate AttitudeControl during operation. When this channel is moved in one direction, AttitudeControl is off; when you switch it in the other direction, AttitudeControl will be activated and your helicopter will be leveled when you release the aileron and elevator sticks. The amount of deflection determines how strongly the system reacts and how hard it tries to keep the helicopter level (and consequently how hard it is to control the heli against). So what you need on the transmitter side is a switch that controls the AttitudeControl channel (which channel number this is, you set up when doing the receiver and function assignments in RECEIVER MENU). When the switch is in the OFF position, the channel is moved in one direction, e.g. to -100% throw. When you flip the switch to activate AttitudeControl, the channel moves in the other direction, e.g. to +50%. In this case AttitudeControl will activate with a gain of 50%. The amount of gain/channel deflection should be fine-tuned to your liking later when flying - 50 is usually a good starting point. If you want a less aggressive reaction from the system, e.g. when you want to fly with 3D Mode active for a longer time, lower the gain to maybe 30. If you want a very quick, immediate leveling response, you may raise the value to 60. Just don't start too high, as this can cause a very hard and abrupt reaction from the system - possibly harder than your helicopter likes!

The LED display on Microbeast Plus/Ultra shows whether AttitudeControl is active and how high the gain is. When the switch channel is moved to the OFF direction, Menu-LED A will light up and flash - in this case AttitudeControl is deactivated (it doesn't matter how large the deflection of the channel is, as only the sign of the deflection determines whether AttitudeControl is on or off). When activating AttitudeControl with the channel throw at 100%, LED N will light up. Adjust the deflection of this channel (e.g. by reducing the servo throw in the transmitter) so that the Menu-LED next to point G lights up (usually at 50%, as described above).

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Menu-LED	A (flashing)														B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	J	K	L	M	N
AttitudeControl gain	-														8%	16%	24%	32%	40%	48%	56%	64%	72%	80%	88%	96%	100%
Auxiliary channel	-100	-96	-88	-80	-72	-64	-56	-48	-40	-32	-24	-16	-8	0	8	16	24	32	40	48	56	64	72	80	88	96	100
AttitudeControl Status	off														on

Programming example (Spektrum radio)

Assign a switch to the AttitudeControl channel...	... here we use switch H assigned to Aux2 (channel 7)	In the servo monitor you can see how the switch changes the output of the channel. +100% = AttitudeControl on
-100% = AttitudeControl off	If you want to reverse the switch direction, simply reverse the AttitudeControl channel in your transmitter	To start, reduce the output of the AttitudeControl channel to approx. 50% in the direction where AttitudeControl is activated. This will set the AttitudeControl gain to 50%.

Gyro channel (combined switch mode, Microbeast Plus and Ultra only)

As an alternative to using a separate channel for activating AttitudeControl, you can also use the gyro gain channel, e.g. when you only have a 6-channel transmitter or when using a receiver with standard wiring (where an additional channel simply can't be connected physically). Activating AttitudeControl this way works quite similarly to using a separate switch channel, as described above. Moving the channel in one direction activates AttitudeControl, and the amount of channel deflection determines the stabilization gain; moving the gyro channel in the other direction disables the leveling. Additionally, in this direction the gyro gain channel still adjusts the tail gyro gain - the amount of deflection sets the gyro gain and switches the gyro into HeadingLock mode. So, for example, you might assign a switch to the gyro gain channel and set the throw to -50% in one direction and +60% in the other, resulting in a gyro gain of 50% and a stabilization gain of 60%. By flipping the switch you activate/deactivate AttitudeControl instead of toggling the tail gyro between "Normal-Rate" and "HeadingLock" mode. The gyro gain value of -50% is saved internally when switching to the positive direction.

Menu-LED	N	M	L	K	J	I	H	G	F	E	D	C	B	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	J	K	L	M	N
Tail gyro gain	100%	96%	88%	80%	72%	64%	56%	48%	40%	32%	24%	16%	8%	0%	last value
AttitudeControl gain	-														8%	16%	24%	32%	40%	48%	56%	64%	72%	80%	88%	96%	100%
Auxiliary channel	-100	-96	-88	-80	-72	-64	-56	-48	-40	-32	-24	-16	-8	0	8	16	24	32	40	48	56	64	72	80	88	96	100
AttitudeControl Status	off														on

In the transmitter's gyro menu we assign a switch to control the gyro channel (channel 5).	When the switch is released we can set the tail gyro gain. As a starting point we use 50% gain (=50% deflection).	When we pull the switch for AttitudeControl, the channel moves to the opposite direction. Here we set -50% deflection, which sets the AttitudeControl gain to 50% as well.	Use the servo monitor to check that the gain channel changes direction when actuating the "rescue switch".

When using AttitudeControl with the combined switch channel, make sure AttitudeControl is deactivated at least once before takeoff. Otherwise the tail gyro gain would be minimal, as the system would not have been able to determine your tail gain setting after initialization.

Also note that in this mode it is absolutely necessary to use a switch that changes the control direction directly and without intermediate steps. In particular, do not use a slider on the transmitter! Otherwise, when you activate AttitudeControl, the tail gyro sensitivity would be reduced to 0% before the system turns AttitudeControl on - so you would have 0% tail gyro gain while AttitudeControl is active.

Bank Switching (all BEASTX Systems)

A further alternative is to use the Bank Switching feature and set fixed Attitude gains for each flight mode. In this case AttitudeControl will be active as long as the flight mode is selected and the Attitude gain is greater than 0%. So you could use one bank/flight mode for hovering and sport flying, one flight mode for 3D aerobatics, and a third one with Angular Mode and 50% gain for rescue bailout or hover training. You can switch between modes using a simple 3-position switch.

Please note that due to the complexity of this feature, configuring and enabling Bank Switching is only possible with the StudioX Flow app!

Ground testing

When activating AttitudeControl you should see an immediate effect on the swashplate control: if the heli is tilted to one side, the BEASTX System permanently steers the swashplate against the inclination. Around the horizontal position, the swashplate will always stay nearly horizontal to the ground (note: by default the heli will be rolled 4 degrees to the right, to compensate for tail rotor thrust when hovering!). The system constantly tries to bring the helicopter back to the horizontal position as long as the helicopter is tilted.

When AttitudeControl is deactivated, on the other hand, the swashplate will always move back to the neutral position (perpendicular to the main rotor shaft) as soon as the helicopter has been standing still for a few seconds, regardless of the current attitude. Here the system only corrects rotational movements as they occur, but does not regulate the absolute deviation from the horizontal position.

In the Bailout rescue and 3D Mode modes, the system will also control the collective pitch while trying to rotate the heli back to level position. The maximum amount of pitch is determined by the AttitudeControl Pitch setting in PARAMETER MENU (Point M). When using "Bailout rescue with pitch" or "3D Mode with pitch", the system will also hold this pitch angle once level position is reached - the pilot can then only add collective pitch in the same direction, not the opposite direction. Check that this works correctly and that the control directions are correct. If the helicopter is kept in hovering position, some positive collective pitch must be applied by AttitudeControl, and you can use the thrust stick to add more positive pitch, but not less. Correspondingly, this must work when the heli is in inverted hovering position when using "3D Mode with pitch" - here AttitudeControl will apply some negative collective pitch, and you can only add more negative pitch, not positive.

Flying

If not done already, keep AttitudeControl deactivated for the first flight and adjust all flight parameters (tail gyro gain, cyclic gain, and so on) as described in this manual.

Once the heli is set up well, you can familiarize yourself with the effect of AttitudeControl. For this we suggest using "Bailout rescue mode". Fly the helicopter at a sufficient height in a stable hover and activate AttitudeControl using the appropriate switch. The helicopter should continue to hover in approximately the same position. Now give some aileron or elevator stick input and release the stick once the helicopter has reached an oblique position - AttitudeControl should bring the helicopter back to the horizontal position, more or less rapidly.

Deactivate AttitudeControl and again tilt the helicopter with some stick input. Now the helicopter will stay tilted once you release the stick. Only when AttitudeControl is activated again by flipping the switch will the helicopter be rotated back to the horizontal position as before.

If using an AttitudeControl mode with collective pitch control, moving the thrust stick has no effect in a certain range, as AttitudeControl takes over collective pitch control in this range while it is activated. Therefore make sure the thrust stick is in a position that will roughly produce the same amount of collective pitch, both before and while deactivating AttitudeControl. Otherwise, deactivating AttitudeControl could cause the helicopter to drop suddenly if the thrust stick commands a smaller pitch angle than AttitudeControl was applying.

For safety reasons you should never take off or land with AttitudeControl activated. Since AttitudeControl actively sends control commands to the BEASTX System's control loop, the swashplate may tilt to one side if the helicopter is not placed perfectly level on the ground. This may cause the helicopter to tip over and crash when attempting to take off, or when the motor is switched off and the main rotor is spinning down.

Fine tuning

• The amount of deflection of the AttitudeControl switch channel controls the AttitudeControl gain. This determines the speed and abruptness of the control input from AttitudeControl. If the effect of AttitudeControl is too weak, i.e. the heli rotates back to horizontal too slowly, increase the AttitudeControl gain by increasing the deflection of the AttitudeControl channel (e.g. using the servo throw adjustment for this channel in the transmitter). If, on the other hand, the heli overshoots after reaching the neutral position and bobs briefly, the AttitudeControl gain may be set too high - reduce the gain accordingly. In such a case, also make sure the cyclic gain and cyclic feed forward are well adjusted. It is recommended to adapt the AttitudeControl gain to your preferred use case. If you want to use AttitudeControl mainly as an emergency rescue function, set the gain as high as possible. On the other hand, if you use AttitudeControl mainly as a training aid, for example in 3D Mode, keep the effect of AttitudeControl rather weak, so the system takes over control gently.
• If the helicopter is not aligned horizontally as desired with AttitudeControl active, i.e. drifts to one side in hovering flight, the artificial horizon can be readjusted. This is done in the Quick Trim menu at PARAMETER MENU point A, or by changing the trim with the StudioX Flow app. If the positioning seems to vary randomly and the tilt develops a large offset the longer you fly, this can be due to poor position measurement. Causes for this can include high-frequency vibrations, temperature fluctuations, or misalignment of the device. Note that minor deviations are inherent to the system. If you notice the artificial horizon acquiring a small offset after some time, let the heli hover for a few seconds without touching the sticks - the horizon will usually recalibrate automatically (as long as the vibration level is not too high).