Manuals:MB Plus:AttitudeControl usage

Once AttitudeControl was enabled by choosing one of the five AttitudeControl types at Parameter menu point L, AttitudeControl can be activated and deactivated in flight by using the switch on the transmitter with the channel that was assigned as actuator for AttitudeControl in Receiver setup menu. When MICROBEAST PLUS is ready for operation check whether activation of AttitudeControl works as expected:

Similar to the tail gyro gain display you can determine the status of AttitudeControl by watching the yellow Menu-LEDs. These light up each time after the initialization sequence as well as when the amount of AttitudeControl gain is changed respectively when AttitudeControl is activated/deactivated. To distinguish the tail gyro gain display from AttitudeControl the Status-LED lights up in red color when the status of AttitudeControl is displayed. When AttitudeControl is deactivated Menu-LED A starts to flash. If one of the Menu-LEDs B – N lights up, AttitudeControl is active. The individual Menu-LEDs signal the amount of AttitudeControl gain: The larger the deflection of the switch channel for the AttitudeControl is, the farther the Menu-LED will go in the direction of point N and the stronger the effect of AttitudeControl will be. In particular this determines how fast and violent the helicopter will be rotated back to horizontal position. For the first flight it is recommended to adjust the throw of the AttitudeControl channel just until Menu-LED G lights up when AttitudeControl is activated. If using a small helicopter like 450 size or below typically you can set the gain even higher (until Menu-LED I lights up).

AttitudeControl with separate switch channel

When a separate channel for AttitudeControl was assigned at Receiver setup menu point J (or when the default assignment has been loaded) throw and direction of the AttitudeControl channel determine whether AttitudeControl is active or not and how strong it reacts. A deflection into one direction will activate AttitudeControl. Typically Menu-Led N (maximum gain) will light up when activating AttitudeControl for the first time, as the throw of the channel will be 100%. Adjust the deflection of this channel, i.e. by reducing the servo throw in the transmitter, so that one of the Menu-LEDs lights up next to point G (or point I when using a small helicopter) as described above. When the switch channel is moved into the other direction Menu-LED A will light up and flash. In this case AttitudeControl is deactivated. Here it doesn‘t matter how big the deflection of the channel is as only the sign of the deflection determines whether AttitudeControl is on or off.

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

AttitudeControl with combined switch channel

If the tail gyro gain channel is also used for AttitudeControl (see chapter 4), then there is the following difference to the operation mode with separate channel as described above: In the switch position where AttitudeControl is off, the channel deflection determines the amount of tail gyro gain as usual. Increase or decrease the (servo) throw of this channel to adjust the tail gyro gain. The amount of tail gyro gain is indicated by the yellow Menu-LEDs each time after initialization procedure and always when the gain changes. Here the Status LED lights up in blue color. When you flip the switch and the channel is deflected to the other direction, MICROBEAST PLUS will keep the current tail gyro gain and activate AttitudeControl. When adjusting the height of deflection of the channel into this direction you can specify the AttitudeControl gain like described above. So here one channel is used for two functions. Depending on the direction you can either adjust tail gyro gain or AttitudeControl gain and by switching between directions AttitudeControl is activated or deactivated.

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

In this mode it is absolutely necessary to use a switch that changes the control directions 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 decreased to 0% before the system turns on the AttitudeControl. So you would have 0% of tail gyro gain when AttitudeControl is active.

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

Note for software versions before 4.1.x: When AttitudeControl is enabled in general the tail gyro can not be used in Normal-Rate mode. If operating AttitudeControl with separate switch channel (see above) the channel for tail gyro gain activates HeadingLock - Mode in both directions. The sign of deflection is not relevant here, just the amount of deflection is important. When you also want to use the tail gyro in Normal-Rate mode (as described here) you must disable AttitudeControl at Parameter menu point I (by setting the Status-LED to „off“ state).