Stabilisation system

Hi all,

I have a stabilisation system (AP2000i from spartan-rc.com) that I use on my remote controlled helicopter for aerial photography. I'd like to put an inertial sensor (or else) instead of the IR sensor that is currently there, but I don't have a clue on how to do this. Attached are pictures of the IR sensor and here is the website with the inertial sensor/accelerometer that i'd like to use. Obviously, if anyone has a better solution please submit it!

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THis is a very hardware and software intensive project. It is not for beginners. Without code or access to how the AP2000i works...you can't just "drop-in" an inertial sensor system.

On the other hand...software is cheap to fix at the veyr least. So as long as you can deal with the repair costs of the vehicle during testing, your best bet is to get prebuilt hardware like this:
**broken link removed**

(expensive? yeah, but I've gone over it and it costs far more time, money, and risk to build your own especially if you are not sure how to do it or what you want or need). Doing this still requires extensive knowledge and learning however.

Accelerometers will not work on planes (or any moving vehicle for that matter) because the acceleration of the plane superimposes onto the acceleration of gravity masking it. You need either gyros or IR. In small quantities, a set of gyros or IR sensors will cost you around $100- a far cry from the $7 for your accelerometer.

IR assisted with gyros is better because the major flaw of IR Is it's slow response time, especially for nimble, unstable vehicles like helicopters. But, IR is very good for what it does and costs. It seems to me that a lot of the stuff about gyros are hype. Gyros will drift over time and can't be left alone indefinately since they will eventually be so biased they will be upside down! This doesn't happen with IR. The math and processing power required for gyros is also more intensive than that of IR (much more intensive if you want the robot to be able to automatically enter a certain altitude on it's own due to coupling between the absolute and relative coordinate axis of the ground and heli). If you just need the robot to remain at the last altitude where you left it, it's a lot easier.

Basically, if your interest is "having" the system rather than learning how to build it...you are better off just buying something completely premade. You won't be saving money by going the DIY route.

EDIT: APparently your system can have inertial sensors added to it...ask the manufacturer.

Ok thanks!

So would it be possible to interface gyros with it?

With your existing system...unless you have the designs for the system so you know how it works and the system was designed initially to accept gyros in some form, no.

But it seems to me the manufacturers already have gyros available for the system. Just ask them.