Parrot claims the Disco is simple to fly and involves no learning curveFixed-wing drones have been a popular choice for things like environmental conservation and surveillance, and now Parrot is looking to expand their appeal in the consumer realm as well. On show at CES this week, its Disco drone does away with the popular quadcopter design in favor of a speedy wing-shaped model that can simply be tossed in the air to take flight.Parrot had a big influence on the rise of quadcopter popularity with its iPhone-controlled AR Drone in 2010, and is now hoping its seemingly user-friendly Disco can bring it similar success. The aircraft bears some resemblance to eBee, an industrial UAV built for things like crop and wildlife monitoring by senseFly, a Swiss firm that happens to be owned by Parrot.Disco can fly for 45 minutes and can reach a rather zippy 80 km/h (50 mph), a speed matched by few consumer drones – 3DR's Solo drone, which can hit 89 km/h (55 mph)It also features the same 14-megapixel camera with 3-axis stablization of Parrot's Bepop 2 quadcopter, and can stream vision back to a set of virtual reality glasses to offer immersive first person flying.

Fitted with an eight-inch propellor and an accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, barometer, pitot and GPS, Parrot claims the Disco is simple to fly and involves no learning curve. Throwing the drone into the sky sees it gain altitude automatically and it will then circle above until the pilot takes control. It features an auto-return home function, automatic landing and the wings are removable to make for easier transport. Disco is piloted by either a standard RC remote control or the Parrot Skycontroller, which works in tandem with a smartphone or tablet. This second option will also allow users to plot autonomous flight paths through the companion app. With its top speed and lengthy flight time the Disco boasts some impressive numbers, but to compare it to other consumer drones is a little like comparing apples and oranges. Fixed-wing drones have certainly proven useful for monitoring crops or wildlife, applications where they're needed to fly more or less in straight lines for long periods of time, but we're yet to really see these capabilities translate to the consumer space.

Here the agility and maneuverable cameras of the quadcopter design have reigned supreme. Parrot does have form in breaking down such barriers, however, so it will be interesting to see if Disco can come to the party. There's no real detail yet on pricing or availability, only that it will launch sometime in 2016. parrot ar drone mumbaiYou can see Disco in flight in the video below.microdrones md4-1000 uavDrone Setup - First Steps Tutorialparrot ar drone akku 2000mah Unboxing and Initial Configuration Connecting to the Command Line Setting up a microSD autostart script Sensor and Parameter Calibration RC Calibration with QGroundControl RC Calibration with Mission Planner Sensor Calibration with QGroundControl

Setting up a PWM-interfaced Multirotor Auto-Starting the Quad Control Software incorporate all information that is still useful into other pages! This tutorial explains in-depth how to unbox, set up and configure a PX4FMU autopilot with or without an additional carrier board like PX4IO or PX4IOAR - AR. It is important that the steps in this section are followed in order. If you have the PX4 Toolchain installed (most users won't) there is no need to install the drivers separately. Windows: PX4FMU and PX4FLOW Windows driver installer (32/64 bit) (Alternative: ZIP file, manual installation) Mac OS: Comes with in-built drivers, no additional driver for the micro USB port, but you need the VCP drivers (32/64 bit) on MacOS X Lion or above for the FTDI connection PX4FMU is on delivery equipped with a recent (not the most recent) version of the PX4 OS. If it is not connected to a carrier board and has no microSD card plugged in, it will boot into the command line (NuttShell) and show a solid blue led.

Windows: If it fails to install the correct driver, install the driver manually: Follow the instructions on the downloads page. Mac OS: Your operating system is not as broken as Windows and does not need a special driver. Download and install QGroundControl (QGroundControl Downloads) for your OS. This step will soon be replaced by an USB COM port. Right now (November 2012) this setup is however required. Plug your radio modem into the socket in the front of the board. The onboard applications will later be started from the SD card and the command line does not need to be accessed for normal flight operation. For this tutorial we will however start the applications manually. The instructions how to open up the terminal connection are taken from this page: serial_connection. Download and install TeraTerm (if you have the PX4 Toolchain installed, it will already be installed on your system). Hit enter in TeraTerm. You should see the NSH prompt:On Debian / Ubuntu:

Mac OS does already come with screen installed. Start it in the terminal with: Hit enter, you should see the NSH command prompt. Starting MAVLink and connecting it to a GCS is very easy: This starts MAVLink on USART2 (remember, all *nix systems count from ttyS0 upwards, and since UART3 and UART4 are not configured on PX4FMU: USART1 = ttyS0, USART2 = ttyS1, UART5 = ttyS2, UART6 = ttyS3). Connect now QGroundControl or Mission Planner on the UART / COM port where the second FTDI adapter is connected to. You should see heartbeats. Now close screen (press Ctrl+Alt, then press \. Then press Y) or TeraTerm. Fire up QGroundControl or Mission Planner and connect it to the port where TeraTerm was connected before. The instructions here are taken from this page: auto_starting_apps. To start a very basic setup that does not actuate any servos, just gives sensor readings and basic GCS connectivity, create a folder etc on the microSD card and put a text file named rc in it (so the absolute file name is /etc/rc on the microSD card):

If the same port is used for NSH / NuttShell and MAVLink, the start script needs an additional exit command on the last line to quit the shell. Also, you will (usually) be using UART1. The calibration includes the sensor calibration and the setup / calibration of the remote control. The remote control can either be controlled manually via QGroundControl or automatically via Mission Planner. Connect mission planner and then choose the RC calibration dialog as shown in the video. Proceed through the dialog as shown in the video. First get and install the calibration widget for QGroundControl: Download the PX4 Calibration Widget: px4_calibration.qgw Enable the communication console, it will interactively guide you through the calibration. Select from Tool Widgets → Communication Console. Now perform first the static calibration: Place the FMU or vehicle on a surface and keep it still. Click on gyro to calibrate the gyro offsets. Then in the Calibration and Parameters widget, click on Write ROM to save them.

Next (if the FMU is mounted on a quad rotor) place the vehicle as level as possible and click on the ACCEL button. Again click on Write ROM to save the offsets. The last step is the magnetometer calibration. Click on MAG and then rotate the vehicle for 45 seconds around all its axes, so that optimally each arm reaches each point on a sphere once. PX4FMU will print a text message once its done. Again click on Write ROM. Reboot the unit to be initialized with the new offsets. If you place your vehicle level on the ground, it should show a level attitude. If you point it north (and there are no strong magnets or iron objects nearby), it should show north. Check the PX4FMU connectors page for details. Most users will want to use the MULTI connector. The same pins are also available on the EXP connector. Instructions mostly taken from here: auto_starting_apps. Put the script below onto a microSD card into the etc folder. The script should be named rc, so the full path is /etc/rc.