Peter 'Ivanna Crashalot' Savage Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 Some of you may be familliar with the system refered to as CSM Airwars. Ever since i was a small child, with no grasp for physics and endless models that really would never fly, i had an old RCM&E magazine with this system on the back. I dreamt about getting this system and messing around with it with friends but at £21 for each module for each aircraft i knew it probably would never happen. Later on i even toyed with the idea of pestering dad to get a set and make the tony nijhuis dogfight double spit/schmitts but that never happened. For those of you who don't know what it is, it is a module you plug into your aircraft, with an Infra red LED and receiver which you mount externally, it fires IR rays from your aircraft and you have to try and shoot at your opponents with pre programmed movements of servos when you are hit. I am a budding engineer, messing around with all different kinds of stuff and thought, if i made my own system, it would be an interesting project. Purely hypothetically i was thinking about experimenting and making an updated system like this to bring back some of the fun of the hobby! I was thinking if i could reduce the price of each module for each aircraft down to £5-£10 as opposed to the £21, it would be more affordable and it would encourage larger combats, maybe even entire clubs battling in the air with foamies at the same time This is only a concept idea and i just wondered what kind of reaction i would get, in terms of popularity. Peter Edited By Peter 'Servo Scrounger' Savage on 18/01/2010 02:20:21 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
001 Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 Isn't that similar to the system that can be installed on the Parkzone Stryker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter 'Ivanna Crashalot' Savage Posted January 18, 2010 Author Share Posted January 18, 2010 Yeah i think so Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter 'Ivanna Crashalot' Savage Posted January 18, 2010 Author Share Posted January 18, 2010 scratch that they are infact £29.95 per unit :s Any more interest? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy watson Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 at the prices you are suggesting I think I would be tempted to get a few for the club Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy watson Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 Oh, not sure about the preprogrammed servo movements- I would prefer an audble hit alert/flashing led type set up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birdy Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 Sounds interesting, but it might b more easily said then done. really we need somone with a knowlenge ou how to integrate this into our rc system if you want that kind of thing. I don't think that making a led or buzzer one would be hard though... What we really need is somone wiht microchips and programing hardwhare and software. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter 'Ivanna Crashalot' Savage Posted January 19, 2010 Author Share Posted January 19, 2010 Yo been messing with PIC microcontrollers, what i was thinking was just default just cutting the motor for a second, which on a foamie will not do much damage but it could be a possible function, even make it a lot easier to make Also, a bit of a farfetched concept, a built in GSM modem module to update scores live to a club website Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter 'Ivanna Crashalot' Savage Posted January 19, 2010 Author Share Posted January 19, 2010 Looking at the microcontroller i had my eye on, it would be good for your idea for a buzzer and LED but for the servo movement system, i will need a PIC with more input/outputs.Edited By Peter 'Servo Scrounger' Savage on 19/01/2010 01:56:37 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birdy Posted January 19, 2010 Share Posted January 19, 2010 Hmmm... Problem with PIC microcontrollers is that the equipement to program them isn't cheap. My thoughts were more along the lines of wired logic. Perhaps, A level edge trigger monostable (1)- the trigger being the radio pulse - giving a one millisecond pulse. An inverter(1), to create and inverted waveform of the monostables pulse Another level edge trigger monostable(2) - the trigger being the inveted monostable pulse - giving a pulse of 19ms An inverter(2), to create an inverte waveform of monostble(2) 's pulse. Then a exclusive - NOR gate - with inputs being the radio signal and the inverter 2's pulse. If any one understands that... They can say weather it would work and improve on it... birdy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birdy Posted January 19, 2010 Share Posted January 19, 2010 Being a nice person I have made a nice diagram of what I mean: click on it to get a bigger diagram... Being a stupid person, I mentioned a second monostabele and inverter in my last post, both of which servo no useful purpose... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter 'Ivanna Crashalot' Savage Posted January 19, 2010 Author Share Posted January 19, 2010 I have all the equipment needed to program them , ie a programmer, a hex writer and a coding program Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter 'Ivanna Crashalot' Savage Posted January 19, 2010 Author Share Posted January 19, 2010 Andy, were you thinking of just a system, with no PC connectivity, just registering the amounts of hits you have sustained and when you get hit it lighting up an LED and sounding a buzzer? This would make it a lot simpler and cheaper. Just checked again, the controller i had my eye on was 1 input short of working, but if i get rid of the computer interface, i can make this type first as a 'prototype' or a base model, because not many people would actually take a laptop to a flying field This version would probably only need a PIC, an IR sensor and an IR receiver and a few LEDs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Parker Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 Linking to the RC system is relatively straightforward. Just take it one step at a time. For instance..Prototype board for landing/navigation lights. Circuit will turn on lights and also activate strobe light (equal mark space of 1sec.) when throttle is lowered below a set point. The circuit will also operate off the Gear switch and could be used for a lost model alarm etc. The circuit uses a comparator IC to detect when pulses from the receiver fall below a set threshold and then turn on the output stage. The strobe control is a 555 timer IC. But for your purposes you need the 555 IC to drive an Infrared LED (the transmitter), perhaps in 2sec firing bursts. The opponents receiver needs its tone frequency matched to the LED's output frequency. The receiver could activate a buzzer or perhaps release a streamer. Your opponent needs their transmitter and your receiver matched to a tone frequency different to the above or you could shoot yourself. Co-incidentally there was a posting yesterday (I think?) on cable ratings where Bert suggested a link to a web site (Stefan's). Im sure Bert will be around to give you the link again if needed. If you then go to Stefan's Electronic project page there is an ON/ OFF motor controller circuit using the comparator IC almost exactly as I've used above except driving a relay. Just drive the 555/infrared LED from the output instead of his relay. Use the Gear switch (or a spare channel) to fire the gun. He even has the PCB layout to download. You will need a tone controller IC for the infrared receiver, LM567 a few pence from Maplins, plus a 741 op amp IC or similar. The comparator is LM339 (quad comparator under £1 from Maplins). Pull the relevant data sheets off the web for a wealth of circuit information. All this can be built for a few pence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter 'Ivanna Crashalot' Savage Posted January 20, 2010 Author Share Posted January 20, 2010 In most cases, it ends up in the long run being a lot quicker, cheaper, lighter and smaller to construct with PICs, you can use the inbuilt timer to detect the receiver pulses for the trigger and to use interupts to drive a servo directly from a pin. If it really was a massive hit and everyone was buying them, i could sort out a surface mount one and make it really light Been looking and i have found a way to get another pin on the PIC i had an eye on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Parker Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 Peter, Only if you have the PIC programmer and the project/circuit will benefit from complex microprocessor control and be used in numbers, it will still need to use the IR circuitry. Even then you also need to factor in the cost of the programmer. In many cases it is simply not needed and a working circuit can be constructed in minutes using a few standard components that can be fault checked by any competent person with the minimum of equipment. Surface mounting of components is another ball game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy watson Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 I guess what I was thinking about was a simple unit that would be fixed onto the plane and could "shoot" forwards, and detect being hit by another unit. I doubt I would pay much of a premium, if any, for computer connectivity over a noticeable (sound/light) alert that told me I had been hit. Maybe it could beep for 10s or so, before resetting itself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter 'Ivanna Crashalot' Savage Posted January 20, 2010 Author Share Posted January 20, 2010 Brian, i already have the programmer, it was an 'educational' present last birthday i used it to program my own servo slow module for my efite sea fury and serial controlled 8 servo controller. Also to distinguish the 'bullets' from random IR interferance, i will send a serial UART pulse via IR saying for example ' *[Your Name]$', the characters being what the module searches for, then when it receives that byte, it reads the data after to get the name of the person who shot you, this would be the purpose of PC connectivity. At the moment, it looks like the most expensive component may be the IR photo diode With the microcontroller at less than £2, i still think this is the best way to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Claridge Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 go for it peter i will buy some, i think a motor cut would be yhe best indicator of a hit as beeps and led.s might be hard to hear and see in the heat of battle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter 'Ivanna Crashalot' Savage Posted January 22, 2010 Author Share Posted January 22, 2010 Thank You Phil, thats given me some confidence! Well i was thinking with audible/LED(another model with ESC cut) and it saves the amount of hits you get to the inbuilt EEPROM then when you get down on the ground, you somehow activate it and it flashes the amount of times you are hit on the buzzer and LED, or you can plug it into a USB or Serial adaptor. I tell you what, this hobbiest electronics is great fun Just been designing a circuit board for my brother, makes some micro RC servos move to immitate windscreen wipers on an RC car. Edited By Peter 'Servo Scrounger' Savage on 23/01/2010 00:30:45 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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