Jumper T18 Review

Jumper T18 radio transmitter and FrSky R9 receivers

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One of the advantages of the Jumper T18 over its competition is the JP5in1 Multiprotocol Module compatibility not only with 2.4GHz FrSky and FlySky receivers but also with Long-Range FrSky 868/915MHz R9 system. At least in theory, because when I got the radio, I could not bind and use any of my R9MM or R9 Mini with the Jumper T18. However, to make it work, all that is required is to update the firmware of Jumper T18, JP5in1 Multiprotocol Module and, in some cases, in R9 receivers.

Jumper T18 Multiprotocol Radio

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ImmersionRC Ghost 2.4GHz long-range radio system

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ImmersionRC made a surprise and showed a new RC radio link called Ghost. And trust me, this thing, if it will get adopted, will revolutionize the FPV we know today. Why? Because it's a combination of two worlds: 2.4GHz band and LoRa technology known from TBS Crossfire and FrSky R9 systems. All the details of Ghost are not public yet, but based on the manual, specification, and other external sources, I've been able to compile a list of essential things about IRC Ghost.

ImmersionRC Ghost radio system

It is a LoRa system

ImmersionRC Ghost works in 2.4GHz band, but it's into the same technology as existing 2.4GHz radios from FrSky, Spectrum or FlySky. Instead of "traditional" FSK only RF chipsets like Texas Instruments CC2500, it uses Semtech SX1280/SX1281 (I have no solid proof which one exactly but I suspect it's a SX1281) that support both FSK modulation and LoRa. Yes, the same LoRa technology that stands behind TBS Crossfire and FrSky R9.

I will not go in details what LoRa is, but it's super clever Chirp Spread Spectrum modulation that has high sensitivity and can pick up signals that are below Noise Floor. So yes, it can do Long Range for dozens of miles, and you will sooner lose FPV feed than 2.4GHz LoRa signal!

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inav flight controller

INAV 2.5.2 – what is new, and should you upgrade?

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The patch release of INAV, version 2.5.2 was released just today. Below you will find the list of the most critical changes and advice if to update from 2.5.0 and 2.5.1 to 2.5.2.

Bug fixes:

  • Fixed a bug that affected INAV OSD menu for editing servo mixer weights. It was not possible to have negative weights. Right now it is possible to edit both positive and negative servo mixer rules
  • Fixed buffer overflow in OSD code
  • Fixed RPM Filter center frequency computation bug that was introduced in INAV 2.5.0. INAV 2.5.2 correctly handles RPM Filter and sets dynamic notch filters in on correct frequencies

New targets:

  • Flywoo Goku F411 micro flight controller suitable for all 2 and 3-inch builds with 16x16mm mounting holes
  • Flywoo Goku F7 Dual and Flywoo Goku F7 Mini flight controllers
  • Foxeer F722 V2 and Foxeer F722 Mini
  • HGLRC Zeus F722
  • SpeedyBee F7 STM32F722 flight controller with integrated BLE Bluetooth module for SpeedyBee app

Should you upgrade to INAV 2.5.2

You should upgrade all drones and airplanes if you are using INAV older than 2.5.0. Older versions of INAV are no longer supported and INAV 2.5 family has many bugfixes and improvements.

If you are using INAV 2.5.0 or INAV 2.5.1 then upgrade is highly recommended for multirotor users as it fixes issues with ESC Telemetry and RPM Filtering. It is also a very simple process since when updating from INAV 2.5.x there were no settings related changes.

Is Bidirectional DSHOT required for RPM Filter?

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There is a group of people who think that the RPM Filter is the best thing to happen to flight controllers and quadcopters since the sliced bread. Perhaps. I’m more inclined to believe that RPM Filter is just an example of good functionality. But it will not be about that, so let’s go back to the topic.

motor RPM telemetry data

Joshua Bardwell asked me a question if INAV uses ESC telemetry for the RPM filter. The answer was, of course: yes, INAV has no Bidir-DSHOT support, and 4th wire is required for RPM filter in INAV.

But the latency and jitter makes it unusable. Isn’t that the whole reason for bidirectional dshot development

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ZOHD Drift

ZOHD Drift Review – a smart FPV glider

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Airplanes are fun, and I like to fly them. Unfortunately, most RC airplanes have a severe flaw: they are big, bulky, and traveling with an FPV airplane can be a pain in a posterior. Sure, some can be disassembled into a few smaller parts, but usually, those parts are not small, and assembling the airplane is time-consuming. On top of that, the 250g weight limit hangs like a sword of Damocles over the RC hobby’s head. Everything gets so bloody complicated. And here comes the Drift!

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inav flight controller

How popular INAV actually is?

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Let’s be honest. INAV is not the most popular flight controller software in the world. Both Ardupilot and Betaflight are more popular, and no one can deny that. Still, the question is: how popular INAV actually is and how many people use it on how many builds?

I can not answer most of those questions. First of all, there is no way to know how many drones or airplanes out there use INAV. We have some statistics, but they can not answer this particular question. However, thanks to the way INAV is distributed, it is possible to extract some statistics from GitHub itself. I put up a short script that parses GitHub API and here are the results!

In total, all INAV firmware files since the first release (that was January 2016, 1639 days ago) were downloaded around 1.1 million times! That gives 707 downloads a day!

Is that a lot? Hard to tell, but it’s much more than I expected—around 5 times more than my guestimate. Kudos for us!

While we are here, would you like to know how many times INAV 1.0 was downloaded? 3056 times. Not very impressive number 🙂

EmuFlight

EmuFlight Kalman Filter Tuning

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The most distinctive feature of the EmuFlight flight controller software is it’s gyro Kalman filter. Yes, the same filter that some people name the dynamic PT1, doubt that it works or calls it magic. I will not discuss if the EmuFlight Kalman works and how it works (it works tho, I have enough time in the air to confirm that). Instead, I will show you how to tune the filter to get your racer’s best performance or a freestyle machine.

EmuFlight Quadcopter Drone

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Radiomaster TX16S

Radiomaster TX16S Teardown – let’s see what’s inside!

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Radiomaster TX16S is one of the most exciting premieres of the first half of 2020. Not only it establishes itself as a second most wanted radio transmitter on the market (right behind radios made by FrSky), it brings a few very interesting features to the table as well. Some of them are:

  • Built-in multiprotocol module
  • Hall effect gimbals available as an option
  • USB-C for communication with the radio
  • USB-C charging of the 2S LiIon (18650) battery
  • Color LCD with a touch option
  • Two serial ports
  • TBS Crossfire compatible

Today, let’s open a Radiomaster TX16S multiprotocol radio and let’s see how it is built inside. Does the quality match the price?