Quad Me Up

The best RC radio transmitters for Q2 2020

April 7, 2020April 7, 2020 Leave a comment

The last year was a good year in terms of new radio transmitters. It’s no longer a choice between FlySky and FrSky. We have new players and new products. Below is my, very subjective, overview of the most interesting radios on the market.

Still the best – FrSky X10S Horus

In my very personal opinion, FrSky X10S Horus is the best option out there. Some might argue that the shape is not the best, or gimbals are not in the “perfect” place. Perhaps. On the other hand, I do not find those things an issue and I use my X10S for 2 years now. Amazing gimbals, good layout, great LCD and ergonomics. If I would have to find a real-life problem with the Horus, it would be a small battery. You really have to charge it after every trip to the airfield. Besides that, perfect! Read More

Corsair K63 Wireless Mechanical Keyboard Review

April 6, 2020April 6, 2020 2 Comments

I spend up to 12 hours daily in front of a personal computer. I am a professional software developer, open-source developer, YouTube creator and I run a couple of smaller websites, including this one. I write. A lot. I am also a happy owner of Logitech G915 Mechanical Keyboard. It’s great but it’s also big and expensive.

ESP8266, ESP32 and ESP32-S2 comparison

April 5, 2020April 6, 2020 Leave a comment

Currently, there are 2 types of MCU from Espressif on the market: ESP8266 from 2014, ESP32 from 2016 and ESP32-S2 that debuted in the second half of 2019. Although ESP32-S2 is not yet very popular, it is expected it will replace ESP8266 as a cheaper, more powerful and more secure alternative in the upcoming years.

The table below compares the main features of ESP8266, ESP32 and ESP32-S2

	ESP8266	ESP32	ESP32-S2
MCU	Xtensa L106	Xtensa LX6	Xtensa LX7
Number of cores	1	2	1
Number of bits	32	32	32
Clock frequency	80MHz	160MHz	240MHz
Coprocessor	No	Yes	Yes (RISC-V)
WiFi	802.11 b/g/n	802.11 b/g/n	802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth	No	BT 4.2 BR/EDR & BLE	No
RAM	160kB	520kB	320KB
Internal flash	No	ESP32‑D2WD Only – 2MB	No
External SPIFlash	Up to 16MB	Up to 16MB	Up to 1GB
GPIO	17	36	43
SPI	2	4	4
I2C	1 (software)	2	2
I2S	2	2	1
UART	2	3	2
ADC	1	18	20
ADC resolution	10-bit	12-bit	12-bit
DAC	No	2	2
DAC resolution	–	8-bit	8-bit
Software PWM	8	16	8
SDMMC interface	No	Yes	No
Temperature sensor	No	Yes	Yes
Touch sensors	No	Yes	Yes
CAN	No	1	No
Ethernet MAC	No	1	No

All the INAV sensors: are they required or optional?

April 5, 2020April 8, 2020 3 Comments

INAV can use various sensors to fly drones and airplanes: gyroscopes, accelerometer, magnetometers, barometers, GPS, OpFlow, rangefinders, and airspeed. Some of them required some are recommended and some are a purely optional piece of hardware.

Here is the full list:

INAV Sensors:

Gyroscope and accelerometer

Required. The flight controller will not boot without a gyroscope and accelerometer. They are usually 2-in-1 devices (MPU6000, MPU6500, etc) that contain gyroscope and accelerometer in one package. Read More

Espressif ESP32-S2

April 4, 2020April 6, 2020 Leave a comment

When Espressif release ESP32 WiFi & Bluetooth capable MCUs back in 2016, many things changed in the DIY and tinkerers community. We finally had a cheap MCU that could do real IoT stuff and was easy to use. However, the cheap ESP32 is not really cheap in relative terms. Sure, it is cheap, but there are cheaper solutions. ESP8266 for example.

Yes, the old ESP8266 that lacks any built-in security and which power consumption is not that low even in a deep sleep mode. It was expected that Espressif would, sooner or later, offer an improved replacement for ESP8266. Cheaper than ESP32, but with features that ESP8266 lacked. Read More

ESP8266 and ESP32 – the main differences

April 4, 2020April 6, 2020 Leave a comment

ESP8266 and ESP32 are the next best thing that happened to DIY world since Arduino itself. Thanks to development boards based on those MCUs brand new possibilities opened in front of all DIY and tinkering enthusiasts. With those two, not only we have cheap and powerful microcontrollers, but we can also make them talk to other devices via WiFi and Bluetooth.

Mozilla Firefox is in serious trouble

April 4, 2020April 4, 2020 Leave a comment

Believe it or not, but Mozilla Firefox (back in the days when it was still called Mozilla Firebird) was the first modern web browser. Even in early beta stages, it was so much better than Internet Explorer, that almost anybody who tried it, dropped IE and just used Firefox instead.

Of course, over the year, the saying “the best is the enemy of the good” was once again proven to be true. No matter how to look at it, WebKit is a better web engine, Chromium is a better browser foundation and Chrome is just a better browser than Firefox. It’s lighter, faster, better supported, more extensions and backed up by the biggest tech company out there: The Google itself. Read More

The new Microsoft Edge is much better that I expected

April 3, 2020April 4, 2020 Leave a comment

I’m not shy to switch to a new web browser every few months when needed. I was one of the first users or Firefox when it was still named Firebird (yes, I’m that old). I abandoned Internet explorer without looking back. After all, it was such a bad browser.

What is a PID controller and how it works?

April 3, 2020April 8, 2020 Leave a comment

The whole FPV hobby, and especially multirotor drones, work only thanks to control theory and PID controllers. They are the only thing that separates chaos and immediate flip-over from a stable flight. A regular multirotor has at least 3 PID controllers. If you enable any mode with self-leveling, the number goes to 6. Any GPS assisted mode increases the number to at least 12.

Of course, the PID controllers we think when we think about when we say about multirotors, are Rate PID controllers. They keep our drones stable by keeping angular velocity at desired levels. And usually, they are the ones that have to be tuned to achieve a nice, smooth and stable flight.

A very cool, futuristic looking, 3D printed quadcopter frame

April 2, 2020April 3, 2020 Leave a comment

I love this part of me being a creator and an influencer, where I can show you some amazing things created by other people. And today, the joy is double, because it is an extremely cool frame designed by a guy from Spain that goes under the nickname of Micrathene FPV.

What it is? Well, like I mentioned, it is a fully 3D printed 3″ FPV frame with a place for a GPS, FPV camera and (yes, I’m not joking on that) camera tilt! There is enough space inside for a servo and a camera mount is pivoting by default.