Read Time 6 mins
Written by Lucas Weakley As seen in the Fall 2016 issue of Park Pilot.
Stabilization is a growing technology in the RC hobby. If you haven’t yet noticed, many of today’s expanding RC facets, such as multirotors, can be impossible to fly without their complex stabilization systems. You also might be surprised to learn that a lot of RTF (Ready to Fly) aircraft use some kind of stabilizer. Now, let’s take a look at how this happened and how stabilization works. Stabilization systems consist of some kind of sensor, something to interpret the signals from that sensor (usually a small microprocessor), and a way to mix those signals into the physical controls of whatever is being stabilized. These parts work together to measure changes in motion and position in, for example, an RC aircraft. The information is used to dampen or correct for those changes. The sensor is the hard part, and what has become miniaturized, which I’ll discuss later. One of the first ways to measure changes in motion was by using a physical spinning gyroscope. If a mass is spun at a fast enough rate, it can exhibit characteristics of a gyroscope, similar to many of the toys we have likely played with. The gyroscope resists moving in a single axis and can be used as a reference point to measure a fixed position relative to a moving body. Some of the first RC aircraft to need some kind of stabilization were RC helicopters, specifically in the yaw axis, where slight changes in throttle, blade pitch, translational movement, or wind could send the heli spinning out of control too fast for manual correction. Gyros, similar to what I previously described, were used to measure the changes in yaw axis and stabilize the aircraft. A set of heavy, spinning disks created the gyroscope. The position was measured using either magnetic or connecting switches. That measured change in angular acceleration—when the aircraft started to yaw—would mechanically increase or decrease the pitch of the blades on the tail rotor before the helicopter spun out of control. A flybar on an RC helicopter is also another form of a gyroscopic stabilizer. Don’t go looking for big spinning disks on your multirotor controller board, though. A simpler way of measuring changes in motion today is called MEMS (micro-electromechanical systems). As the name implies, these are tiny mechanical measuring devices etched in silicon using piezoelectric-induced oscillations instead of a spinning gyro to measure angular accelerations. Mind blowing!
To put it more simply, just as a spinning disk likes to stay fixed in a certain axis, a vibrating bar wants to vibrate in its current plane and will resist being rotated or moved out of its position. By vibrating a tiny comblike structure using electricity, changes in how fast that comb vibrates and how much it vibrates can be detected and used to measure changes in external accelerations. There are many kinds of MEMS gyros, and I encourage you to look up the technology if you wish to learn more about them. They are truly fascinating. These new sensors started becoming available to consumers in the late 1990s and early 2000s. They were smaller and lighter than any of the mechanical predecessors. RC helicopters started using them, allowing for smaller helicopters. Later on, more gyros were added to sense changes in all three axes, creating flybarless helicopters.
At roughly the same time, people were taking single-axis RC helicopter yaw gyros and orienting, wiring, mixing, soldering, and hacking them together to make the first stabilization systems for RC multirotors. What was interesting about multirotors was that you could mix together a few ESCs and get the throttle, pitch, roll, and yaw controls working without gyros, but they were impossible to fly without some kind of stabilization because of the inherent instability in the design. These makeshift, cobbled-together stabilizers were crude and limited in their customizability. It didn’t take long, though, for people to start using the new MEMS gyros on their own and making dedicated flight control and stabilization boards for multirotors, but there was a problem. Gyros can only measure changes in motion; they can’t tell up from down. MEMS gyros also drift, losing their accuracy throughout the duration of a flight. If you had a multirotor with only gyros, you would still have to manually hover it in place and constantly trim it out to get it to fly level. The solution was to use another MEMS sensor called an accelerometer, which can be similar to the construction of the aforementioned MEMS gyro, but is tuned to measure linear acceleration instead of angular acceleration. An accelerometer can measure the force of gravity in all three axes, and with some trigonometry, can determine where down and up are (that’s also how your smartphone can tell what’s up and down). That information is used in conjunction with the readings from the gyros to correct for any deviations, and to add a few more stabilization modes such as horizon lock and auto-leveling. A pair of three-axis accelerometers and gyroscopes is used on almost all flight controller boards to give accurate measurements for the aircraft’s orientation. Later, fixed-wing aircraft began using gyros and controller boards, too. These helped more complicated and smaller models become easier to control and more resistant to windy conditions. Now you can find many RTF or BNF (Bind-N-Fly) airplanes from companies such as Horizon Hobby (horizonhobby.com) and HobbyKing (hobbyking.com) that have built-in stabilization systems. You can even buy RC receivers with three-axis gyros and accelerometers built in! Stabilization systems are also used in 3-D aerobatic RC aircraft. They help the airplane be more stable and easier to control while performing maneuvers such as hovering, knife-edge, flat spins, general flight in high wind, etc. Of course, this has brought up the discussion of when it is fair to use stabilization.
During any kind of aerobatics or racing competition with fixed-wing aircraft, using some kind of stabilization to aid in an airplane’s performance could be inappropriate. On the other hand, multirotors for racing have to use stabilizers to fly, and the settings that each racer chooses to use are indicative to his or her individual skills and flying style. Although this could be the topic of an entirely different article, these same systems that might be considered cheating by many, allow beginner pilots to learn more quickly and get past some of the frustration of learning to fly RC. Some newer trainer airplanes, such as the Horizon Hobby Apprentice, even have ground-avoidance sensors and a built-in autopilot system that can fly the airplane for you if you lose control. Now, instead of hitting the trainer switch like what is done when using a buddy box, the airplane can self-correct and give you back the controls! This technology ultimately means that the hobby is more accessible to people who use these new beginner airplanes. These same people can then begin other projects in the hobby that might not need stabilization. Regardless, stabilization will be an integral part of shaping what RC will look like in the future, and I’m excited about the possibilities!
Written by Lucas Weakley As seen in the Fall 2016 issue of Park Pilot.
Stabilization is a growing technology in the RC hobby. If you haven’t yet noticed, many of today’s expanding RC facets, such as multirotors, can be impossible to fly without their complex stabilization systems. You also might be surprised to learn that a lot of RTF (Ready to Fly) aircraft use some kind of stabilizer. Now, let’s take a look at how this happened and how stabilization works. Stabilization systems consist of some kind of sensor, something to interpret the signals from that sensor (usually a small microprocessor), and a way to mix those signals into the physical controls of whatever is being stabilized. These parts work together to measure changes in motion and position in, for example, an RC aircraft. The information is used to dampen or correct for those changes. The sensor is the hard part, and what has become miniaturized, which I’ll discuss later. One of the first ways to measure changes in motion was by using a physical spinning gyroscope. If a mass is spun at a fast enough rate, it can exhibit characteristics of a gyroscope, similar to many of the toys we have likely played with. The gyroscope resists moving in a single axis and can be used as a reference point to measure a fixed position relative to a moving body. Some of the first RC aircraft to need some kind of stabilization were RC helicopters, specifically in the yaw axis, where slight changes in throttle, blade pitch, translational movement, or wind could send the heli spinning out of control too fast for manual correction. Gyros, similar to what I previously described, were used to measure the changes in yaw axis and stabilize the aircraft. A set of heavy, spinning disks created the gyroscope. The position was measured using either magnetic or connecting switches. That measured change in angular acceleration—when the aircraft started to yaw—would mechanically increase or decrease the pitch of the blades on the tail rotor before the helicopter spun out of control. A flybar on an RC helicopter is also another form of a gyroscopic stabilizer. Don’t go looking for big spinning disks on your multirotor controller board, though. A simpler way of measuring changes in motion today is called MEMS (micro-electromechanical systems). As the name implies, these are tiny mechanical measuring devices etched in silicon using piezoelectric-induced oscillations instead of a spinning gyro to measure angular accelerations. Mind blowing!
This is an image of a MEMS gyroscope taken by an electron microscope. This specific sensor was taken out of an iPhone, but is similar to those found in flight controller boards. Photo credit: IFixit.com. Image used under a Creative Commons license: www.ifixit.com/Guide/Image/meta/MeunHawo54qPRY5S.
To put it more simply, just as a spinning disk likes to stay fixed in a certain axis, a vibrating bar wants to vibrate in its current plane and will resist being rotated or moved out of its position. By vibrating a tiny comblike structure using electricity, changes in how fast that comb vibrates and how much it vibrates can be detected and used to measure changes in external accelerations. There are many kinds of MEMS gyros, and I encourage you to look up the technology if you wish to learn more about them. They are truly fascinating. These new sensors started becoming available to consumers in the late 1990s and early 2000s. They were smaller and lighter than any of the mechanical predecessors. RC helicopters started using them, allowing for smaller helicopters. Later on, more gyros were added to sense changes in all three axes, creating flybarless helicopters.
When MEMS gyros came out, old physical gyroscopes were replaced with small, lightweight boxes that didn’t use much power and were more accurate.
At roughly the same time, people were taking single-axis RC helicopter yaw gyros and orienting, wiring, mixing, soldering, and hacking them together to make the first stabilization systems for RC multirotors. What was interesting about multirotors was that you could mix together a few ESCs and get the throttle, pitch, roll, and yaw controls working without gyros, but they were impossible to fly without some kind of stabilization because of the inherent instability in the design. These makeshift, cobbled-together stabilizers were crude and limited in their customizability. It didn’t take long, though, for people to start using the new MEMS gyros on their own and making dedicated flight control and stabilization boards for multirotors, but there was a problem. Gyros can only measure changes in motion; they can’t tell up from down. MEMS gyros also drift, losing their accuracy throughout the duration of a flight. If you had a multirotor with only gyros, you would still have to manually hover it in place and constantly trim it out to get it to fly level. The solution was to use another MEMS sensor called an accelerometer, which can be similar to the construction of the aforementioned MEMS gyro, but is tuned to measure linear acceleration instead of angular acceleration. An accelerometer can measure the force of gravity in all three axes, and with some trigonometry, can determine where down and up are (that’s also how your smartphone can tell what’s up and down). That information is used in conjunction with the readings from the gyros to correct for any deviations, and to add a few more stabilization modes such as horizon lock and auto-leveling. A pair of three-axis accelerometers and gyroscopes is used on almost all flight controller boards to give accurate measurements for the aircraft’s orientation. Later, fixed-wing aircraft began using gyros and controller boards, too. These helped more complicated and smaller models become easier to control and more resistant to windy conditions. Now you can find many RTF or BNF (Bind-N-Fly) airplanes from companies such as Horizon Hobby (horizonhobby.com) and HobbyKing (hobbyking.com) that have built-in stabilization systems. You can even buy RC receivers with three-axis gyros and accelerometers built in! Stabilization systems are also used in 3-D aerobatic RC aircraft. They help the airplane be more stable and easier to control while performing maneuvers such as hovering, knife-edge, flat spins, general flight in high wind, etc. Of course, this has brought up the discussion of when it is fair to use stabilization.
This is the first flight controller board that I purchased and flew with. There are three silver boxes on the front. Those are the MEMS gyroscopes on their axes of orientation.
During any kind of aerobatics or racing competition with fixed-wing aircraft, using some kind of stabilization to aid in an airplane’s performance could be inappropriate. On the other hand, multirotors for racing have to use stabilizers to fly, and the settings that each racer chooses to use are indicative to his or her individual skills and flying style. Although this could be the topic of an entirely different article, these same systems that might be considered cheating by many, allow beginner pilots to learn more quickly and get past some of the frustration of learning to fly RC. Some newer trainer airplanes, such as the Horizon Hobby Apprentice, even have ground-avoidance sensors and a built-in autopilot system that can fly the airplane for you if you lose control. Now, instead of hitting the trainer switch like what is done when using a buddy box, the airplane can self-correct and give you back the controls! This technology ultimately means that the hobby is more accessible to people who use these new beginner airplanes. These same people can then begin other projects in the hobby that might not need stabilization. Regardless, stabilization will be an integral part of shaping what RC will look like in the future, and I’m excited about the possibilities!
Article:
Comments
Park Pilot Reader (not verified)
WOW, Fascinating stuff.
Thu, 01/11/2018 - 14:37WOW, Fascinating stuff.
John Doyle (not verified)
Stabilization systems
Thu, 01/11/2018 - 14:41Excellent article, short and concise. Having flown RC since in 1970, (48 years) I'm looking forward to flying this spring using a stabilizing receiver. It sure makes sense flying on those windy weather days.
Park Pilot Reader (not verified)
Wow
Thu, 01/11/2018 - 15:30Wow
Dave Gierke, AM... (not verified)
R/C Duration Record flights
Thu, 01/11/2018 - 15:57Great article Mr. Weakley!
I have a desire to break Maynard Hill's R/C duration record of approximately 40 hours by using a highly specialized 4-stroke cycle engine that uses a naphtha/toluene clean burning fuel. The spark ignition engine has been optimized for maximum efficiency and burns the fuel at less than one fluid ounce per hour at 0.10 bhp (16 inch propeller @ 3200 rpm); all that's needed to fly the Eplier airfoil equipped model at 35 mph. Since the airplane is limited to a gross takeoff weight of approximately 11 pounds, the airframe is extremely light weight. With a wingspan of 12 feet, the tractor engine, shoulder wing, T-tail design by the late Andy Lennon, weighs only 4 pounds (without the engine).
The engine and airframe are not the problem. Flying at night is the problem. The model is designed to be flown visually via radio control, but nighttime is another matter. Since my goal is to exceed 100 hours in the air, that's 4 days and 4 nights!
So, does anyone out there have any bright ideas as to how to utilize a stabilization system to achieve these nighttime hours? The engine and fuel delivery system (fuel injection) is ready. The airplane is almost ready to fly - it needs to be covered.
Dave Gierke
GUy Nicholas (not verified)
GPS fligth
Thu, 05/03/2018 - 18:50Dave, take a look at the subsection here labeled, "path planner" https://librepilot.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/LPDOC/pages/12058726/GPS+Fl...
Regards, Guy
--Oz-- (not verified)
Pixhawk flight controller
Fri, 05/04/2018 - 02:08Pixhawk flight controller and mission planner ground control station. You can by many different versions, but this is best bang for buck, just be sure to wire the gps module correctly https://www.ebay.com/itm/PX4-Pixhawk-Lite-V2-4-6-32Bits-Open-Source-Flig... Look on rcg for threads pertaining to pixhawk, lots of good help over there.
Wendell C. Meie... (not verified)
Long endurance flights
Fri, 05/04/2018 - 15:44COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf) equipment is currently available at reasonable prices that will meet your needs. The problem is the FAA regulations, that prohibit night and BLOVS (Beyond Visual Line Of Sight) operations for people flying under the "Model Airplane" rules. You might be able to get an exemption to make your intended flight at one of the sUAS approved ranges. Since you are interested in endurance rather than distance, a simple racetrack pattern of repeating waypoints at or below 400 feet above ground level would suffice. That wouldn't require much airspace.
If you would like to discuss this subject further, give me your phone number and I will call you.
John konn (not verified)
mutirotors
Thu, 01/11/2018 - 16:04More how to setting up multirotor flight controllers
Dave Scott (not verified)
Gyro's
Thu, 01/11/2018 - 16:20There are a couple of young guys at the Apollo field in LA who can fly a small multirotor without any gyro stabilization. Likewise years ago I was flying a glow powered helicopter around the circuit without gyro's.
--Oz-- (not verified)
Link to info on guys flying a quad w/o a gyro please, tia
Fri, 05/04/2018 - 02:10Link to info on guys flying a quad w/o a gyro please, tia
Dave (not verified)
Stablization systems have caused a lot of trouble for r/c flying
Thu, 01/11/2018 - 19:23Stabilization systems have caused a lot of trouble for the hobby of r/c flying. Too many inexperienced rogue operators, if you use stabilization in most cases, you are not really a pilot, you are an operator merely pointing the craft rather than actually flying it. The only exception is when they are used in traditional R/C helicopters. These comments are my own opinion of course, others may not feel the same way. Now, because of these stabilization systems, even traditional fixed wing radio control airplanes (that have been flown for decades!) are classified as sUAS the same as multi-rotors that have semi to fully autonomous capability. There should be one set of rules/laws for model aircraft (to me, models don't use stabilization or first person view capability) and one set of rules/laws for 'drones'/FPV.
Andy Bush (not verified)
Brilliant article
Thu, 01/11/2018 - 20:50What a well written, clear and highly informative article. Thank you for explaining the subject and doing it so well. I go back to when we tried to stabilize hovering with counter rotating blade on rubber powered helicopters from Woolworths at 9d or 9 old UK pennies, through to current yaw stabilized helicopters, and briefly a drone, but did not know until today how the stabilizer worked.
Park Pilot Reader (not verified)
How Stabilization systems in
Thu, 01/11/2018 - 21:29How Stabilization systems in RC work with Gyros
Mark Moran (not verified)
Stabilazation
Fri, 01/12/2018 - 08:29Being a newcomer to RC, my first airplane has a stabilizing system and has been a real help in getting me started. It has saved my plane many times and is especially helpful when landing. I regularly turn it off for airobatics as necessary and fly with off almost all the time. Less broken plane equals more flying time. Simulators are great too.
phil collett (not verified)
best buy for
Fri, 01/12/2018 - 10:13I am looking for GPS system that can have ground-avoidance sensors along with built-in autopilot system that can fly the airplane for you if and when you lose control. Looking for
best price to provide safety and being able to enjoy flying.
Beth P.Secrtear... (not verified)
Learning
Fri, 01/12/2018 - 10:44FLY! I always wanted to be the human stand off the runway and controlling that airplane.
I watched and listened to my then husband {who sadly passed away recently} and his flying buddies! I learned to speak some of the flight language. I embedded myself into their hobby by cooking for them on Thursday Nights! Hot Dogs, Hamburgers, & all that goes with them. The GUYS were great! Sometimes I would order fried Chicken from Dieberg's, make a salad or buy potatoe salad, etc. My Kitty Jar was always full & sometimes overflowing! Any excess funds were turned into the Club's Treasurer. It was there if I needed it. My husband bought an Apprentice! He and the GUYS helped me learn
to fly! I was in 7th Heaven! Fast Forward to the present. I still Fly, and have been voted in to my role of an officer of the club. MY Guys were there for me when Ed passed away, and still there for me today! My Guys are Family, and I love them one and all!!!!
john pangburn (not verified)
history
Sat, 01/13/2018 - 16:12I was on the launch crew for the Atlas F in the air force. I knew nothing about mems. Our guidance system used only gyroscopes and acelerometers. Thanks for the new information.
Lew Morrill (not verified)
Stabilization systems and how they work
Mon, 01/15/2018 - 10:05Great article. Written very well at the right level to help a novice like me understand what these are and how they work.
It seems that newcomers to our hobby starting with a "stabilized" model often have trouble making the transition to un-stabilized flight after relying on the safe mode to support their early flights. Do others see this same problem and how is it best overcome? Might make a good article if this is a common concern.
Tariq Azhar (not verified)
Physical positioning of stabelization device.
Fri, 02/08/2019 - 08:16Please guide about the physical positioning of the stabilization device on a fixed wing plane. how the flight of plane will be impacted if device itself is not balanced.
or how we should place/balance the device on plane as what i got from the above article the device will ever stabilize itself and we have to use this function to stabilize the flight of the plane
Mitchel (not verified)
b17 stabilizer
Mon, 04/26/2021 - 19:15is there any stabilization system out there that would work for a 4 engine bomber build?
Keith Matthews (not verified)
Manned MultiRotor Vehicle
Mon, 06/28/2021 - 12:28What Stabilization system is used in manned multirotor vehicles ?
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