New app: TelloFPV for Android

[volate!lo]

Overall seems positive, but youtube autotranslated CC fails either with understanding Italian or translation into my language... unless the guy really talks about "power cabbage", "arming the drone" and "flying frigates"

On the more serious side, I have tested the app with Android 6 on Nexus 7, both with on-screen controls and a cheap USB only controller (identifies as "Shanwan gamepad". Works great. There were some problems with keeping flight level, but it may be due to complicated environment (not-very-well lit indoors, with a lot of furniture); the drone was slowly drifting up, even over the ceiling limit set to 2m.

Ah, and a flight log states "max distance from home" as 98m and total distance covered over 2km, during 8 min in six flights. No way My office is about 40m2 and I fly slowly and carefully.

One commet regarding altitude: If tello drifts up it could of course be some erratic stick input by TelloFPV but I doubt so. It seems that Tello has trouble with keeping the altitude especially indoors with not enough light. The altitude limt is sent to the drone only once, and then the firmware takes over to ensure the drone doesn't ascend height than allowed.
If Tello climbs higher than your 2m limit its a clear indicator that Tello sensors are confused about its current altitude. Nothing I can do.

Flight log will be fixed today.

 

[volate!lo]

This weekend the weather will be very nice to fly drones in Portugal. I can make the test you are asking for and record the videos.

Meanwhile I can send you the videos I recorded today (both with TelloFPV and DuRecorder). It would be good if you give me an FTP address to upload the video files. I also can try to upload them to Youtube but it will be my first time doing it.

Regarding the controller indicator, I understand what you wrote but if I selected the onscreen joysticks on "Student controller" and the indicator showed "S", and if I was controlling the drone with the Flypad. I thought if the indicator shows" S" it should mean that I was using the Onscreen commands ("Student controller") and not the Flypad ("Masters controller").
But do not bother with it. It's working and that's what it's all about!

Anyway, as you advise, I will start using the onscreen as master and the external controller as student. Just to override the external controller with the onscreen joysticks in case of an emergency.

Great; i will send you my FTP box in a direct conversation!

I will double check the controller status marker logic. Maybe some bug in there.

 

[volate!lo]

May I ask about the VR you intend to release? I have the Gear VR and in the stock Tello app, you get double vision because of the bad implementation (I assume) and you cant adjust the Gear VR "width". In Drone VR Plus, the adjustment is perfect and I can get it to a perfect picture through the goggles, but I cant fly the **** thing because of the lack of T1D support. AGH! This seems to be the holy grail Ive been looking for...I really hope Thank you so much.

I was going to do adjustable interpupilar distance, vertical position and image size. But since I have to re-do it anyway I may go for a real VR solution like the Google cardboard API (which also includes distortion correction). Anyway it will be useable and not like the stock Ryze app.

 

[spamaro]

Hi,
Is there a way to see the mapping of the controller on screen. When i move controller stick, the onscreen stick don't move at the same time and it is not possible to see if the controller is maped correctly...(maybe I do something wrong)

I tryed the app with gamesir T1S, it seems to work (hard to have full test in a room, bad weather in France too ;-) )
I tryed the app with Flysky, the mapping is not correct, Tello crashed because of a big drift just after takeoff. But i can't analyse the problem without see controller position in the app.

I had few application crashs when selecting the controller (student, master). I have samsung S7.

Thank you

 

[volate!lo]

Hi,
Is there a way to see the mapping of the controller on screen. When i move controller stick, the onscreen stick don't move at the same time and it is not possible to see if the controller is maped correctly...(maybe I do something wrong)

I tryed the app with gamesir T1S, it seems to work (hard to have full test in a room, bad weather in France too ;-) )
I tryed the app with Flysky, the mapping is not correct, Tello crashed because of a big drift just after takeoff. But i can't analyse the problem without see controller position in the app.

I had few application crashs when selecting the controller (student, master). I have samsung S7.

Thank you

The simple axis mapping (left stick x axis translates to YAW) can be done in the "controller => mapping". There is also a button for each axis to reverse the stick.

After that basic mapping you can defined the more detailed RC tuning in "Tune controls". There you can not only set deadzone, rate and expo but also test the input vs output. Select the controller, select the axis and move the stick. A blue button moves across the input/output graph. If the controller report centered as 0% then the blue dot should be in the center of the graph when sticks are centered.

The curve in the I/O graph typically goes from left bottom to top right. If the axis has been reversed it goes from left top to bottom right.

You can also see the stick output in the debug overlay (main Settings => Expert => debug).
Values are -100% to + 100% with 0% center.
Yaw + = turn right, - = left
Throttle + = up, - = down
Pitch + = forward, -= back
Roll + = bank right, - = bank left




What type of application crashes happened? TelloFPV stopped& closed due to errors?

 

[spamaro]

The simple axis mapping (left stick x axis translates to YAW) can be done in the "controller => mapping". There is also a button for each axis to reverse the stick.

After that basic mapping you can defined the more detailed RC tuning in "Tune controls". There you can not only set deadzone, rate and expo but also test the input vs output. Select the controller, select the axis and move the stick. A blue button moves across the input/output graph. If the controller report centered as 0% then the blue dot should be in the center of the graph when sticks are centered.

The curve in the I/O graph typically goes from left bottom to top right. If the axis has been reversed it goes from left top to bottom right.

You can also see the stick output in the debug overlay (main Settings => Expert => debug).
Values are -100% to + 100% with 0% center.
Yaw + = turn right, - = left
Throttle + = up, - = down
Pitch + = forward, -= back
Roll + = bank right, - = bank left




What type of application crashes happened? TelloFPV stopped& closed due to errors?

Thanks a lot for your help !
I tested the flysky, only the yaw is not detected. Is there a way to enlarge listened input port ?

I didn't reproduce yet crash during controller selection and i had other bug : when i went into tune setting and after controller setting, sometime the controller setting screen was empty (white). I didn't reproduce it systematically.

 

[volate!lo]

Thanks a lot for your help !
I tested the flysky, only the yaw is not detected. Is there a way to enlarge listened input port ?

I didn't reproduce yet crash during controller selection and i had other bug : when i went into tune setting and after controller setting, sometime the controller setting screen was empty (white). I didn't reproduce it systematically.

When you map a drone axis (say Yaw) TelloFPV assigns the first stick axis (say left stick X) that shows significant input. Significant input means more than 80% stick (I see thats too much, just reduced this value to 50% for v0.7).

Could it be that you have a setting inside your Flysky controller that limits the controller's output for this particular stick to a value below these 80% required?

These crashes are strange. I will see if I can find a reason for these.

 

[spamaro]

When you map a drone axis (say Yaw) TelloFPV assigns the first stick axis (say left stick X) that shows significant input. Significant input means more than 80% stick (I see thats too much, just reduced this value to 50% for v0.7).

Could it be that you have a setting inside your Flysky controller that limits the controller's output for this particular stick to a value below these 80% required?

These crashes are strange. I will see if I can find a reason for these.

Thank you again to take time to reply me. There is no particular stick value in the setting controller.
I tested the flysky with gamepad tester app, the throttle is detected on the "Z Axis", and the yaw on the "RY axis" (Nothing is on the RX axis) Maybe it can explain that issue ?

 

[imguy]

I was going to do adjustable interpupilar distance, vertical position and image size. But since I have to re-do it anyway I may go for a real VR solution like the Google cardboard API (which also includes distortion correction). Anyway it will be useable and not like the stock Ryze app.

OK, now Im excited! Thanks mate. Brilliant - very much love this app - the idea, the implementation. I have a 6 year old and being able to take over is just an awesome, awesome idea.

 

[volate!lo]

Thank you again to take time to reply me. There is no particular stick value in the setting controller.
I tested the flysky with gamepad tester app, the throttle is detected on the "Z Axis", and the yaw on the "RY axis" (Nothing is on the RX axis) Maybe it can explain that issue ?

Standard mapping for controller sticks under Android is:
left x: AXIS_X
left y: AXIS_Y
right x: AXIS_Z
right Y: AXIS_RZ

see here: Handle controller actions | Android Developers

I will put this on my list, maybe I find a viable way to handle this but this will take time. Sorry.

 

[spamaro]

Standard mapping for controller sticks under Android is:
left x: AXIS_X
left y: AXIS_Y
right x: AXIS_Z
right Y: AXIS_RZ

see here: Handle controller actions | Android Developers

I will put this on my list, maybe I find a viable way to handle this but this will take time. Sorry.

Ok, i understand, thank you.

 

[volate!lo]

OK, now Im excited! Thanks mate. Brilliant - very much love this app - the idea, the implementation. I have a 6 year old and being able to take over is just an awesome, awesome idea.

Great, exactly the use case I wanted to cover. My kids don't like huge VR goggles so maybe get a Google cardboard for him. Can be built from a $5 kit you have some small build project after Xmas!
Now we just need to get to release quality levels... Unfortunately I only bought my first Tello mid October so I'm a bit late for an Xmas release.

 

[xcrost]

Yes, the channel owner contacted me through the forum, as well as a few other fellow Tello pilots from Italy. I guess he will do another review when the first release is out.

Regarding your points:
Video: I am really interested in real world comparison of TelloFPV and aTelloPilot / Ryze Tello app in terms of video quality. From what I can tell these three Apps should now give similar quality both recording and stream.
Over here it's dark even during the day, its stormy and the amount of rain varies between bad and really bad. I can only fly inside and Tello constantly complaints about low light and wifi interference due to all the equipment here.
So I would love if someone could help me out with some outdoor flights in good light (haven't seen the sun for over a week)

It woud be very helpful if you could do a short flight with TelloFPV and another flight with Ryze Tello app or aTelloPilot, recording both with DU Recorder. Its important to use the same EV and same time of the day to get similar video feed input for the image stabilization. Also the same controller setup should be used, or no controller at all. You don't need an interference free environment, as long as the interferences are the same for both flights (bluetooth on/off, no change in nearby bluetooth or wifi sources or their use, etc).
I can give you an FTP address to upload the video files, or maybe they can be uploaded here (don't know if there is a size limit), or of course youtube if you happen to have a channel.

AP Poi lock: I broke it with v0.6. But POI Circle is smoother now Will be fixed in v0.7.
Flight log will be fixed in v0.7, too.

The controller indicator S/M shows S whenever there is a student controlelr defined and in control. The student is always in control except when you do something with the master sticks. In that case Master takes over, and retains control for 2 seconds after the last stick movement. After these 2 seconds the controls are returned to Student.
So given your setting the indicator would always be "S" unless you are doing something with the sticks (and 2 seconds after the last input).

I would use the onscreen as master and the external controller as student. That allows you to override the external controller with the onscreen joysticks anytime.
Imagine you have trouble with the external controller. Battery dead, unplugged, whatever. Your last stick input is 100% forward and the controller just stops working. Would be handy to override this with the onscreen joysticks, but that won't work if the onscreen are just student controls. The Panic button would work of course.
Once TelloFPV identifies the broken connection to the controller it will command Tello to just hover in place, and allow you controll, but that will take a few seconds. More if USB connection as Android is slow to inform about removed controllers.

I can attempt some recordings here in a bit. What EV value should be set for each APP? Auto? I can post to Youtube or you can send me the FTP. Whichever you prefer. Thanks again for all of your hard work!

 

[volate!lo]

I can attempt some recordings here in a bit. What EV value should be set for each APP? Auto? I can post to Youtube or you can send me the FTP. Whichever you prefer. Thanks again for all of your hard work!

The more videos we have to check quality issues the better.

It would be ideal to have videos of TelloFPV and the stock app / aTelloPilot in similar conditions and settings for side-by-side comparison.
Settings should be EV-Auto, "Skip corrupt frames " disabled, IFrame interval to 5 sec, Bitrate 4Mbps.
Outside is best, plus you don't have to clean the house for the audience. A minute or so for each is enough. It may be easiest if you do a 360 with each app, that will cause Tello to adjust EV-Auto values as it turns towards / away from the sun plus its easy to spot the stutter when broken frames appear.
Ideally no controller at all, just onscreen, and no nearby sources of Wifi or Bluetooth.

If you have a youtube account and are willing to use it excellent, if not drop me a line and I can give you access to my FTP server.

 

[xcrost]

Sounds good. 360 is in the plan. Wind just picked up and I haven''t flown on-screen sticks in forever but I will try. It will be real world lol

 

[volate!lo]

I know onscreen isn't idea but that would be the real world test, unless you use the same controller for stock app / aTelloPilot. Its not required to fly around, or to a nice spot. Just start, get up a few meters and do a 360, maybe a bit banking left / right.

 

[zesteves]

Great; i will send you my FTP box in a direct conversation!

I will double check the controller status marker logic. Maybe some bug in there.

Hi Volatello,

I just sent the videos I recorded today. Check your forum private messages.

All the best!

 

[volate!lo]

Hi Volatello,

I just sent the videos I recorded today. Check your forum private messages.

All the best!

Thank you! I am just downloading...

With regards to the controller indicator logic (M/S) there was a bug. Will be fixed in today's release.

 

[zesteves]

Thank you! I am just downloading...

With regards to the controller indicator logic (M/S) there was a bug. Will be fixed in today's release.

You are welcome. It was with great pleasure that I recorded the videos.

Regarding the controller indicator (M/S) I also recorded a video with that. I didn't send it you yet but I had the intention to send you later. Now you already fixed this issue. Great!

 

[volate!lo]

So what is your point of view regarding video quality between these three apps? Are we close contenders or does TelloFPV need more work?

EDIT: I just realized that these were the first "real world" videos I have seen recorded by TelloFPV. Everything else was just indoor low light with lots of interference. So again: Thank you!