Voko Labs

Failsafe Explainer

What your copter does when something goes wrong, from its own parameters.

  • Radio, battery, telemetry, GPS, fence, vibration, crash and motor loss: watched or not, and when
  • What it then does in each flight mode, with and without GPS, your FS_OPTIONS applied
  • What looks wrong, linked to the Setup & Tuning Guide's steps
  • ArduPilot 4.6 and 4.7, and milardu, from the code; checked in the simulator

UAV Sizing Lab

Size a copter for your mission: drag a slider and every result moves.

  • Range, endurance, headwind and reserve for your mission
  • Battery, motor and propeller models, with every chart explained
  • An optimiser for the settings you let it change
  • Checked against your flight logs; saves its power curve to your copter for the mission check

ArduPilot Starting Parameters

First-flight parameters for your copter's size, and AM32 ESC settings to match.

  • From 3″ to 28″: filters, acceleration limits, thrust curve, battery, starting PIDs
  • AM32 over DShot: RPM from the ESCs for the harmonic notch
  • Betaflight motor order for quads on request
  • Every value explained; fills in from your copter, downloads, or builds into a firmware

Parameter Compare & Migrate

Compare two ArduPilot parameter files, or move a 4.6 file to 4.7.

  • What changed and what each value means, by ArduPilot's own documentation
  • Two copters, before and after a tune, or a file against stock defaults
  • A 4.6 file as 4.7: every rename and unit change, with the rule from ArduPilot's source
  • The file that turns A into B, from the parameters you choose, for Mission Planner or a firmware build

Mission Energy Check

Can this copter fly this mission today, with this wind and this payload?

  • Flies a .waypoints mission leg by leg as ArduCopter's AUTO does
  • Energy, time and battery left per leg, with the wind and the payload drop
  • GO / NO-GO against the reserve, and the strongest wind it takes from each side
  • Uses your copter's power curve from the Sizing Lab and its .param file

Message & Error Explainer

What any ArduPilot message means and what to do, the most likely cause first.

  • Type or paste a message, or what you remember of it: arming checks, failsafes, refused modes, log error codes
  • Drop a flight log (.bin, .tlog): every message explained, the most urgent first, on a timeline of the flight
  • Each cause with how to check it and the fix; your own parameter values beside the ones it talks about
  • All 2,335 messages of Copter and Plane 4.6 and 4.7 and milardu, from the code; 546 written explanations

Motor & Prop Bench

Test each motor over USB, find the one that differs, and measure thrust.

  • RPM, current, vibration and battery from the ESCs and the flight controller, props off or on (with a checklist and a throttle cap)
  • The weak motor, bad bearing or unbalanced prop, in plain words; every chart explained
  • MOT_SPIN_ARM, MOT_SPIN_MIN, MOT_THST_EXPO and MOT_THST_HOVER from the measurements: .param or straight to the board
  • A scale's readings or a thrust stand's CSV; the thrust table for UAV Sizing Lab

ArduPilot Firmware Inspector

What is built into an ArduPilot firmware file, read without a flight controller.

  • Version, git commit and board: processor, flash, callsign
  • The defaults it applies at boot, to download or build into a new firmware
  • Its Lua scripts, board definition and other built-in files, each explained
  • Saves the firmware's board, version and callsign to your copter; its hwdef.dat goes to the wiring planner

Board & Wiring Planner

Which flight-controller port or output each device goes to.

  • Every 4.6 and 4.7 flight controller, the milardu boards, or your own hwdef.dat
  • Serial ports with DMA, flow control and defaults; outputs by timer group
  • A port for each device and outputs for the motors, with the checks
  • The parameter lines, a .param file and a wiring checklist

Radio Link Planner

How far your ExpressLRS link reaches, and whether the terrain blocks it.

  • Link budget and range for every ExpressLRS packet rate and power
  • Terrain profile with line of sight, Fresnel zone and earth curvature
  • Checks a whole mission route and finds its worst point
  • Says what would help: rate, power, antenna height

ArduPilot Setup & Tuning Guide

Step by step, from a freshly flashed flight controller to a tuned, safe copter.

  • Simple mode: 17 short steps for a common ExpressLRS and AM32 build; advanced mode: 62 steps with the alternatives and the sources
  • Checks your parameters and flight logs, or reads them from the flight controller over USB and writes a step's values back
  • The whole setup in one file, to load in Mission Planner or build into a firmware
  • Works offline at the field, with a printable checklist; ArduPilot 4.6 or 4.7
  • Shares your copter with the other tools, and hands its parameters to Compare and the Failsafe Explainer

Magnetic Field Check

Can the compass be trusted on this route, by the magnetic anomaly map?

  • The magnetic anomaly map along a .waypoints mission, a route you draw, or one place
  • How many degrees the compass is turned from the north ArduPilot assumes
  • Against ArduPilot's own limits: the pre-arm check and the EKF's field range
  • Drift on the compass alone; the anomaly on a map with borders, rivers and cities

Lua Applet Catalog

Ready-made ArduPilot Lua scripts, explained, for your SD card or firmware.

  • Every applet and driver of ArduPilot 4.6 and 4.7, explained, with the vehicle it is for
  • milardu's own scripts, marked as such, next to ArduPilot's
  • The parameters each adds, with defaults and ranges, and how to use it
  • Checks that your board can run scripts, and finds conflicts between scripts
  • A zip for the SD card, or build them into a firmware