What is Airmode? | BETAFLIGHT WITH AIR MODE EXPLAINED
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- čas přidán 29. 06. 2024
- Betaflight introduced something called "air mode," but few people seem to really understand what it does. Air Mode increases command authority at low throttle. It's actually not that complicated, so let's break it down.
5 years later and youre still helping new guys! cant thank you enough josh!
in few words...with low throttle and sharp movements it increases throttle temporary to do the movement fast.... ;) thanks for your explanation...
Great way of putting it.
I never understood while watching stick movement videos how someone could roll the copter at zero throttle, so that is air mode its a cheating :)
I wouldn't call it cheating. It's the only way to achieve that kind of movement. Also, it isn't exactly easy to do some of the tricks at the speed some people are doing them. As well, your PID's have a big roll in it. If you have poorly tuned PID's the quad won't roll or pitch really fast so you get slow flips and rolls ect. If you go back about 3 years and watch some of the free style guys on youtube, like Charpu or Mr Steel you will see their rolls and flips are slower. That is because even 2-3 years ago the PID controllers weren't as good as they are now. As well the tuning of PID's was not as well defined as they are now. Also you will notice that their vid seems a bit jerky compared to more recent vids.
This video is 3yrs old and the best explanation of air mode I've encountered to date. Thanks Mr.B
In 2020, the situation hasn't changed. As the saying goes, All's well thats Bardwell.
@@YASYTU Watching in the future (2022) best explanation available still!
2023!!
2024 😎
EVERY TIME I search for anything drone related, here you are, Josh. I'd say it's getting annoying but you're always so dang informative and clear.
Perfect explaination!
I was personally tired explaining the difference between idle up and saying that people are throwing away some throttle and still have scenarios where you lose some authority.
+Boris B. Okay, with your blessing, then!
Possibly a candidate for post 1 of the betaflight thread?
Yes of course!
+Boris B. BorisB, still can't tell you enough, airmode has doubled my enjoyment of flying acro. Thankyou
+Perceivedshift Same with me, instantly fell in love with airmode. Boris rocks! :)
+Boris B. Thank you, Boris B! I love air mode on my QAV250 - it makes those long, high loops sooo much longer and smoother!
really loving this channel. Your so good at explaining all of these things that would normally confuse most of us. Keep up the great work!
+MTL Racing Will do!
Great explanation! I knew what it was doing for me but never understood how, this is an awesome way of showing exactly what is happening; thank you.
Just wanted to thank Joshua from the bottom of my heart for being the man he seems to be and shows that he is on his channel. He is the first CZcams personally that actually took the time to truly help me figure out what I was doing wrong without referring me to some obscure video or site. You have earned a true fan and soon to be patron. Keep up the good work sir!
excellent explanation. Thanks for making this (nearly a year ago haha)
You spoke primarily about error induced by input (stick movement) and only touched on outide inducers of error. Air mode effectively improves the I term at low throttle as well. Effectively you can reduce the I gain an have very stable low throttle angle hold with Air Mode.
Especially now that flight controllers have 2DOF, theres even more that can be said about this.
I'd love to hear all your thoughts on this as well as the improvements that have been made to air mode (such as preventing "freakouts" on landing)
Thanks again Joshua for always informative videos
Excellent explanation of _how_ AirMode does what it does! Also appreciate the bit about jumping on landings. I noticed this, but wasn't sure why it was happening. Thank you!
+Brainstorm Very welcome.
I love that these old videos are still so educational. I had it in my head from years of other people saying that airmode was just that the PID controller stays active when the throttle is cut. Which isn't quite what happens. This video brought it back! Thanks JB!
I know this video was posted almost 1 1/2 years ago; but I am just getting started in multi-rotors and have a lot to learn. The tricky part is that I do not know anyone that can help me understand all of the programming/setup aspects. You did a great job of explaining it on paper and making it very simple. Thanks!
Hi Joshua, really nice explanation. I really like all this stuff since I'm a coder and are really into all this RC-Stuff I love how all this comes together and let these little thingys fly so well!
Incredibly helpful video! Thank you very much for creating this kind of quality content!
Yet another brilliant video and now I finally understand air mode! Many thanks good sir.
Very good job explaining air mode. I thought that I understood what it did but I was wrong and your video totally cleared it up. Thanks!
Definitely the best and most explaining video on this subject.
Just a side note, manual focus is your friend.
This makes so much sense, beginner pilot here, I was really confused as to why my quad was bouncing like a basketball when I try to land even though my landing wasn't as bad in simulation. This makes total sense. I'll probably stick to air mode off for indoor flying. I did watch your landing in airmode video too and I'll practice that outdoors too. Thanks for the detailed explanation. 😁
Interesting as always, learned again from you, keep it up and happy flying!
I have watched a lot of your videos now and you are a genius. you must spend hundreds of hours on this stuff. im completely new to the technology. I am an old time flyer that learned you could fly a brick with a big enough motor. I love this stuff and I will continue to watch
Regarding a flying brick, sure you are referring to this Flite Test video: czcams.com/video/bns5x4pvl5Y/video.html
If you haven't seen that, then you're in for a treat.
This was very helpful. When airmode first exploded into the world there was a ton of hype around what it did. Also, as it developed, I know that the definition has evolved. It's been a confusing topic in my circles. I always just stood by my idle up function and was rather agnostic about whether airmode was really doing much; at least for me and my flying. Very recently, I've felt a handling difference with airmode on. I think that started with 2.2 but haven't taken the time to understand why. ---- TLDR ---- Makes a lot of sense now. thanks.
+12gaugeAngel If you use idle up, you will feel less difference from air mode. The real advantage of air mode is that the "set point" can go down when the sticks are centered, giving increased hang time inverted compared to idle up.
OMG you are a excellent teacher, the FTV community is so lucky to have you. Thanks for the great videos.
You don't fully understand a topic until you can explain it to someone else. As far as I can tell, you are the only person in the youtube/drone world that understands Air Mode! Now why I didn't just google "bardwell air mode" sooner, that's on me!
As always in all your videos,your explination's are easy to understand.Thanks
If you aren't a teacher or instructor you should be... great job!
mike phillips He is a teacher. It's just that his classroom is a CZcams channel. I've actually spent more time actively listening to and learning from him than than just about any of the formal classroom instructors I've ever had. With around fifty thousand people following him that's a big class. But if your point was just that he's got a knack for explaining things in a way people can understand, I totally agree. Screw formal academics though. We non-nerd/aspiring drone hobbyists need him!
He's not a teacher, but he plays one on the internet.
When someone starts his videos with "You're going to learn something today", his intention and odience is quite clear.
Great video. Really appreciate this kind of videos. You help the community keep up with all the new things : )
+sulan91 I do what I can. Glad it's useful.
Excellent explanation. Thank you for making this video!
Good explanation - thanks for the video! Looks like I need to start using Airmode.
Wonderful explanation, thank you Joshua! Going to check out the rest of your channel now. :)
+More Luck Than Judgement Enjoy!
huge fan of these educational vids, great job !
+michael lee Thanks much! Glad to be of service.
Very very VERY nice explaination! Big thanks to Boris for inventing this and thank you for explaining!
+Thieu S We make a good team, Boris and me. Every so often, he comes up with something brilliant, and then I understand it well enough to explain it to the masses. I guess that makes him Wozniak and me Jobs?
cool explanation. now I think I understand it better. Not having problems with landings - but I use a throttle to 0 switch and I also disarm the motors instantly on ground contact.
+RCSchim Same here. There is still a small bit of surging on landings, but nothing like the crazy flyaway behavior that used to be the case when air mode first was released. I think Boris has done some cleanup on the feature.
Brilliant explanation, thank you for sharing!
After your explanation, it got really easy to understand this feature.
Thanks Josh for such a fantastic and intuitive explanation! Would be great if you could do some uploads giving the same treatment to some of the other features of Cleanflight/Betaflight, such as the various rates and expo's that users can set.
+Melvyn Bargh Will do, but only as I feel like I understand them well enough to break them down.
A fellow lefty! An ah ha moment to be sure. Just had this happen to me. I will never take off in idle up mode again. A gentle breeze cost me a cracked camera casing. Still works but now I know why. Your the guru of guru's.
+Kyle Killorin Whatever works for you. I leave air mode on all the time, but I have stopped using idle up entirely since air mode came about.
Another great explanation video Josh!
+David Martin Glad you liked it!
Will point lots of people to it when they ask "how does Airmode work?"
Please do!
Perfect explanation, thank you!
Always more information than we deserve. :-)
Thanks for the explanation. That makes a lot of sense! I stopped using airmode not long after trying it and reverted to just idle up - this vid has made me want to try it again. If fact, I think I'll configure it now!!
+BigSam IMO, air mode is superior to idle up, but to each their own.
+Joshua Bardwell After re-trying airmode, I totally agree! The difference in authority at low throttle was really noticeable. Thanks for making me try it again. Now I'm thinking I should try playing with roll_yaw_cam_mix_degrees 😃
Thank you very much for this detailed explanation! It was very helpful for a newbie like me. Best regards from Germany!! :-)
Great explanation. Very well done.
I just wanted to say thanks for all the knowledge I just got in to quads adout five months ago and I have spent countless hours on youtube. you and a small handful of guys and gals really no what your talking about! "Hold fast"
Explained well! No wonder my minimum throttle doesn't control as well as I would like. Air mode is worth trying now!
+Michael Steele DEFINITELY. Raising min_throttle will increase how fast the motors are spinning when you are at idle, but here's the thing... it WON'T increase the authority between the down-spinning and up-spinning motors.
Really good and simple explanation, made perfect sense to me! Also Air Mode is available in Cleanflight as of v1.12.0 (20th Feb) for those not using Betaflight. I need to start remembering to disable it before I land though, but not had any mishaps yet.
+Sean Duffy Thanks for pointing out that it is also in Cleanflight. I wasn't sure, and didn't check.
Very good explanation! Thank you!!
Now I understand why guys (today... 3 years later) are setting airmode to a switch so that they can turn it off before attempting a wall bump, rail slide, or ground skid. Great explanation!
Great explanation, thank you!
Good explanation!! Thx again! Learned something new
Good stuff, well explained!
Very well explained! Thanks!
Awesome explanation! Might be a good thing to put on a switch where you can turn it off when coming in for a landing.
All my questions leads to your answers - thanks
Thanks so much for this Basically Airmode = Floating idle up!
awesome , looking forward to upgrading my CC3D board to Beta flight with Air mode. Now I understand how those guys on youtube can pull off those float stunts. very cool. Thanks . Now a Subscriber.
amazing explanation! thanks a lot
Well done sir :)
You are quickly becoming my favorite drone CZcamsr. I didn't like you at first because you came across as arrogant but the more I watch, the more you grow on me.
Excellent! Well explained, sir. :)
thanks, Mr.B most helpful video
great explanation, thanks!
Great video!
Thank you so much, great instruction.
very clear description !! 👍👍
first time i'm having trouble following mr bardwell ... MOAR COFFEE!!!!
wow, this is an excellent lesson. thanks.
Super explanation, thanks 👍
Thanks for great explanation
Great explanation, thanks mate :)
Glad it was helpful.
Joshua thanks for clearing that up
Air Mode it's not the same As idle up
Have a nice weekendt
+Mitz Pebre That's the gist of it!
Very clear! Thanks!
completely makes sense. 1 question though, so how do you land the drone on airmode? thanks
+ricksternz Same as always. Just have to be smoother about it to keep it from hopping about. The days when it would absolutely flip out and go crazy if you had air mode on are gone. Air mode has been tamed a bit. Get close to the ground, lower throttle gradually. Cut throttle and disarm when you nudge the ground or when you feel that you are close to the ground.
Stick arming makes this a lot harder though since it is not instantaneous. I highly recommend switch arming.
Thank you again bardwell. Just downloaded betaflight 4.4 and air mode was one of the mode set ups and I'm used to just removing angle on all my quads so I don't accidentally enable it. And I thought what the hell is air mode get that out of here lol. Well needles to say my quad was swaying everywhere and could not figure out why until I watched this. Just clicked permanently enable air mode so going to try it out now fingers crossed it fixed my issue. Almost 100 percent sure it did
to land cut direct the motos (arming switch down before touching the ground ;) very well explained ;) thank you ;)
Hey man great video, totally makes sense! I was wondering ive heard other FPV pilots who fly inside for cinematic video say its good to turn Airmode off for indoor flying, would you also recommend or advice this?
Ah, ok! So I van cover the complete range, allocating the flight modes. Great! Thanks!
+Ignacio Olave or just enable it as a feature in later Betaflight versions.
Hi. Thanks for the video!, But I think I got lost somewhere. Could we say, that Airmode could be as to have a "sonar" in order to provide more stability to motors, ESCs, and of course to all the Quad? This was my first question. The second one, is how does it work with all the Flight Modes? I mean, do I include it as a complete "flight mode" covering the min_Throttle to max_throttle range, living together with Angle, Horizon and also Acro? Thank you in advanced. Regards.
+Ignacio Olave it's not a flight mode. It's a change to the mixer logic. It works in all flight modes.
Thanks for this explanation.
Great explanation. makes sense now.
When Airmode is ON, the power consumption is a bit higher?
Could you accomplish this with some mixing used on the radio allocated by a separate flight/rate mode?
you're awesome !!!!!! that's a very good explanation !
Good teacher...Thanks a lot..!
Great explanation ;)
Hello Joshua,
Thanks for all your good video's. I have a question. Is it okay to have two modes going at once like air mode and horizon mode? Is that advisable?
Yes it's fine, but some modes are mutually exclusive. Like if you have Horizon and Angle on at the same time, I think Horizon will take precedence.
Why I've never had problems like unexpected flip etc. while landing in airmode? To tell the truth - your videos is the first place I've heard about this trouble. Full season in airmode with betaflight and nothing like this.
Brilliant explanation Thx.
joshua, thanks a lot for another great valuable video. i really like your channel and learned a lot from you even though I am in FPV for a while.
i have one question concerning air mode: I do not understand, why a copter on the ground either with props on and holding it or without props just sitting on my table shows same behavior:
with airmode activated and giving a quick throttle punch, the motors are spinning pretty fast but do not calm down anymore.
doing the same without airmode motor speed is going down immediatly again after the throttle punch.
how come?
thanks a lot and best regards from vienna, austria!
christian
Really valuable video. And I met the same situations with yours...
I get the same issue. Fairly new Wizard x220. Without props it's just scary. You raise and hold the throttle just a little and 2 of my motors, 2 & 3 I believe, just slowly increase in speed. Or when I move the pitch/roll/yaw around it goes all nuts and stays crazy, which that's probably due to the PIDs wanting to go to the virtual position that it thinks it should be in even though it's just sitting on the table.
I had it go nuts while it the air the first 10 seconds and smacked the ground. Shorted an ESC. Just replaced it with a v2 racerstar. Updated and tuned it, seems okay now.The DRL Simulator is definitely different. Seems to hold throttle a lot better.
The gyros are sensing tiny vibrations in the quad, and when they try to compensate for them nothing happens because there are no props on. So the pid controller spins the motors faster and faster to compensate until they are at full throttle. The pid controller doesn't think that the quad is where it should be.
@@thomastommy9864 does the wizard 220 have an air mode?
Very good explained :-)
thank you, very well explained.
Excellent explain. So air mode affect most when throttle is too low or too high? Thanks.
Damn great explanation. Keep it up.
Awesome thank you...... Knowledge is power 👊😎👍
+Dis Hayn Too true!
Fantastic explanation. I have a question relating to the airmode_activate_throttle parameter which is set to 1350 by default. As I am using a switch to activate airmode does this parameter has any effect at all? If it does should I lower this value as whilst performing loops I keep throttle to very minimum for slightly longer during drops and performing maneuvers during aggressive descends? (I also have enabled the motors to spin when armed). Thanks!
airmode_activate only applies to the first time the throttle goes above this value. After that, airmode is on all the time. So that value won't affect your power loops at all.
Made it very easy to understand! One question though.... as far as flying goes, a quad with airmode on, vs one with it off but with idle up. What would be the difference? Any benefit in running it either way?
I prefer air mode because it only raises the throttle set-point when additional authority is needed, whereas idle up raises it all the time.
I finally get it. Thank you.
This was well explained.
Great video, I kinda knew what it did, just not how it did it, now it makes sense in my tiny mind.
Acro+ on the other hand I have not a single clue what that is, if you ever feel like shedding light on that it would be appreciated.
+LeakyMeat Acro+ disconnects the PID controller from the mixer, and basically puts the stick inputs directly through to the mixer with reduced stabilization. As a result, you get much faster flips and rolls because the PID controller is not trying to manage the exact angular rate of the roll.
+Joshua Bardwell Ah right, thanks for that explaination, sounds like its not for someone of my skill level.
so when you do a roll and kill the throttle.. does do the motors stop spinning? or is that something different?
Air mode will keep the motors spinning at zero throttle. Air mode overrides motor_stop.
One question. Last part when you talk about why drone flips on landing. Is that with air and angle, or just air ? Sounds to me that just air won't do that in acro ?
It may also do it in angle.
Airmode understood perfectly!! hm. Ah so 'Airmode' has no place in a single motor Fixed Wing??? Keep up the good work, thanks.