Quadcopter PID explained

[@nghin4vacsf]

Your tutorial is the only one I've seen so far that removes the mystery involving PID. It gave me the needed foundation so I could go into betaflight to make changes to the PID values with confidence. Thank you very much.

[@StonyRC]

As a newbie to Quads, this was both mind-bending and extremely interesting. Many Thanks.

[@undertheradar4645]

Awesome video Andrew. I appreciate you taking the time to make this!

[@tobybaerman2296]

im glad you broke this down...i dont want a brainiack course just an explination..... excellent!!!

[@BrjanBuckmaster]

Thank you for this enlightening explanation. My challenge now is to determine what the initial values should be for a large quad I am building. I’m thinking of using the default values built into the flight controller’s firmware and then tweak the values individually, beginning with P then I and finally D until I get the stability I desire.

[@BusinessAnalyzer]

Do start with the default values then tune from there. There is really no 'template' that I have found. You could have the same flight controller model but they behave slightly differently.

[@BrjanBuckmaster]

@@BusinessAnalyzer Yeah, I found that out the hard way. Mine crashed when I changed flight modes to LAND and the motors disarmed. I am almost done repairing the damage and when it is ready to fly again, I will start with the default values and make small tweaks.

[@BusinessAnalyzer]

@@BrjanBuckmaster Ouch! I use a Frsky Taranis transmitter and programmed the flight modes into a toggle, including a toggle for the Arm and Disarm. Betasky flight controllers. I used a lot of KZbin tutorials to get all those configured back in the day. I've been away from building for a while. Maybe will get back into it in a couple years when the kiddos get older and bother me less :)

[@BrjanBuckmaster]

@@BusinessAnalyzer The damage to my Tarot was extensive. In retrospect I should have purchased a complete new frame kit rather than order replacement parts individually. It has been a long process. As I was leveling the motors, I discovered a split in one of the motor mount - don’t know if it was crash damage or if I cinched down the screws too tightly. A visual inspection revealed small cracks for in on the others so I’ve ordered replacements. I’m waiting on the two black mounts. Once they arrive and Are installed, the repairs will be complete. I intend to attach long thin dowel rods to the landing skids in order to prevent tipping over on takeoff and landing until I’m confident that it will be stable enough to control and I can land it safely manually.

[@aswinsuresh2097]

Well explained After this am able to get a clear view about pid

[@malcdickinson06]

very well explained, much easier to understand, thank you!!!

[@noobsplain]

Very well explained.

[@robinsharma7920]

Really well explained...thank u sir.❤

[@lalaneverquit]

Thankyou so much for the beautiful explanation.

[@thomasilk7]

Thank you This helps me a lot by building my autonomous gnss drone!

[@joshchambers1941]

Thanks for the description.

[@UTubeJunky]

Well, done.

[@apisxquad1732]

Different explanation in BF. At least your explanation give me some ideas what PID its all about. Thanks Andrew.

[@fiendleon]

Thanks for this video

[@datafuse32]

Nice video sr ... Can u please make a video .. explaining all the. Parts of flight control board ... Along with function ... Plz

[@AsgardStudios]

Fantastic tutorial. Cheers!

[@goodkhan5597]

very good explanation....thank you sir

[@ApmusicAbhay]

Nice

[@stephankahlau6759]

Great video!

[@propabilityfpv303]

thx for the good explanation

[@toddspeck9415]

Really good explanation of pids. Thank you very much! Wonder if you might have any tips...Running Silverware on Bwhoop pro...I'm in the Keil bug software. Learning how to adjust quads at programming level. I am getting this really crazy back and forth wobble in angle mode...It is not as bad in acro. I know that in acro it's turning off the gyro/accelerometer. I am using the b-whoop boards in my own custom builds. I have tried so many different test's adjusments...It's better. But I still have a slight wobble in acro...and its terrible in angle mode. In the stock firmware there was no wobble in angle..Bound and determined to figure this out.

[@magicmic2786]

I watched full video very well explained as I have watched others PID videos. I like your analogy's and easy to understand.

[@BusinessAnalyzer]

Thanks FPV MagicMic!

[@evanriggs1381]

Thank you!

[@tsilfidis1996]

that was really helpful GJ!!!!

[@stonedDawg]

cool! thanks for explaining! btw, why would D cause a hot motor?

[@Funcentric]

Wow, nice video. The way you're explaining it sounds like PID tuning is more about adjustments to correct the quad to become more predictable - to match stick input with what the quad does. As opposed to rates adjustment which is more about personal preference (of sensitivity of the sticks at each part of the range). Am I understanding that correctly? As far as the cycles are concerned, it sounds like PID needs to be adjusted in that exact order. e.g. loud scream, quieter scream and adjustment once loud scream is no longer heard. Correct?

[@dflash0]

I have heard the same explanations from 3 diff plp and they still dont teach you how PIDs truly affect the flight. They are teaching theory on a whiteboard. Just grab a quad and a laptop, take it to the field and demo how diff setting in Betaflight, cleanflight, etc affect the flight, flips, dives. That what I want to hear.

[@propabilityfpv303]

depends on your learning style

[@BusinessAnalyzer]

Hi Eli. Agreed as well, however, unless you have the sticks in your hand it is hard to demonstrate this. Hearing the PID explanations helped me to understand why I am getting certain wobbles during flight and how to adapt the PIDs to get a more stable flight. Check Mr. Steele (Former RoterRiot member) he has a video where he had 2 quads with the same flight controllers and the quads performed radically different. The theory helps frame the context. Large differences in control, work on the PID, for smaller vibrations during flight, work with the I and D. It's all trial and error at that point. Cheers!

[@bdok7607]

Look here its what u want... kzbin.info/www/bejne/aGjPfn6fZ86hps0

[@dlwalter]

The problem is that most quads are running PID controllers on their attitude rates, not attitude itself. Correcting attitude error is much more intuitive like in this video, when in actuality, the quad controller PID is correcting attitude rate error (deg/second of roll, pitch, and yaw)

[@santiagomoebio]

@@dlwalter Thanks for this clarification, I was thinking something was off with the explanation… the sticks do not command quad angle, they command quad rotation speed! I guess one way to see it is that the video is still valid as explanation considering that the aiming position is in constant movement (at the rate set by the stick).

[@swarnamohanchandrakanth5243]

Sir if we are equal P and I values, what will effect on drones?

[@crazysavage7840]

hey can I get the formula for the calculation of pid??

[@exorc1st995]

Still what values do what though ? 0 is turning off higher is making it work more ?

[@mcbalasubramaniam4690]

how does a pid do two motionl analysis like a roll to a particular angle and a rise to a particular altitude

[@jaideepshekhar4621]

How about all three at the same time? Pitch, Roll and Thrust.

[@Rov-qc2ti]

thx i will implement it to arduino

[@lalaneverquit]

I have one question. Is it possible to use any processor like smartphone's snapdragon, mediatek, exynos etc or PC processors like Intel or AMD processors for a Flight Controller?

[@noobFPV]

Sure. Why would you though ?

[@zx128ks]

Andrew, thanks for video. One question, when tuning P, do we need to have I and D already set? or starting with like P = 50, I = 0 and D = 0 is ok?

[@BusinessAnalyzer]

Lev Ani Some drones might wobble in flight. This can be very visible while flying the drone with FPV goggles. However, sudden forces on the drone like a gust of wind can cause erratic behaviour and a possible crash. One of my nano drones will simply flip over the moment I give it enough throttle to get into the air.

[@legolas8886]

A basic question here, the error is [Radio Input - Sensor] or [Zero level - Sensor]?

[@vickihurd8082]

legolas8886 I believe Radio Input minus Sensor is the error, as that is the error between what you wanted your result to be versus what your current actual result is.

[@vanabhilash]

Sir, Why does proportional stops at a certain threshold? What decides that threshold? And what is making the integral know that proportional has stopped and now it has to come into process.

[@justadude8716]

Math formulas.

[@djacob7]

Derivative?

[@abbeyglencircle]

Dan Jacob that extra push at the end into position

[@djacob7]

abbeyglencircle Just the spelling he got wrong

[@gazzmireful]

You mention cycles on miliseconds time frame, that seems inaccurate. If the CPU cycle rate is for example 1 GHz then a cycle lasts 1 nanosecond.

[@dlwalter]

The attitude controller software for quads is running on a loop in the microsecond to milliseconds scale which is much slower than a CPUs clock cycle.

[@احمداسدخان]

ho thank to you for good information , can have the information in pdf iam student indeed to make report to my teacher to help me in examination degree ,plc

[@fpvforever1790]

P and D are doing all the work. I seems useless.

[@twp3029]

Just use pids 66 66 69

[@vamsidharreddydalli3647]

you explanation is awesome. but can you please upload the arduino code for that.