Welcome to the AeroDrone MR4 Mk4 Getting Started Guide. Here you’ll be able to find out everything you need to know in order to fly your system safely.
Although this system is easy to use, it does have a number of advanced features that require your complete understanding to operate the vehicle safely and within regulations. We encourage you to read through this entire guide before trying to fly, so that you have a solid understanding of these features and their operation. It’s also a good idea to download or print this guide and have it with you when flying, in case you need to refer to it at any stage.
When reading through this document you’ll notice different coloured callouts that provide additional information;
These provide additional information that will be useful to read or point you to a section of the document that is relevant to what you’re reading.
These are worth reading to understand a topic further, and maybe even save some time.
Please read and understand each of these messages before moving on. If there’s something you don’t understand please contact us for clarification.
Warnings are vitally important to your safety and the safety of others. Please read and follow them carefully before completing any steps associated with them.
Most countries have regulations in place that govern the safe use of drones. These regulations are in place to not only ensure your safety, but the safety of other; aircraft, people, and property on the ground. It’s very important that you understand your countries local laws and regulations regarding the use of drones.
Australia
In Australia, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) is the organisation empowered by the Civil Aviation Act to develop and enforce these safety rules and regulations. Information about drone rules can be found on the Know Your Drone website.
There is also a range of other great resources available about flying safely, following regulations and being a responsible pilot. The Australian Association of Unmanned Systems (AAUS) website is great and has some useful information about all of these topics.
For further information, please download these two documents:
The E4CUBE charger is very simple to setup and easy to use. To charge your battery simply plug the included AC cable into the back of the charger and then into a 240v power point.
Wait for the blue LED indicator lights on the top of the charger to flash alternatively. Then connect the battery’s balance terminal into the correct port on the front of the E4CUBE charger. You should have either a 3S or 4S battery (3-cell or 4-cell) so the 2S port will never be used. The battery balance connector will only fit into one of the charge ports and it will also only go in one way, so do not force the plug into the charge port otherwise you may cause damage to both the battery and charger.
When you’ve plugged the battery into the correct charge port, the blue LED indicator lights on the top of the charger will show the charge progress of the battery. Once the battery is fully charged the blue LED indicator lights will all remain on solid.
The first thing you’ll notice is that the aircraft comes with the arms folded, for easy storage and transportation.
To unfold the aircraft, simply follow these steps;
To fold the aircraft for storage or transport simply reverse the steps you completed to unfold the aircraft.
Powering the aircraft without antennas can cause damage to the telemetry module.
To install the antennas simply screw each antenna on to the bulkhead connector on the bottom of the drone.
The aircraft comes with folding propellers. They’re simple to use and easy to fold for storage or transport.
The Remote Controller (also known as RC Controller or RC Transmitter) is the most direct way to control your aircraft. Even though it’s possible to fly the aircraft without using the Remote Controller, we always recommend you have it close by, ready to use should the need occur.
Below is a diagram of the Remote Controller stick and switch functions;
The power switch simply allows you to power up the Remote Controller when you’re ready to begin flying. For the Spectrum DXe controller, simply slide the switch up, whilst for the Fr Sky Qx7 controller press and hold until the display screen shows the Bask Aerospace logo.
There’s also a battery status indicator on the front of the Spectrum DXe controller. When the batteries are low, the battery status indicator will go red. When this happens, all flying should be ceased immediately and the batteries should be replaced/recharged.
The Fr Sky Qx7 controller will show the battery status of the controller on the display screen during operation. An alert will be given when the battery is nearing depletion and all flying should be ceased immediately and the batteries should be replaced/recharged.
The Throttle and Yaw stick is a two-axis joystick. The throttle is controlled with the up/down movement of the stick and the yaw is controlled with the left/right movement of the stick. You’ll notice that the yaw movement is spring loaded, causing it to always spring back to the center. The throttle however, is not. This allows you to set the throttle at different positions and remove your finger without the throttle changing. This is mostly useful in automated/assisted flight modes.
WHAT IS THROTTLE?
The throttle is what controls the altitude of the aircraft or speed of the motors. It’s the primary control that allows the aircraft to move up and down in the air.
WHAT IS YAW?
Yaw is the rotation of an aircraft about its yaw-axis that causes a change in heading. This can be thought of as the direction the front of the aircraft is pointing.
The Pitch and Roll stick is also a two-axis joystick. It controls both the pitch (up/down movement) and roll (left/right movement) of the aircraft. You’ll notice both sticks are spring loaded, causing them to always spring back to the center.
WHAT IS PITCH?
Pitch is the angle of an aircraft about its pitch-axis that causes a forward/back change in the position of the aircraft. This can be thought of as moving the aircraft forwards and backwards, just like a car.
WHAT IS ROLL?
Roll is the angle of an aircraft about its roll-axis that causes a left/right change in the position of the aircraft.
The flight mode switch allows you to command the aircraft to change between different modes. The switch has three possible positions and is setup as follows;
The flight mode switch will be identifiable by either a yellow or green indicator over the switch stem.
The RTL switch allows you to activate the RTL (“return to home”) feature of the system. The switch has two positions and is setup as follows;
The RTL switch will be identifiable by a red indicator over the switch stem.
The camera tilt switch allows you to set the camera to different angles. By default the camera should point forward. The switch has three possible positions and is setup as follows;
The trim tabs should never be used and should always be centered. If they’re not centered you risk crashing the aircraft.
For safe and normal operation, it’s important to understand that each flight mode requires all the aircraft’s sensors and electronics to be working correctly. It’s imperative that you follow all the steps set out in this guide to ensure the system is working correctly before flying.
Altitude Hold Mode means the aircraft will hold altitude without any pilot input and can be thought of as an “assisted-manual” flight mode. With the throttle joystick centred in the “deadzone” the aircraft will maintain altitude using the onboard barometer. However, as this mode is not GPS dependent the aircraft is not fixed in position and is able to “drift” when both joysticks are centred.
Moving the throttle stick up/down from the center “deadzone”, commands the aircraft to ascend/descend at a rate proportional to the position of the stick from center. This means the more you raise the throttle stick above center the faster the aircraft will climb, and conversely the more you lower the stick from center the faster the aircraft will descend. The climb and descent rate is limited in this mode by the climb and descent speed settings, which can be changed using your Ground Control Software. Moving the throttle back into the central “deadzone” at anytime will cause the aircraft to maintain it’s current altitude.
Loiter Mode means the aircraft will hold altitude, position and heading automatically without any pilot input. Both joysticks need to be centred for this to occur.
Moving the throttle stick up/down from the center “deadzone”, commands the aircraft to ascend/descend at a rate proportional to the position of the stick from center. This means the more you raise the throttle stick above center the faster the aircraft will climb, and conversely the more you lower the stick from center the faster the aircraft will descend. The climb and descent rate is limited in this mode by the climb and descent speed settings, which can be changed using your Ground Control Software. Moving the throttle back into the central “deadzone” at anytime will cause the aircraft to maintain it’s current altitude.
Auto Mode means the aircraft will run the current mission that has been uploaded to the aircraft. If a takeoff command has been included in the mission then the aircraft will automatically takeoff from the ground. Similarly, if a land or RTL command has been included in the mission the aircraft will automatically land (either at the land command location or at the home location).
Once activated the aircraft will attempt to return to the home location automatically. This is very useful if you lose orientation or the aircraft isn’t flying the mission you’d expected.
Home Location
The home location is set automatically by the aircraft based on the GPS location it’s at when you arm it. This is the location that the aircraft will return to should RTL mode be activated. Remember, RTL mode can be activated manually by the pilot, automatically by a system fail-safe or, in a mission using the RTL mission command.
If the connection is lost between the remote controller and the aircraft, the RC fail-safe is triggered. Once triggered the aircraft will initiate RTL mode, returning to the home location and landing automatically.
The battery fail-safe helps protect you from a scenario where the aircraft runs out of battery power while still flying. It’s also used to help ensure the battery is not damaged by discharging it too much.
The battery fail-safe will trigger based on two limits. In both cases, the aircraft will initiate RTL mode, returning to the home location and landing automatically.
Low Voltage Limit
When the battery voltage reaches the predetermined minimum voltage. This should be set to the minimum voltage of your battery based on its number of “cells”. Below is a table showing number of cells and minimum voltages;
| Min. Battery Voltage | |
| 3 Cell | 10.2V |
| 4 Cell | 13.6V |
| 5 Cell | 17.0V |
| 6 Cell | 20.4V |
Low Capacity Limit
When the remaining capacity in the battery reaches a predetermined minimum. Usually this is set to allow at least 20% remaining battery capacity when the fail-safe triggers but can be set higher or lower if needed.
When setting this parameter it’s important to think about what sort of flying you’re doing and when the fail-safe could be triggered. Remembering that the percentage you allow for with this parameter is how much battery capacity the aircraft will have to return back to the Home Location.
The status LED located on the back of the aircraft gives you a simple and easy to see indication of the health/state of the aircraft.
Some of the LED indications also have associated sound/tones patterns as well. Below is a table of all of the different possibilities LED meanings;
| LED/Sound | Colour | Sound | Meaning |
  | Flashing Red and Blue | – | Initializing gyroscopes. Hold the vehicle still and level while it initializes the sensors. |
| | Flashing Blue | – | Disarmed, no GPS lock found. Autopilot, loiter and return-to-launch modes require GPS lock. |
 | Solid Blue | – | Armed with no GPS lock |
 | Flashing Green | Quick double tone when disarming from the armed state. | Disarmed (ready to arm), GPS lock acquired. |
| | Fast Flashing Green | – | Same as above but GPS is using SBAS (so should have better position estimate). |
  | Solid Green | Single long tone at time of arming | Armed, GPS lock acquired. Ready to fly! |
 | Double Flashing Yellow | – | Failing pre-arm checks (system refuses to arm). |
| | Single Flashing Yellow | – | Radio failsafe activated |
| | Flashing Yellow | Quick beeping tone | Battery failsafe activated |
| | Flashing Yellow and Blue | High-high-high-low tone sequence (dah-dah-dah-doh) | GPS glitch or GPS failsafe activated |
| | Flashing Red and Yellow | Rising tone | EKF or Inertial Nav failure |
 | Flashing Purple and Yellow | – | Barometer glitch |
 | Solid Red | – | Error |
| | Solid Red | “SOS” tone sequence | SD Card missing (or other SD error like bad format etc.) |
To listen to the different sounds that will be emitted, please visit the ArduPilot Pixhawk Sounds Directory.
Ground Control Software allows you to setup, change and control your aircraft using a laptop. We currently recommend using QGroundControl which is both free and open-source.
Before connecting the battery, ensure the remote controller is turned ON and the throttle stick is all the way down.
Arming is the process of readying the aircraft for flight. This process helps maximise safety and reduce accidents by ensuring a pilot doesn’t spin up the motors unintentionally.
When you’re ready to arm the aircraft, you’ll first need to push and hold the arming switch for two seconds. It’s located just underneath and behind the status LED at the back of the aircraft.
Now that you’ve activated the arming switch the aircraft is ready to be armed. The last step is to perform the arming gesture on the remote controller.
To do this, push and hold the throttle stick to the bottom right-hand corner for roughly five seconds. This will command the aircraft to arm. The status LED should go solid green, and a long tone will be emitted, indicating the aircraft is now ARMED.
To disarm the aircraft, move the throttle stick to bottom left-hand side (ie. stick all the way down and to the left) and hold it there for 2-4 seconds. The motors will stop spinning, a short tone will be emitted and the status LED will flash green again. The aircraft is now DISARMED.
The AeroDrone MR4 Mk4 requires very little maintenance to keep the aircraft flying safely, as long as it has been operated correctly for each flight.
Below is a list of maintenance items you need to keep in mind and check on regularly;
The most important and regular maintenance you need to perform on your aircraft is to check that all screws remain tight and securely fastened.
The screws attaching each motor to an arm have been fastened with a thread locking compound (as shown below). We recommend using Loctite 246 as this is what we use during manufacturing of the system.
The maintenance required for the AeroDrone MR4 Mk4 motors is very minimal. After every 10 hours of run time, we recommend adding a little Singer Sewing Machine Oil to each bearing.
It’s important to keep a check on the deterioration of the propellers (if any). If you find any cracks or delamination of the carbon fiber, we recommend you replace the propeller immediately. To check for delamination simply try to flex the propeller along it’s length. If it’s very easy to bend or it bends a long way down/up, replace it immediately before flying.
