In a post I made last month just after getting my Phantom 2 Vision+  

http://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=1245

I was complaining that I found it hard to fly because the joystick motion is relative to the direction the copter is facing.

I decided to try to do something about it instead of just complaining. See the attached photo.

I added a small microcontroller (a "Teensy" from PJRC,$20)  to the remote control box, which intercepts and reads the signals from the right joystick. It then generates new signals for a simulated joystick that is fed to the DJI controller board. A combination 3-axis magnetometer and accelerometer (LSM303D from Pololu, $10) tells my microcontroller which way the RC box is pointing, and the software applies a rotational transformation of the X-Y deflection to the simulated joystick.

It works! It's a totally different and easy flying experience for a novice like me. As long as I keep facing the phantom, the joystick works intuitively: "forward" makes it go away from me,"back" make it come towards me, "right" sends it to my right, and "left" to my left. It doesn't matter what the takeoff orientation was, where it currently is, or how it is rotated.  

Now I can spin it to have the camera point whereever I want, and it doesn't affect how it flies. I don't have to remember where it was pointing when it took off and adjust for that in my head. I just have to keep the remote control box pointed to it.

I'm still experimenting, but I'm pretty pleased with how it's working out.

Very cool; it's IOC based on the controller orientation (rather than the direction you started to fly).

kenargo Posted at 2014-11-22 06:56
Very cool; it's IOC based on the controller orientation (rather than the direction you started to fl ...

Very slick,   DJI should follow your lead on this.

Good Effort and nice little mod there........

Thumbs up for modding!

seems to be in xda developers.. cool man.. maybe you should keep us posted and make a complete modding video..

Wow, that is some pretty slick modification, especially from someone who calls himself a novice!  (just think how dangerous you'll be once you get more experience!)   

I got to thinking tho and started to wonder, isn't that pretty much how the already built-in function of home lock already works?  It's saved my butt a couple of times when I flew my Phantom over some trees and lost sight of it.  I couldn't tell which way the Phantom was oriented but by flipping S2 into  "HL" (home lock) all I had to do was just pull the right stick back and, regardless of which way the nose was pointing, it flew back towards the controller.

gil@wk.net Posted at 2014-11-23 17:43
Wow, that is some pretty slick modification, especially from someone who calls himself a novice!  (j ...

Gil, Home Lock is similar in that it will fly to and from a fixed home position without you having to know which way it's pointing. But my mod lets you fly it around like that anywhere in any direction that you're looking at, not just back to the takeoff position, for as long as you like. And it won't veer off course suddenly when it comes closer than 30', which Home Lock does because it suddenly changes to Course Lock. (What's up with that??)

I am indeed a novice to flying. But I've been playing with electronics and computers for 50+ years, which helps with projects like this. I've been "dangerous" for a long time!

Wow great design man, really innovative.

chris Posted at 2014-11-22 09:52
seems to be in xda developers.. cool man.. maybe you should keep us posted and make a complete  ...

Well I don't know about making a video, but I did just post the program and circuit schematic as open source software/hardware at https://github.com/LenShustek/PhantomVision. It's not a project for beginners, though...

Cool!!!!!!!!!

Hi,

I'm attempting to make mods to my old non-API supported phantom by using your project as a starting point.

Could you please tell me what the white connectors are called (where the simulated joystick plugs in, in your photo). I've already ordered two of the wrong thing and it's driving me nuts. ;-)

Cheers,
Brett.