The GUI contains different functional blocks:

1. Configuration block in the central part of the window, organized by ‘tab’:

• Basic – Basic gimbal stabilization settings. Adjusting these settings is usually adequate to achieve good camera stabilization.

• Advanced — More precise tuning options.

• RC Settings – settings to control the gimbal roll/pitch/yaw orientation with RC inputs.

• Follow Mode – settings related to special mode of the camera control.

• Menu Button – Specify the behavior of the MENU button (located on the controller board or mounted externally)

• Real-time Data — real-time sensor data monitoring. This screen is extremely helpful in tuning your gimbal performance. Firmware Update — Firmware and GUI software versions and update options.

1. Connection — COM-port selection and connection status.

1. Profile — Profile selection, loading, re-naming, and saving.

1. Control Panel — graphic visualization of gimbal orientation angles in three axes.

• Black arrows are displaying the angles, blue arrows are a 10x time magnification to provide higher precision. Thin blue lines shows the maximum deflection from the central, neutral point.

• Blue digits show peak deflection amplitude. Using these numbers, stabilization quality can

be estimated.

1. READ/WRITE/RESET TO DEFAULTS buttons. Resets all settings to the defaults.

1. At the bottom of the screen, tips, status or error messages (in red color) are displayed . Overall cycle time and I2C error count is also displayed.

Basic Settings.

Note: Before tuning your controller, install the camera into the gimbal firmly and ensure your gimbal’s center of gravity is leveled as much as possible.

P,I,D – PID regulation parameters for all axis

• P – describes the power of disturbance response. Higher values means a stronger response reaction to external disturbance. Raise this value until the stabilization quality of fast disturbances will be adequate. If the “P” value is too high, oscillations of the axis will start to be present. These oscillations will get worse if there are vibrations that reach the IMU sensor board. If oscillations occur, raise the “D” parameter by 1 or 2 units, and then try to raise the “P” value again.

• D – The “D” value reduces the reaction speed. This value helps to remove low-frequency oscillations. A “D” value that is too high can cause high-frequency oscillations, particularly, when the IMU sensor is exposed to vibrations.
•  I – The “I” value changes the speed at which the gimbal moves to incoming RC commands and to move the gimbal back to neutral. Low values result in a slow and smooth reaction to RC commands and to getting back to neutral. Increase this value to speed up the movement

• POWER – maximum voltage supplied to the motors (0 – 255, where 255 means full battery voltage).  Choose this parameter according to your motor characteristics. Basic tuning:

• Motors should not get too hot! Motor temperatures of over 80? will cause permanent damage to motor magnets.
•   A Power value that is too low will not provide enough force for the motor to move the gimbal and stabilize the camera adequately. A low power value will be most noticeable in windy conditions, when the gimbal is not well balanced, or if the gimbal suffers from mechanical friction. Slowly lower the Power parameter to find its optimal value. Find the lowest value that still provides good stabilization and adequate holding torque.
•  Raising the power equals raising the “P” value of PID settings. If you raise the POWER value, you should re-tune your PID values as well.

• INVERT – reverse motor rotation direction. It’s extremely important to choose the correct motor rotation direction to not damage your gimbal. To determine the correct direction, set the P, I, and D values to 0 and the POWER values to 80 (or higher if your motors don’t produce enough force to hold/move the camera). Level the camera tray horizontally and click the AUTO button in the “Motor configuration” settings. The gimbal will make small movement to determine correct motor rotation direction. Wait for the calibration procedure to complete. Then, re-set your PID values and tune your Power values.

• NUM.POLES – Number of motor poles. This value needs to be equal to the number of magnets in your motor’s bell. During the “auto” calibration process described above, this  value is automatically detected. However, this value is sometimes not correctly determined during the “auto” calibration process and will need to be verified and possibly corrected manually. Most brushless gimbal motors are built with 14 poles (or magnets) and utilize a DLRK winding scheme. Count your motor magnets and enter this value if the value is not correct in the GUI.

• External FC Gain – Gain value for matching the gimbal data from your flight controller (optional).   For better stabilization and utilization of some additional features, the knowledge about the frame inclination angles is required. SimpleBGC IMU doesn’t provide such information. Most of FC have servo outs for connecting gimbals. This outs should be connected to SimpleBGC controller through EXT_ROLL and EXT_PITCH inputs.

RC Settings tab

• RC Input Mapping – here you can assign  hardware RC inputs to virtual control channels.

There are 4 hardware inputs provided on the board for RC Radio control connections, which you can assign to control any of three channels, one for each axes, and one command channel. If control for an axis is not needed, leave the option at “no input”.

• SOURCE — you can choose one of three input signal formats:

?   PWM – Pulse Width Modulation. Most widespread RC output/input signal type.

?   Analog — analog input (voltage from 0 to +5 volts). For example, joystick variable resistor provides such signal. Each RC port have Signal, +5V and GND pins. Connect Signal to center contact of variable resistor, +5V and GND to side contacts. Also you need to solder (or close jumper on different board versions) to supply RC port with +5V. Normally it is disconnected, because RC may have its own power supply.

?   PPM-Sum – PWM format modification, in which every channel transmits sequentially through one cable. If your receiver has SumPPM signal out, connect it to RC_ROLL input. (Read your receiver instructions to be sure it has SumPPM out). Than you can assign one of 8 RC channels to each control channel.

?   A special channel CMD allows to execute some actions. You can configure 2- or 3-position switch on your RC for specified channel, and assign it to CMD channel. Its range is split in the 3 sections : LOW ,MID ,HIGH. When changing the position of your RC-switch, signal jumps from one section to another, and assigned command is executed. The full list of available commands is described  in the section “MENU BUTTON” of this manual.

• MIN.ANGLE, MAX.ANGLE – range of the angles controlled from RC. To inverse the control, set higher value first, and lower value second. For example, if you want to configure a camera to go from leveled position to down position, set 0-90 (or 90-0 to inverse).

• ANGLE MODE — RC stick will control the camera angle directly. The full RC range will cause a camera to go from min to max angles, as specified above. If RC stick doesn’t move, camera stands still. To change the speed of rotation, change the I-part of the PID settings.

• SPEED MODE — RC stick will control the rotation speed. If stick is centered – camera stands still, if stick is deflected, camera starts to rotate, but does not exceed min-max range. Speed is slightly decreased near min-max borders. Speed of rotation is proportional to stick angle and the SPEED setting. RC control inversion is allowed in both of control modes.

• LPF – RC signal filtering. The higher is value – the smoother is reaction to the stick commands.

This filter cuts fast stick movements, but adds some delay.

Follow Mode

There is a special control mode, when the camera “follows” for a tilting of the outer frame, but eliminates small frame jerking.  Several modes of operation are possible:

•       Disabled – camera is locked to ground and may be rotated only from RC.

•       Follow Flight Controller – camera is controlled from RC together with mixed signal from external flight controller (FC).  Almost every FC has servo outputs to drive a gimbal. It feeds the information about the frame angles to this outputs, in the PWM format that all servos understand. SimpleBGC can get this information and use it to control a camera. It is necessary to connect and calibrate external flight controller (see EXT.FC GAIN settings). After calibration you can setup the percentage values for ROLL and PITCH axis, so the camera will follow frame inclinations.

•       “Follow PITCH” mode – this mode is dedicated to hand-held systems. FC connection is not required. In this mode, the position of the outer frame by all of 3 axes is estimated from the motor’s magnetic field. This means that if motor will skip steps, position will be estimated incorrectly and operator should correct camera by hands, returning it to proper position.  You should use this mode carefully for FPV flying, because if camera missed its initial direction, there is no chance to return it back automatically.

•       Follow YAW – the same as Follow PITCH, except it can be used separately only for YAW axis.

For example, you can lock camera by ROLL and PITCH axis by selecting “Disabled” option, but still control camera by YAW by enabling “Follow YAW” option.

The speed of rotation in all modes of operation is defined by I-term of the PID settings. There are additional settings to tune follow mode:

•       Deadband, degrees: you can set the range where the rotation of an outer frame does not affect the camera.  It helps to skip small jerks when you operate gimbal by hands.

•       Expo curve: you can specify the strength of the control when outer frame declines from neutral position. For example: when the expo curve is enabled (i.e. is not flat), small or medium declination of an outer frame will cause very fine control even if I-term is configured high. But the strength of control exponentially grows when angles of declination becomes close to 60 degrees.  It gives a big freedom in camera operation: from fine and smooth control to very fast movements.

•       PITCH offset: it is a very important to properly configure the initial position of motor’s magnetic poles, because all further calculations use this information. When you turn on the system with the “Follow PITCH” mode enabled, camera must stays exactly parallel to PITCH holding arm: