Page 149 - Build Your Own Quadcopter_ Power Up Your Designs with the Parallax Elev-8

128 Bu il d Y o ur O w n Q u a d c o p t e r

and take you through it as gently as possible. The good news is that now an alternative to
assembly language exists, and it is the C Language for the Propeller.
The chapter concludes with a very brief and concise introduction to the C language that
has been adapted or “ported” to run on a Prop chip. It runs in an environment known as the
SimpleIDE, and it is very easy to use. Take my word on this last statement, as I have used C
tool chains (environments) for the last 30 years, and this one is definitely the best, at least for
the embedded market. I showed a reasonably complex application that controlled a standard
servo using the BOE. I had this application up and running within 30 minutes, which is
almost instantaneously in software development time.
The next chapter takes an interesting view of what makes up a modern radio-controlled
(R/C) system and how it functions. There are some important points that you should be
aware of when operating an R/C system in today’s crowded spectrum. You don’t want to lose
control of your quadcopter, and unfortunately, it is easier to do than you think. So read on.