Sub Frame Configurations

Several bi-directional motor configurations/orientations are available in Sub:

Key to axis: R = Roll, P = Pitch, Y = Yaw, Z= Depth, F = Forward, L = Lateral

FRAME_TYPE

#MOTORS

NAME

Controllable Axes

0

6

BlueROV1

R/P/Y/Z/F/L

1

6

Vectored

R/Y/Z/F/L

2

8

Vectored_6DOF

R/P/Y/Z/F/L

3

8

Vectored_6DOF-90

R/P/Y/Z/F/L

4

3

SimpleROV-3

Y/Z/F

5

4

SimpleROV-4

R/Y/Z/F

6

5

SimpleROV-5

R/Y/Z/F/L

Note

Configurations lacking one or more controllable axes rely on proper CG and ballast to maintain earth-frame stability in that axis.

Frames

For reference, the following frame configuration diagrams show rough thruster locations and orientations from a top-down view. Where possible thrusters acting along a shared axis should be set to counter-rotate, to minimise incidental torque generation (e.g. green indicates clockwise propellers, and blue counter-clockwise (or vice-versa)).

BlueROV1

BlueROV1 Configuration with 6-DoF thruster positioning.
(Frame bluerov)

Vectored

Vectored ROV with side-by-side vertical thrusters. Used for the BlueROV2.
(Frame: vectored)

Vectored-6DoF

Vectored-6DoF ROV w/ Four Vertical Thrusters, an 8-thruster configuration with 6-DoF control and heavy lifting capacity. Used for the BlueROV2 Heavy.
(Frame: vectored6dof)

SimpleROV-3

ROV with a single vertical thruster.
(Frame: simplerov3)

SimpleROV-4

ROV with side-by-side vertical thrusters.
(Frame: simplerov4)

SimpleROV-5

ROV with a lateral thruster and side-by-side vertical thrusters.
(Frame simplerov5)

Changing Thruster Motor Direction

Several methods are available:

  • If brushless, two of the three motor wires can be swapped

  • If BLHeli or AM32 ESC is being used, the motor direction can be reversed using the ESC configurator tool, either by direct connection or using ArduPilot’s PassThrough Support

  • The MOTx_DIRECTION parameters can be changed.

  • The MOTORDETECT mode can be used while at rest underwater to automatically detect and correct the motor direction for bi-directional thrusters. However, this only affects those thrusters which control Roll, Pitch, and/or Yaw axes.