Poor AUTO flight. Was it due to magnetometer, firmware version, tuning, or ?

The .kml file below is from a flight on 02/06/12.  This flight resulted in excellent photo coverage.  

(No magnetometer,  firmware version ArduPlane V2.28)

Here is the mosaic stitched by PTGui of the 02/06/12 flight

We flew the same WP file, at the same site, with the same aircraft, under similar weather conditions, on 04/25/12 and got this .kml.

The flight path was not very good.  The plane circled around several WPs, turned the wrong way a number of times, made some unnecessary heading changes, but flew fairly straight legs. 

The differences between the flights are:

Added the magnetometer to the APM1 board and uploaded ArduPlane V2.33.

After uploading V2.33 via Mission Planner, reset, radio calibration, flight modes, set hardware options to Enable Compass, Enable Airspeed, I entered the declination for San Diego (12.9) then checked Auto Dec., and rotated the airframe through 360 degrees, then finished the configuration.

After takeoff, we verified initial PIDs with a FBW_A flight segment.  Then we flew a wide, full circle so the magnetometer could calibrate.

Here is the .param file of the 02/06/12 (good) flight:  02-06-12 .param

Here is the .log file from that flight:  02-06-12.tlog

Here is the .param file of the 04/25/12 (bad) flight:  04-25-12 .param

Here is the .log file from that flight:  04-25-12.log

BTW: here are the Compass values from the 04-25-12 .param file.  They don't seem to make much sense.  The local declination is 12.9 not .225.  What do the offset values mean?

COMPASS_DEC,0.225
COMPASS_LEARN,1
COMPASS_OFS_X,0.491
COMPASS_OFS_Y,-7.657
COMPASS_OFS_Z,25.508
COMPASS_USE,1

Another BTW:  I entered the .gpx file into the palentier.jar application and found that the data captured for a timeslot included:  

Longitude:  -117.2334

Latitude:  33.07738

Time:  1335375664001   (GMT seconds)

Compass EMPTY -  NO DATA

Elevation:  164.08

Date:  2012:04:25 10:41:04:07:00

None of the time slots I check had any Compass data.

Tags: Magnetometer, V2.33

Views: 224

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion


DeveloperPermalink Reply by Michael Oborne on April 27, 2012 at 4:28pm

The best way to calibrate the mag is to use a log. so and i think your mag offsets will change a fair bit by using a log.

so a few data points

1. calibrate the mag using the log of this flight.

2. when you do a manual calibration, autolearning is turned off. so your fbwa stuff wouldn't have done anything.

3. im not sure what you mean by the no compass data, can you post the gpx?

Permalink Reply by The Old Flyer on April 27, 2012 at 5:00pm

No compass data was detected by the Palentier application.

Here is the .gpx

Attachments:
Permalink Reply by The Old Flyer on April 27, 2012 at 5:28pm

Michael,

Thank you for taking the time to read through all this.

I finally took another look at the .gpx file.  I do see the direction as " <course>248.31 ".

Is that heading from the mag, GPS, or a combination?


DeveloperPermalink Reply by Michael Oborne on April 27, 2012 at 6:02pm

course from a tlog will be the mag heading yes.

Permalink Reply by The Old Flyer on April 28, 2012 at 11:39am

Michael,

In MP -> Configuration -> Hardware Options, I checked Enable Compass, Auto Dec.

(Declination shows 12.915 which is correct for San Diego - the value is grayed out)

I then hit Log Calibration, opened the correct .tlog and now have these Raw Parameter values:

COMPASS_AUTODEC 1

COMPASS_DEC,0.225
COMPASS_LEARN 0
COMPASS_OFS_X -31.42
COMPASS_OFS_Y -21.587
COMPASS_OFS_Z 116.306
COMPASS_USE,1

Do these values seem right?


DeveloperPermalink Reply by Michael Oborne on April 28, 2012 at 3:58pm

the raw param is in radians. the autodec screen in in degrees. Also as autodec is dynamic im not 100% sure is its saved, or auto calced on each boot.

RSS

Social Networking

Top Content 

1 ArduPlane 2.73 released

ArduPlane 2.73 released
2 How to analyze a crash?

How to analyze a crash?
3 ArduVTOL

ArduVTOL
4 NEVER connect a Capacitor backup or voltage protector on APM board

NEVER connect a Capacitor backup or voltage protector on APM board
5 HD video for UAV's

HD video for UAV's
6 APM Copter 2.9.1.b has been released

APM Copter 2.9.1.b has been released
7 DIYDrones Chat Feature Info

DIYDrones Chat Feature Info
8 Arducopter Question

Arducopter Question
9 Arducopter 3Dr or Phantom

Arducopter 3Dr or Phantom
10 ArduVTOL - Wingcopter - Flight Report Nr.1

ArduVTOL - Wingcopter - Flight Report Nr.1

Contests

Season Two of the Trust Time Trial (T3) Contest has now begun. The fourth round is an accuracy round for multicopters, which requires contestants to fly a cube. The deadline is April 14th.

A list of all T3 contests is here. 

Groups

Advertisement

© 2013   Created by Chris Anderson.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service