Hi Jason
I was flying today and I post my report here. I will add some in the issues section with the log files.
Testflight: 2.9.2010
Hardware: ArduPilot
SW version: AP 2.7 Revision 1475
Sensors: IMU V2
Speedsensor blue
Tested: AUTO
Missed Waypoints: 1
Autolaunch: yes
Autolaunch: 25°, 50m
Autolanding: no
Total Flights: 4
Comments:
Flight 1
Timestamp: 16.36
Tested: AUTO
Speedsensor off
Performance excellent
Remark:
engaged AUTO level at cruising speed at about 10m alt flying away from WP1, Plane goes straight 20m with slight pitch, then turns 180° towards WP1, does nice climb to alt. Then starts WP Track. Strange it does not hold the heading I flew when engaging Auto.
Flight 2
Timestamp: 16.49
Tested: AUTO
Speedsensor off
Performance excellent
Remark:
engaged AUTO level at cruising speed at about 10m alt flying away from WP1, Plane goes straight 20m with slight pitch, then turns 90° towards East, does nice climb to alt. Then turns toward WP1 and starts Track. Strange it does not hold the heading I flew when engaging Auto.
Flight 3
Timestamp: 16.57
Tested: AUTO
Speedsensor off
Performance excellent
Remarks:
Same as Flight 1
Flight 4
Timestamp: 17.08
Tested: AUTO 3
Speedsensor on
Performance medium
Remarks:
engaged AUTO level at cruising speed at about 10m alt flying away from WP1, Plane accelerates and adds pitch as expected, does perfect climb holding the heading I flew when engaging Auto. After ALT reached, turns toward WP1 and flies the track. The speed is much higher than with airspeedsensor off. It has trouble to stay on track. Misses WP3. The whole flight is a bit eratic. Maybe also related to the gusts we had just then. The LOITER at the end was not as perfect as in flights 1-3.
Conclusion
Test 1, flight 1-3
Aispeed Sensor 0
Autotakoff 2 x in direction of wp 1 (turning 180° after engage towards Wp1)
Autotakeoff 1 x east (turning 90° after enagage)
precise stable flight, nice level and constant speed
Test2, flight 4
Airspeed Sensor 1
Autotakoff in direction of flight when engaged
eratic speed
Airspeed error in GSCS Output (x100)
General Problem
Throttle is twitching ready after upload or after boot together with aile and elevator.
when switching AUTO while on the ground (before handlaunch) Throttle goes to MIN_THROTTLE with stick at 0
Overall
Jason, your code is phantastic. Creative and precise. Thanks for your huge effort.
Hi Recmaster
I was thinking about your problem this afternoon. In the beginning I had a similar flight and my problem was that the airspeed dropped below stallspeed. So the plane started to shake around while the AP tried to keep it on track and stabilized.
My problem was resolved with a smaller climb angle and more power/airspeed (above stall speed).
Maybe its worth a try for you to lower the climb angle and make sure your airspeed is not below stallspeed.
Just a thought.
Takeoff works well with my real plane (r1450). I did not test the new pitch algorithm yet, but calculation wise it should be fine. Holding direction and stabilize is perfect.
Lets forget about manual mode. Im talking about full test AUTO mode.
During this test I found that flying from WP to WP and landing is working well.
But taking off is not working.
Is it possible to fix it?
1. Easy solution: fix hold direction for AUTO by current logic;
2. Cool solution: add in Takeoff phase WP loading and WP navigating. In this case will be possible a loop testing that is ipossible now.
Recmaster
Did you get automatic throttle output or manual throttle output while you were on the ground?
If it was automatic - meaning it spun up on its own, you really were not in Takeoff mode.
If you were required to manually adjust the throttle to take off you were in Takeoff mode. While in that mode, you will hold the first good heading you take with the plane. Try and steer away from that angle and see if it returns to it. You are not flying towards a specific waypoint.
Don't just try waypoints and think you can succeed the first time around. Step through all the debug modes, and then through the flight modes and build up to waypoints.
I did a test with 2.7 in my uav this weekend and found the following:
- The waypoints was not appearing in the ground station (Ardupilot GCS); When I've downgraded the version to 2.6 the waypoints appeared back in the GCS. I'm doing the propper procedure to load the GCS and then turn on the autopilot.
- When I turned the plane to AUTO mode, it flew strait and didn't follow any waypoint. I let it fly until I was loosing it from my vision, then I've put it back in MANUAL and took it home.
Even removing all the waypoints and reprogramming with the Waypoint Config Tool, it seems that the waypoints are not working. They're being saved, because I can read them back in the config tool.
Good stuff is that the plane flew much more stable than version 2.6 in my oppinion.
I tryed to make a simulation fly by X-plane. I loaded a AP 2.7 code and set mode as TAKEOFF,AUTO,AUTO.
And simulation failed during take off phase. Plane was going right or left by cicle but wasnt going by line. Wind was off in X-plane. Then I look at code I see, that you dont load a WPs by TAKEOFF phase! You are trying to "hold" current direction but it doesnt work correctly. (
2.7 has a heading hold feature. It will lock onto it's current heading as soon as the speed is over a small threshold. that way it doesn't drift off as it climbs.
Comments
I was flying today and I post my report here. I will add some in the issues section with the log files.
Testflight: 2.9.2010
Hardware: ArduPilot
SW version: AP 2.7 Revision 1475
Sensors: IMU V2
Speedsensor blue
Tested: AUTO
Missed Waypoints: 1
Autolaunch: yes
Autolaunch: 25°, 50m
Autolanding: no
Total Flights: 4
Comments:
Flight 1
Timestamp: 16.36
Tested: AUTO
Speedsensor off
Performance excellent
Remark:
engaged AUTO level at cruising speed at about 10m alt flying away from WP1, Plane goes straight 20m with slight pitch, then turns 180° towards WP1, does nice climb to alt. Then starts WP Track. Strange it does not hold the heading I flew when engaging Auto.
Flight 2
Timestamp: 16.49
Tested: AUTO
Speedsensor off
Performance excellent
Remark:
engaged AUTO level at cruising speed at about 10m alt flying away from WP1, Plane goes straight 20m with slight pitch, then turns 90° towards East, does nice climb to alt. Then turns toward WP1 and starts Track. Strange it does not hold the heading I flew when engaging Auto.
Flight 3
Timestamp: 16.57
Tested: AUTO
Speedsensor off
Performance excellent
Remarks:
Same as Flight 1
Flight 4
Timestamp: 17.08
Tested: AUTO 3
Speedsensor on
Performance medium
Remarks:
engaged AUTO level at cruising speed at about 10m alt flying away from WP1, Plane accelerates and adds pitch as expected, does perfect climb holding the heading I flew when engaging Auto. After ALT reached, turns toward WP1 and flies the track. The speed is much higher than with airspeedsensor off. It has trouble to stay on track. Misses WP3. The whole flight is a bit eratic. Maybe also related to the gusts we had just then. The LOITER at the end was not as perfect as in flights 1-3.
Conclusion
Test 1, flight 1-3
Aispeed Sensor 0
Autotakoff 2 x in direction of wp 1 (turning 180° after engage towards Wp1)
Autotakeoff 1 x east (turning 90° after enagage)
precise stable flight, nice level and constant speed
Test2, flight 4
Airspeed Sensor 1
Autotakoff in direction of flight when engaged
eratic speed
Airspeed error in GSCS Output (x100)
General Problem
Throttle is twitching ready after upload or after boot together with aile and elevator.
when switching AUTO while on the ground (before handlaunch) Throttle goes to MIN_THROTTLE with stick at 0
Overall
Jason, your code is phantastic. Creative and precise. Thanks for your huge effort.
Best
Christof
I was thinking about your problem this afternoon. In the beginning I had a similar flight and my problem was that the airspeed dropped below stallspeed. So the plane started to shake around while the AP tried to keep it on track and stabilized.
My problem was resolved with a smaller climb angle and more power/airspeed (above stall speed).
Maybe its worth a try for you to lower the climb angle and make sure your airspeed is not below stallspeed.
Just a thought.
BTW What version 2.7 did you load?
Best
Christof
Best
Christof
During this test I found that flying from WP to WP and landing is working well.
But taking off is not working.
Is it possible to fix it?
1. Easy solution: fix hold direction for AUTO by current logic;
2. Cool solution: add in Takeoff phase WP loading and WP navigating. In this case will be possible a loop testing that is ipossible now.
Did you get automatic throttle output or manual throttle output while you were on the ground?
If it was automatic - meaning it spun up on its own, you really were not in Takeoff mode.
If you were required to manually adjust the throttle to take off you were in Takeoff mode. While in that mode, you will hold the first good heading you take with the plane. Try and steer away from that angle and see if it returns to it. You are not flying towards a specific waypoint.
You can also view your waypoints in debug mode or at startup.
It doesn't seem like you are following the manual - http://code.google.com/p/ardupilot/wiki/FlightTips
Don't just try waypoints and think you can succeed the first time around. Step through all the debug modes, and then through the flight modes and build up to waypoints.
Also, please log a bug reports with specific steps to reproduce the error.
http://code.google.com/p/ardupilot/issues/list
I did a test with 2.7 in my uav this weekend and found the following:
- The waypoints was not appearing in the ground station (Ardupilot GCS); When I've downgraded the version to 2.6 the waypoints appeared back in the GCS. I'm doing the propper procedure to load the GCS and then turn on the autopilot.
- When I turned the plane to AUTO mode, it flew strait and didn't follow any waypoint. I let it fly until I was loosing it from my vision, then I've put it back in MANUAL and took it home.
Even removing all the waypoints and reprogramming with the Waypoint Config Tool, it seems that the waypoints are not working. They're being saved, because I can read them back in the config tool.
Good stuff is that the plane flew much more stable than version 2.6 in my oppinion.
Cheers,
Leonardo
And simulation failed during take off phase. Plane was going right or left by cicle but wasnt going by line. Wind was off in X-plane. Then I look at code I see, that you dont load a WPs by TAKEOFF phase! You are trying to "hold" current direction but it doesnt work correctly. (
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