T3

global waypoint range for MatrixPilot

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UAVDevBoard users:

 

MatrixPilot trunk, r1817 now has global waypoint range, provided that:

1. You use absolute waypoints. Specify longitude, latitude, and altitude for each waypoint.
2. Each pair of points in the sequence, including first and last, should be no farther apart than 20 miles.
3. When you engage waypoint control mode, the aircraft must be within 20 miles of the first waypoint.

A couple of things to be careful with:
1. RTL will not work if the aircraft is beyond 20 miles of the RTL point.
2. Be aware of how your Rx failsafe works.
3. It is highly recommended that you do ground testing with HILSIM before any long mission.

Also, please be aware of, and comply with rules and restrictions that apply to you. If it is not possible for you to actually conduct a long mission, you still might want to conduct simulated flights.

Regarding failsafe, for a long mission you should set your Rx failsafe up to simply maintain waypoint mode, with trim values for all control surfaces, and maximum throttle.

Also, when you plot your flight log, ignore the IMU path, plot GPS only, because the IMU path will wrap.

The above flight track is for a 40 minute HILSIM test flight of a Boeing 747 which took off from Schenectady County Airport in autonomous mode, flew around Saratoga lake, then flew south toward New York City at about 400 miles per hour, west over the Catskill Mountains toward Binghamton NY, then back to Saratoga Lake, NY.

Keep in mind that versions of MP prior to r1817 will not work properly if any of the waypoints are farther than 20 miles from the origin. I have verified that to be the case with HILSIM.

I would eventually like to relax all waypoint range restrictions. I am not sure when that might be, but I will make an announcement when I do that. It does not look like it will be very hard to do, It will simply require several 32 bit integers in places where we are now using 16 bit integers, and a few 64 bit integers instead of 32 bit.

Best regards,
Bill Premerlani
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Comments

  • Nice job.

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