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Active Stabilization

Posted by Donny on June 15, 2010 at 5:31am
This is a will ardupilot do that question.  I've just built out my own telemetry system that uses GPS, GMRS radios and an arduino board.  I've not built out ardupilot yet.

I plan to have a powered glider and I'd like it to be stabilized but not guided.

I'd like to do this based on flight time and I'd like to vary the desired angle of the nose relative to the horizon.  while I'm on the subject... an Angle of attack gauge would be really cool for ardupilot.

Anyway... During the first few minutes of the flight while the glider is powered I'd like the nose held up xx degrees above the horizon. After this time period has passed I'd like to have ardupilot hold the nose at a lower angle that will be close to best glide.  I think it's possible to mount two sets of sensors set to show level at the appropriate angle relative to the horizon but this seems clunky at best.

Hopefully my question makes sense and thanks!

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Replies

  • Michael Zaffuto June 15, 2010 at 10:10am
    An AoA sensor was previously discussed briefly and resulted in this link to Charles River's Albatross

    This is his schematic: http://www.charlesriverrc.org/articles/asfwpp/lelke_alb1electronics...
    This is his AoA Sensor: http://www.charlesriverrc.org/articles/asfwpp/lelke_launch.htm

    Pressing "Back" and "Next" on his site will reveal additional info.

    His AoA sensor is a low friction vane with magnets exciting a HoneyWell 91SS12 Hall Effect sensor
    providing an analog output voltage to represent angle of attack.

    It wouldn't be too much work to replace his PIC microcontroller with this sites autopilot hardware
    (of which has a lot of goodies that would be useful).
    Charles River Radio Controllers - Albatross 1 Stabilizer Control Electronics
  • bGatti June 15, 2010 at 8:44am
    I suspect that you would find airspeed to be a sufficient indicator of "angle of attack".

    if you target an ideal cruising speed, and pull up when faster or drop the nose when slower, you should be able to use the existing airspeed indicator to hold an attack angle. A two-sensor solution might react more quickly?
  • Donny June 15, 2010 at 7:22am
    Yes... I probably just need to tinker with it. I was hoping to just get a quick yes Ardupilot can do that answer. I'm confident I can figure out how on my own.

    This reminds me of trying to find community support for the gumstix computers.
  • Admin
    Morli June 15, 2010 at 6:00am
    It makes sense but you need to read the wiki for both Ardupilot and UAV dev board(UDB) a lot. You will be surprised to see where things have reached now. While you are at it , look at the software GCS too. Good luck.
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