"Cruise control" for an e-glider.
I am building an e-glider that is controlled normally until you release the sticks. Then the autopilot kicks in and keeps the model around and starts looking for thermals or starts the motor when the glider is too low. No waypoints, its all about finding thermals.
Here is a video of my first long autonomous flight.
Reichard Champion ATV 2011 from Glider UAV on Vimeo.
2013 Update
Finally, an update about my project:
I have converted the telemetry log into subtitles, so You can see what's going on. This video explains a "Thermalling method for Model Glider Autopilots" in more detail.
I am gradually replacing my autopilot code with MatrixPilot. Please have a look and feel free to comment.
2014 Update
Local Endurance Thermalling mission in MP
Currently I fly with a Topmodel CZ Linea with an Auav3 autopilot and a Topmodel CZ Fantasy with a UDB5 autopilot board.
Recently I removed my "ATV autopilot pic-chip", so that I now have a 'MatrixPilot only' solution.
I wrote a LOGO script and some extra commands.
!!!!! The code is public and free to use !!!!!
I posted al the needed code and mods here: (May 24 '14)
"Support for (E-)Glider local endurance thermalling mission in MP"
Post on MatrixPilot forum
Special thanks to the MatrixPilot development team.
GliderUav
2015 Update
MatrixPilot got upgraded with the helical turn method. I changed my code to follow this development.
To add the auto land function, i needed better brake control. After that i created the auto landing script.
The codebase has moved to Git. My code is here: https://github.com/KeesGuijt/MatrixPilot.
2016
2017
Replies
Agreed. What Kees has done is very cool. I just wish there was an open Ardupilot based version for experimentation - even a very bare bones version.
Me too, it would be just perfect for my animal tracking airframes. The longer I can hang around in an area the greater the chance of hearing the collars. I can feel my fingers getting ready to buy a UDB....
Hi Jason,
Thank you for your interest in my project.
Yes, it uses UavDevBoard and yes, RES gliders should work just as well. I already use rudder in turns, in a RES setup that role just gets a little bigger. Breaking would need different servo mixing, directing the command to dedicated spoiler servos, but that should not be hard..
Good luck, let me know if I can help further. The UavDevBoard forum is a good place to get help too.
Cheers,
Kees
Let's try this for a third time...
Kees, thank you for the quick response. I saw your link about incorporating ATV with the UDB4 boards, but I can only find the UDB5 boards available for sale. :( Will ATV work with a UDB5?
I am super anxious to get this up and running, and feeding it data from the XPlane simulator. I am an avid programmer myself, but my specialty is python and c/c++. LOGO, I think I toyed with that almost 30 years ago as a kid... if it is the same software that controls an on-screen turtle to draw shapes. If that is the same language, controlling a plane is a rather amusing application for the language.
I'd also love to be able to send waypoint data to the plane while it is already on a mission. With something like cellphone service or amateur radio APRS, you could send waypoints and commands to a plane hundreds of miles away, with range only limited by battery life and thermalling capabilities of the autopilot.
Jason,
Both the Udb5 and Auav3 boards are fine for this application. Also, It is possible to start extra LOGO subroutines via telemetry, but I have not tried that myself.
Regards,
Kees
Awesome. My UDB5 just showed up. Unfortunately my PicKit3 arrived DoA, so I cannot load MatrixPilot or anything on my UDB5 until I get the PicKit3 swapped out with a functional unit.
I'll try looking at your code and the MatrixPilot to see what I can do about getting extra LOGO subroutines to start up while in flight. This is all new territory for me, being a C/C++ guy, but it promises to be a lot of fun.
One feature that I'll be working on is the ability to point a camera on a gimbal at a static point, given latitude + longitude + altitude. Once I get that figured out, the goal is to have another UDB enabled aircraft send position data to my plane, and then have my UDB keep their aircraft constantly within the camera's field of view, but it appears that this will be dependent upon getting a new LOGO routine started while in flight.
Just to note that there is some code for camera targeting in MatrixPilot here, and the options for setup are here. Waypoints allow for both the position of the plane, and what to position to target from the camera. Here is a video from a few years ago of MatrixPilot trying to target a tree. All of that was done long before MAVLink existed, and so is really in need of re-work to take advantage of the new telemetry features.
There is also a facility to try to have one plane photograph another (again created before MAVLink).
Nice. I guess i won't have to reinvent the wheel, so to speak. Thanks for the info.
The board keeps eating my response. :(
Very cool project. Thanks for sharing. Good luck.
-
1
-
2
-
3
-
4
-
5
of 5 Next