Can't seem to allow "Swooping" or steep descents

How can you get your APM to allow your plane to descend aggressively at high angles? We've been messing around with the MAX Pitch and MIN Pitch parameters; but, while we can get the plane to climb steeply, we cannot get it to dive along a steep trajectory.

The purpose of doing this is for senior project where we are using a Bixler airframe with Ardupilot Mega to mimic a hawk as it hunts. So we need the steep dive to mimic the swooping of a hawk. When we put a low altitude waypoint right after a high altitude waypoint (say 100-200 ft difference), the drone just kind of cuts the throttle and slowly descends in that direction at a very shallow pitch (seemingly regardless of how we set the MAX pitch parameter) in that direction and never fully makes it to the lower altitude.

The only way we've gotten it to "dive" is by setting both MIN and MAX pitch at negative angles so it has no choice but to do down. But then, obviously, it wont climb, so this is not a solution.

Anyone have any parameter tips or a parameter set that allows for both climbs and steep dives? Thank you.

Peter

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Replies

  • Set Alt_Ctrl_Alg to 1, and Lim_Pitch_Min to -55.  The first tells Ardu to 

    make hitting altitude the first flight priority.

  • Great question Peter.  I want to do the same.  I hope Chris or one of the developers will answer.

    Dan

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