Hello, I am new to the DIY Drones group. I have spent some time getting myself acquainted with the basics of ArduPilot and hardware. I have some preliminary questions. I want to drop a glider (no motor) from a HotAir Balloon (about 5000ft) and I want it to glide itself back to a waypoint (home location). I want the flight to be completely autonomous, so my questions are:
- Do I HAVE to have RX/TX, or can I just connect the ArduPilot to the servos?
- I see the IMU on power-on calibrates itself and must be still during this process. I am assuming I will need to power on the glider BEFORE we take off in the HotAir Balloon?
- With it being a glider with NO motor, how does the ArduPilot define glide ratio? Is this something I program in?
Replies
Hi Marshall,
Adding to what Chris and Doug are saying:
I would first build the glider with RC gear included and trim both the glider and the APM so that it glides in a stable fashion - including loitering and making the waypoint turns. In case your glider was one of the slik ones with low drag I would certainly test that the glide path is not too steep resulting in overspeeding the glider.
Once you are comfortable with these, take away the receiver and try it our from low altitude (=roof top ball park) hand launch.
For the actual balloon drop, the airspeed is your best guide for the decent rate.
-mikko
--You don't need to have an RC connected for APM. You need need one connected for ArduPilot, but you can program around that if necessary.
--Yes. But you posted this in the ArduPilot category and have referred to ArduPilot. ArduPilot does not have a IMU in its base configuration. Were you referring to ArduPilot Mega (APM) instead? If you actually did mean ArduPilot, it was designed to use thermopiles, which do not require calibration. Maybe that would be a better choice for this application.
--There isn't a specific glide ratio, but you do program 3D waypoints, which have an implicit rate of decent.