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Like to test my APM by riding as a passenger in a real aircraft with Mission Planner on a laptop

Posted by Dave Whittington on September 19, 2012 at 9:40am

Hi all,

   I would like to test out my APM 2.5 by riding along in a friend's aircraft and seeing the data (pitch, roll, accelerations, altitude, etc) from the APM hooked to my laptop. I would like to record the data while flying and plot it out using Excel back on the ground. I expect to watch the data on the plotting and HUD+dials of the SUPERGREAT Mission Planner. WOW - you guys have done a terrific job!

   I assume that I will need to change the code in the APM a little to get it to record data packets even though it is still connected via the USB cable to the laptop running the Mission Planner. Any ideas?

   Has anyone already found a way to plot using Excel or is the logfile in CSV format already?

 

I really appreciate the help! This project has so many great contributors!

 

Dave

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Replies

  • Dave Whittington October 5, 2012 at 8:46am

    One note on my request for help about Excel or , in my case, OpenOffice (free and similar-to-Microsoft Office option). With OpenOffice, there is a Basic or Javascript type IDE and scripting language built in ( called Macros). I was able to read the documentation and come up with a script that looks for the right MAVLINK packets from the CSV version of the tlog files and plot some of the variables. These plots can be copied to a Powerpoint like (called Impress) slide for final showing - very cool! If anyone is interested, I could post my test script for reference and show the weblinks of interest.

  • DanRZ September 19, 2012 at 2:02pm

    Hello, i noticed on my APM 2 that if i connect the USB and also the "main" power battery it saves a log.

    For example i get a log file when i make my calibration "on bench" ...

    But i don't know if there is all the informations on those logs ( i delete them without looking in it ).

    Just connect the USB after connecting normally the APM just like you were really flying with your APM

    and it might work and save the log of your real aircraft flight.

    Just connect a 4 cells NiMH battery pack (6V) on any input or output slot.

    Maybe you will need to arm the motors and leave a "non zero" throttle value.

    I don't know if logs are saved without really flying ...

    I suppose logs are not full if the model doesn't actually fly ...

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