Discussions

magnetometer purpose

Posted by Marius Grigonis on October 7, 2011 at 6:38pm

 

I tried posting this in newbie thread...but didnt get any response back.

I'll try it here ;)

could someone explain me  the advantages of adding a magnetometer to
arduplane?

 

I understand it is optional, but what exactly are the advantages it would
provide in terms of plane control and flight precision.

 

Thanks

 

Marius

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Replies

  • Marius Grigonis October 10, 2011 at 11:25pm

    Thanks guys. This is very helpful.

  • Bryan K October 10, 2011 at 3:41pm

    Another advantage is if you are using an airspeed sensor to to maintain airspeed. If you are going into a stiff enough wind (15mph out of the north) and your airspeed is set to 12 mph (flying into the north) then you will actually be drifting backward 3mph. This will confuse the GPS as it is dependent on vectoring for direction, so while you are pointed North, the GPS will think you are headed south and things could go haywire.

  • Developer
    Doug Weibel October 7, 2011 at 8:56pm

    There are only a few instances where a magnetometer will make much difference with ArduPlane.  The place where you see the biggest difference is right at takeoff/launch.  With a magnetometer ArduPlane can hold a takeoff heading where without it cannot lock in the takeoff heading until it has travelled a bit and gotten a reasonable estimate of ground course from the gps.

     

    In the future there may be more advantages when a wind estimation and more advanced navigation algorithms are implemented, but at present there is not any big advantage.

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