Discussions

I've built it (YAY ME!). 

The Parts:

I used this as a guide and I followed right down to the decimal on the setup EXCEPT instead of 360deg from center to left and 360deg from center to right I put in only 180deg of travel in each direction.  That means that the pwm numbers are a little smaller in range than what is posted on the link for the set up but other than that its darn near identical.

I used the eagle eye antenna tracker body (long story, had one designed, did not work out).

Mine uses the same servo for the pan, namely this one, and for the 90 deg tilt I used this one.

I used this servo controller.

If I control the tracker via the Maestro servo controller card's universal program I can get the range of motion exact with the tilt, the pan is a little off on one direction by about 20deg or so.  I can't get it perfect no matter what I try.

The Description:

So here is what I need help with, I'm sure someone has tackled this problem, it's got blatantly obvious signs.  And one more thing, I have read EVERY page on instructions for both the Mission Planner and all instructions for this build, but this is still kicking my ass.  It seems as if I am the only one that does this in the entire Dallas/Fort Worth area so asking you guys for help is my only recourse and I thank you all ahead of time for any help given!

Settings:

This is what is plugged into APM Mission Planner for the Antenna tracker settings:

Interface: Maestro, COM3, 115200

Pan: Angle 180, trim at 0

Tilt:   Angle 90, trim at 0

Both PWM entries at 1000

Both have REV checked.

In the Flight Planner section I have Absolute Alt unchecked.  Alt(abs) is fed from google maps and reads 242 meters.  The FAA maps say my altitude is 763 feet above sea level, so these numbers are very close and I consider them correct.

Meters and meters/second is the Dist Units and Speed Units set in the Configuration tab, Planner section.

For the Maestro software settings:

When I fire this system up I point the antennas due north manually.  I click on the home position link in the Flight Planner section and it locks there.  When I connect to the plane (telemetry) It then starts to track.  I then pick up the plane and move around in a circle about 60 feet away or so to see if it tracks.

This is the behavior:

Sometimes it tracks fine, but only through a certain range of motion.  After this range (about 50deg or so) it then goes wonky, it spins 180 degrees.  I know it is supposed to, but it has NOT completed the range of motion before it spins to keep the antennas pointed at the plane. 

If I adjust the trim to about 50-60 this spin also occurs but after that spin it seems to track proportionally to my trim input, until I get back to about 50-60 degrees and it again does the spin. Keep in mind the Maestro software range of motion is SMOOTH, but not the AP Mission Planner behavior.

This spin throws off all tracking.

I get the feeling that the altitude tilt is not correct either.  In the lower right corner you can manually input an altitude.  If I increase it incrementally the behavior should be that the tilt goes up incrementally too (I'm talking like 10m in altitude change at a time) but it does not behave like that.  The tilt too wants to reach a certain degree and then it goes to the opposite end of the range spectrum.

Summary:

1)  What is that extra 20deg of motion from center to left?

2)  Why wont this sucker track correctly?

3)  Is altitude always in meters if I set it so in the Configuration tab?  As in EVERYWHERE in the Mission Planner, or are there some parts that always remain in meters, seconds, kilometer units?  Is all altitude measured in absolute?