Hi guys,
I'm new to Ardupilot and programming, but not to drones. For my current project I would like to use the Ardupilot for passive data collection. This has created a few problems that I hope some of you may be able to help me solve. I'm running 2.6 hardware with 3.0.1 copter code.
The first problem has to do with running copter code vs airplane code. I would like to have airspeed, but the airplane code tends to crash 1-2 min. into the flight. The ground station stops receiving telemetry and the onboard logs stop as well. This does not occur with the copter code, but I'm unable to arm the system because it is not in the loop with the RC receiver. So my first question is, how do I go about adding airspeed into the copter code? And my second question is, how can I get the copter code to arm without RC input? Will I need to change the code, or is there a setting that I'm missing.
My second problem has to do with calibration. My UAV is too large to easily do live calibration, so I have been calibrating on the bench before I install it into the aircraft. This obviously has some drawbacks especially with the compass. The power system is a 12s system pulling 100-125 amps so compass heading tends to have large errors. I would like to get longer wires for the external GPS/mags but moving the mags further from the power system may not fix the problem completely. Is there a way to get a better calibration without having the autopilot in the loop? Being a 12s setup I am not able to directly get feedback on current. I feel like I might be SOL on this one.
Thanks for the help.
Scott
Replies
Thanks for the replies. Arming with my tablet will solve the problem of not being able to collect on board logs.
I reloaded the airplane code and the attitude estimate seems to be noisier than that from the copter code for some reason. Just sitting on the bench there is a noticeable jitter in the estimate. I will try to get out and fly it again this weekend hopefully it will not suffer from the lockup issue.
Why don't you just get Y connectors from the Rx and one side goes to the APM and the other to the servos. I don't know why the plane code should look up like that. Must be the lack of input? Any how since you are just collecting data you might as well get the stick positions too. I assume you are flying a fixed wing aircraft?
Copter 3.1 will now arm without RC input (for tablets)