My end goal is to have my copter (pixhawk F550) follow a moving target (boat/car) while circling it with the camera always pointed at the target.  I was wondering if there is anyway to do this currently.

Could one use follow me mode on the pixhawk, with a GPS receiver plugged into the laptop, and then initiate circle mode?  It seems that it would go back to its home position and circle that.

If automated flight wouldn't work, would there be a way for the pixhawk to control the yaw of a DYS 3 axis gopro gimbal to keep the region of interest on a GPS enabled laptop while it was moving?

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  • Hello,

    Have you found a way to get this working?

    I am trying to achieve something similar using PX4 code for my thesis work. I want the copter to circle the target in Follow me mode when the target stops moving. I tried using Quaternions but I am not very familiar with them and I have no idea how to make this work.

    Any help/suggestion is highly appreciated :)

    Earp said:

    I see that there is follow me mode:

    http://copter.ardupilot.com/wiki/ac2_followme/

    but that simply just a fly to here command every 2 seconds.  What I am looking for, is fly to here (follow me) combined with set ROI:

    http://copter.ardupilot.com/wiki/mission-command-list/#Do-Set-ROI

    Then combine this with circle flight mode:

    http://copter.ardupilot.com/wiki/circle-mode/

    That way I could be out on my boat/car, launch the craft, set it to loiter.  Start driving, initiate this sequence and have the craft circle me while driving.  Of course doing this in a open unobstructed empty area, as obstacle avoidance is not a thing yet.

    If that is too hard to make work, it would be great to at least have a moving ROI and the yaw command sent to my 3 axis gimbal instead of the craft.  That way I could fly and have the camera always pointed at me without the need of a camera operator, just a driver and me operating the multicopter.

  • I know you can have pixhawk circle a moving target using a GPS dongle (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000PKX2KA/ref=pe_385040_30332190_TE_dp_i1)

    Not sure how it would work for point camera here... I will be experimenting with this as well in 2 weeks. Have you made any progress on it yet? 

    • I see that there is follow me mode:

      http://copter.ardupilot.com/wiki/ac2_followme/

      but that simply just a fly to here command every 2 seconds.  What I am looking for, is fly to here (follow me) combined with set ROI:

      http://copter.ardupilot.com/wiki/mission-command-list/#Do-Set-ROI

      Then combine this with circle flight mode:

      http://copter.ardupilot.com/wiki/circle-mode/

      That way I could be out on my boat/car, launch the craft, set it to loiter.  Start driving, initiate this sequence and have the craft circle me while driving.  Of course doing this in a open unobstructed empty area, as obstacle avoidance is not a thing yet.

      If that is too hard to make work, it would be great to at least have a moving ROI and the yaw command sent to my 3 axis gimbal instead of the craft.  That way I could fly and have the camera always pointed at me without the need of a camera operator, just a driver and me operating the multicopter.

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