Hello,People from rcgroups adviced me to post the following questions here.I have some question (s) related to arduino autopilot. These questions are actually related one to the other questioning similar "situations".1.) Let's say that I design a trajectory defined by waypoints that go up in a spiral from 50 meters to 5000 meters. Let's assume that the radius of the spiral is large enough so the airframe can perform that specific trajectory. However in mid flight (at 2000 meters) the battery goes out.What would arduino autopilot do in this case? Would it continuously try to follow the trajectory? I think that if Arduino tries to continuously follow the "impossible" trajectory then this would result in a series of spins ended with an eventual crash.2.) if I design an "impossible" trajectory would Arduino autopilot try to perform it with the given airframe? By "impossible" trajectory I mean a trajectory that can't be performed by the airframe on which Arduino autopilot is installed.3.) A given airframe with Ardu autopilot flies straight following a waypoint trajectory. The motor is out (battery is consumed). What would ardu autopilot do? Continue the descending trajectory? Turn back to HOME and set for BEST gliding ratio?I searched through the topic for possible answers to my questions and I couldn't find them. If this happened just because I overlooked them please indicate me the links and accept my apologizesThanks,Florin Mingireanu
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Along with Reto's suggestion about a voltage monitor, those with some good programming skills may be able to set up a the program where the remaining battery power would determine when the ArduPilot would abandon waypoint following and set a direct course for RETURN HOME. This decisions point would be based on the (1) amount of battery power remaining, (2) distance from HOME, (3) most economical speed for level flight considering current wind speed's/direction's effect on speed, and (4) adding a 3-5% margin of error of battery power remaining. Basically, AurduPilot would bring the plane back overhead for your to land it with just enough power to spare for a safe landing.
@ Florin
I don't know how much experimenting you have done with airframes, but the vast majority of them that Ardupilot is capable of flying would not completely stall if full up elevator is applied! If full up elevator was applied in gradual increments ( as it would be in the event of gradualy losing power ) then the airframe would enter what is called a " mush stall " and as long as your CofG was not wildly out then the airframe would remain relatively stable, decending quite slowly in a level attitude ( a bit wallowy ) just above the stall speed of the wing.
To put a finer point on your desire to enter a " glide angle " if you experience battery failiure, letts just suppose that you have enough altitude to RTL, ( legal limit being 400' ) , now this is where I am quite concerned, because you do not mention that you would then have any manual control ( if you would have then no problem, safe flight assuming that your Bec hasnt been exhausted on the way home! ) what you will have then is the airframe heading straight for you at a good lick of knots, a worse situation would be was if the airframe was in some sort of glide angle and didn't make RTL, ie RTG. An airfraime in a mush stall would be a much more forgiving arrival in this situation!
Better still, allways take off with a fully charged battery, make sure all connections are good and secure, wear a watch and observe it! And most importantly, this is a twenty five dollar autopilot that you are personally implementing and allthough its claimed to be programmable, you are responsible for Pre Flight Checks.
I just purchased the Ardu pilot and i can not get it to load the software. When i first attach power the power.. the red light comes on and the blue and amber light flashes continiously.. I attached the FTDI break out board.. and the it stops flashing and only the amber light will blink.. when i try to load the software.. it will come back with an error.. and the blue and amber light will start flashing again.. Any ideas...?
In all of those situations, ArduPilot would attempt to follow the original waypoint plan. If you want an autopilot that is aware of power consumption, you should get AttoPilot, which has a current sensor.
Replies
Long time no see :-) Has anyone tried to use Ardupilot on flying wings? If yes, can you point me towards the h file needed for this?
Thanks,
Florin
I don't know how much experimenting you have done with airframes, but the vast majority of them that Ardupilot is capable of flying would not completely stall if full up elevator is applied! If full up elevator was applied in gradual increments ( as it would be in the event of gradualy losing power ) then the airframe would enter what is called a " mush stall " and as long as your CofG was not wildly out then the airframe would remain relatively stable, decending quite slowly in a level attitude ( a bit wallowy ) just above the stall speed of the wing.
To put a finer point on your desire to enter a " glide angle " if you experience battery failiure, letts just suppose that you have enough altitude to RTL, ( legal limit being 400' ) , now this is where I am quite concerned, because you do not mention that you would then have any manual control ( if you would have then no problem, safe flight assuming that your Bec hasnt been exhausted on the way home! ) what you will have then is the airframe heading straight for you at a good lick of knots, a worse situation would be was if the airframe was in some sort of glide angle and didn't make RTL, ie RTG. An airfraime in a mush stall would be a much more forgiving arrival in this situation!
Better still, allways take off with a fully charged battery, make sure all connections are good and secure, wear a watch and observe it! And most importantly, this is a twenty five dollar autopilot that you are personally implementing and allthough its claimed to be programmable, you are responsible for Pre Flight Checks.