Tricopter - ArduCopter in CRIUS - Problem with Circle and Auto mode - Discussions

Hi all,

I am not sure if I'm doing something wrong or not sure if it works on a tricopter but when going in CIRCLE mode, my tricopter just drifts away. I do have a GPS and I always fly when the GPS is set to "3D Fix"

This are my parameters

CIRCLE_RADIUS 10 cm

CIRCLE_RATE 5 d/s

How do you properly do the CIRCLE mode? Should I let my tricopter face me before switching it? or direction doesn't matter? I am not sure why it just drifts.. I don't have a problem when in Stabilize mode though even in AltHold. No drifting issues..

Waypoint or Auto mode.. This one doesn't really work either.. I set a 3 waypoints and it can't even go to the first waypoint.. Switching on Auto, just drifts in any direction.

This are my parameters

WPNAV_ACCEL 50

WPNAV_RADIUS 200

WPNAV_SPEED 50

I hope you can guide me better.

Thank you

If you really have the circle radius set at 10 cm and the rate at 5 then all you would really see is the aircraft yawing very slowly in one spot (it would take 72 seconds to complete a rotation) , and it would drift around about as much as it would in Loiter while doing that.

The question about how to manage circle mode is interesting, and the documentation on this site is, as is all too often the case these days, nearly worthless. (Gary McCray, a former editor/writer of the WIKIs here, is working hard to fix that via his new site DronesAreFun.com).

From experimenting it seems that when the switch is thrown the aircraft places the center of the circle directly in front of itself at the distance specified by the radius parameter, and then begins to fly around that point, always facing it.

So if you want fly around an object to photograph it centered in the frame you need to manually aim the aircraft at it from the distance you've set as the radius and then throw the switch. Awkward, to say the least, unless you knew that distance when you set the radius parameter .

It would be useful to have the option of invoking a circle when directly over an object. So the aircraft would continue along the specified radius to the circumference and then begin circling. Even better would be a two-stage command, first to mark the center and then the circumference.

Of course that would involve manual flying, and it seems that's something of a dirty word around 3DR ... thus the lack of emphasis in what the WIKIs have become on the value and necessity of learning how to fly manually before buying/building something like an Iris.

Replies

Oliver June 8, 2014 at 9:40am

If you really have the circle radius set at 10 cm and the rate at 5 then all you would really see is the aircraft yawing very slowly in one spot (it would take 72 seconds to complete a rotation) , and it would drift around about as much as it would in Loiter while doing that.

The question about how to manage circle mode is interesting, and the documentation on this site is, as is all too often the case these days, nearly worthless. (Gary McCray, a former editor/writer of the WIKIs here, is working hard to fix that via his new site DronesAreFun.com).

From experimenting it seems that when the switch is thrown the aircraft places the center of the circle directly in front of itself at the distance specified by the radius parameter, and then begins to fly around that point, always facing it.

So if you want fly around an object to photograph it centered in the frame you need to manually aim the aircraft at it from the distance you've set as the radius and then throw the switch. Awkward, to say the least, unless you knew that distance when you set the radius parameter .

It would be useful to have the option of invoking a circle when directly over an object. So the aircraft would continue along the specified radius to the circumference and then begin circling. Even better would be a two-stage command, first to mark the center and then the circumference.

Of course that would involve manual flying, and it seems that's something of a dirty word around 3DR ... thus the lack of emphasis in what the WIKIs have become on the value and necessity of learning how to fly manually before buying/building something like an Iris.
- Jayson Ragasa > Oliver June 8, 2014 at 10:29am
  
  Thanks Oliver. I'll try to fly early morning tomorrow to show you how it performs a Circle mode. My CRIUS v2 currently has an empty log so I have no way of showing some more details.
Jayson Ragasa June 8, 2014 at 8:52am

10 views...

Do I deserve something here?

This reply was deleted.