Hello,
I'm working on getting Ardupilot 2.5.1 with the ArduCopter firmware running as an HIL simulation in X Plane 9.
I can load ArduPlane_HIL on the board from AMP 1.2.52 and it runs fine in X Plane. I think this indicates that I have correctly set up the Sim link with ports 49000 and 49005.
I am following these directions.
From the top, I've installed Mission Planner 1.2.52
Installed X Plane 9. Updated to 9.70.
Downloaded the starter pack from the above link's page.
Installed QRO_X in X Plane.
I did not know how to upload the scripts to the ardupilot board, I skipped that step of the walkthrough.
Configure X Plane to network with AMP (works, because I can fly the arduplane)
When I load the HIL version of 2.9.b1 on the ardupilot board, I can load x plane and see the copter sitting on the runway. I can attempt to roll or pitch the copter with the transmitter, and the copter will roll and pitch on the ground. But when I attempt to takeoff, the throttle barely has any affect. The copter does not fly.
By looking at the 'cockpit' for the quadcopter in X Plane, I can see that even at full throttle, the motors are not getting more than about 6% power.
I've tried working with the throttle gain setting in Configuration>Standard Params.
Sim running with motors armed and no throttle:
Running with motors armed and full throttle:
I haven't seen any other posts about this particular problem.
Thanks in advance for your insight / suggestions.
Addition:
I've noticed that when I flash the HIL Plane firmware, I cannot calibrate the controller from within Mission Planner; there is no signal.
When I flash the HIL Copter firmware, I can see the input values reflect the values of the controller. Could this have something to do with the aberrant behavior?
Addition [5/29/2013]
Resolution in comments.
Replies
Okay, I believe my problem is fixed.
As I read in http://diydrones.com/forum/topics/quad-hil-simulation-with-xplane, it would appear that miscommunication between Xplane and Mission Planner causes the narrow throttle band.
By using Martin's suggestion, I lowered my 'Throttle Gain' setting in Mission Planner (Simulation page) to between 2900-3100 to get the copter to have full flight abilities.
I also changed a setting in Xplane, which makes flight much more 'realistic' on my computer. In Xplane, go to Settings -> Operations & Warnings -> flight models per frame. I've increased this setting from 1 to 3 with pretty nice results.
Now the only problem with simulating an arductoper is that the device crashes when I put in 'auto' mode. I will create a more appropriate thread to see if anyone knows how to resolve this. (I have already read this post, it didn't work).
Thanks,
-Chris
Hi Christopher, have you tried adjusting the throttle gain on the simulation page itself, where you connect to Xplane.
Type a new value into the throttle gain box which currently shows 10000, try 3000 maybe.