Autonomous Flying Wing

Posted by Edgar Scott on December 31, 2015 at 5:21pm

I have flown APM since 2012 in my Quads/Hexs
I want to get a flying wing that I can use the Pixhawk with.

I want it to be able to take off in a park sized field, fly way points and auto land. (basic recon)

I assume we are at that point with arduplane but I'm not sure.

Is there a recommended flying wing for the apm that people have had success with and PIDs

Sorry, newbee at ArduPlane and not sure what my limitations are.

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Replies

  • John Zaner January 3, 2016 at 6:59pm

    I spent 18 months teaching the missionary folks at ITEC how to build, fly, and maintain Range Video long wing RVJets with Pixhawk autopilots. They have now flown quite a few medicine drops to outlying villages in the Amazon Rain Forest in Ecuador. These flights are auto takeoff, auto drop, and auto land on return where there is room, otherwise they take over manually and fly it into a handheld soccer net. At least one of these flights was 44 miles round trip and another made it through a rain storm. Pixhawk is a great system.

    3702155587?profile=originalThis photo is the RVJet over the River Pastaza returning from the jungle village Tiweno. The only open space is the riverbed so they used the soccer net to land.

    • Bruce Baxter > John Zaner January 3, 2016 at 10:08pm
      You sir are my hero.

      I have been trying to get to that point for a few years now.
    • John Zaner > Bruce Baxter January 4, 2016 at 8:20am

      It takes a while to learn all the details. I started years ago with PicoPilot, then AttoPilot, and I have at least one of every version of Ardupilot. Pixhawk is the best of them and I am looking forward to the Pixhawk 2.

  • 100KM
    Trung Nguyen January 1, 2016 at 8:50am

    If you haven't flown a flying wing, I would suggest getting some stick time on a low cost, highly durable one to start with - then add APM, etc.  An EPP model, such as suggested by Stephen, is very durable.  I might even suggest a smaller one to start with.  (less mass = less damage when you crash)

    Waypoints and autoland have been around for a few years.  I was autolanding my Skywalker a couple of years ago.  If you have the room, it's pretty easy to get repeatable results, but there are limitations and differences from rotor craft.  My quad will "autoland" pretty much anywhere with few limitations and little or no planning required.  Autolanding fix wing is a very scripted action and must be planned.  I have not bothered with it recently, so things may have advanced since last I tried.  I found it much easier and more flexible to "manually" land in Stabilize mode.  

    The FX-61 is what I have flown autonomously.  It is a good mix of size, payload space, and stability for cruising around.  You may want to check out these pages from member Jean-Louis Naudin:

    Autonomous MaxiSwift

    His github page

    His Phantom FX-61 page including CoG and PID suggestions

  • Bruce Baxter December 31, 2015 at 10:48pm
    Auto land is better with an altimeter module I beleive.

    The vtol quad plane software is released for testing if you want to go down that path
  • Stephen Gloor December 31, 2015 at 8:32pm

    I use these to great effect.

    http://www.crashtesthobby.com/grim-reaper-xl-62.html

    They have the huge advantage of being almost indestructible and have full videos explaining the construction.

    I can send my PIDs for the plane if required however they fly pretty much off the board with the default and you can do an autotune to get it right.

    Grim Reaper XL 62"
    GRIM REAPER XL 62" $89.95 plus shipping *** Please choose USA or International shipping The drop down price includes plane and shipping.
    • Edgar Scott > Stephen Gloor December 31, 2015 at 8:52pm

      Great, so can they land in auto mode too like a Solo/Quad?  or is auto just for waypoints?

    • Stephen Gloor > Edgar Scott December 31, 2015 at 9:17pm

      They can sort of with some tuning however fixed wing is a whole new world.  Maybe try to fly it in manual for a start.

      Mine will auto takeoff from a hand launch.  I shake it to start the prop and then let it go.  Auto land is more problematic as ArduPlane auto land is a work in progress and depends on how much room you have.

      If you want a turn-key solution PM me and we can talk about it. 

    • Edgar Scott > Stephen Gloor December 31, 2015 at 10:13pm

      Thanks, yeah basically where I thought we were at.  That works, flown many planes but never a fixed wing. I can't wait to get some flying in.

  • Bruce Baxter December 31, 2015 at 8:18pm
    Personally I have an x8, but an x5 would be OK.

    If you use a flying wing you may want to invest in a bungee launch, safer and easier than hand launch.

    But you may prefer any of the range of high wing v tail pusher planes that are on the market, purpose built for the job.
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