Tom, in another post, someone use ArduPilot RTL feature (no waypoints) in a Telemaster which is similar to my Kadet Sr. I asked and got following information:
"Could you please post the PID gains you had for the Telemaster ? I'm in the process of implementing ArduPilot in a SIG Kadet Senior taildragger, so those probably would be better start values than the EasyStar PID gains. Thanks very much."
smguest answered :
Sure - just remember that I'm using Arudpilot software version 1.x and that these are the gains that I currently use for the RTL function and haven't tested them in the waypoint mode. I made several modifications to the control linkage and therefore the old gains I had before (when I did test the waypoint mode) no longer worked well.
heading_max 50
heading_min -50
altitude_max 40
altitude_min -45
Kp_heading 1
Ki_heading 0.01
Kd_heading 0.3
Kp_altitude 5
Ki_altitude 0.001
Kd_altitude 2
Good luck with the Kadet.
Quote end
If this helps you getting started. I'll use those values as starting point.
Thanks for the reply. Great idea with the X/Y sensor housing and GPS. I think I will try to build a similar enclosure, albeit without the GPS (just go it my Ubox GPS, and the LS20031 set aside for now). It's a great idea that magnets are holding it so you can sremove it without leaving anything behind.
As far as the PID tuning.... I wish there was a way to hook up to ArduPilot another Arduino, or other microcontroller based, or Xbee PC/laptop connection that would perform in the air analysis to send parameter adjustments to ArduPilot tuning the PID parameters. I read here previously that PID-tuning will always be "trial and error" manual labor , but wonder if a ballpark figure could be "dialed in".
Hi Tom. Thanks for your feedback. The yellow block is what I called my "snap on turret". It's really a snap to mount, holding with 4 magnets, and regular 4 pin header connectors (2 of them). It contains the XY sensor and the GPS board. Description and closer views of this turret is to be found here.
To your question 2: no I didn't load ArduPilot components until now but I am in the process of doing with following layout, but with latest board+shield version. So no PID gains tweaking until now, but I hope to experiment them soon.
Very nice project. I envy the good economy of space to place your components. Lots of fabrication work.
Two questions:
First: Is the yellow block on top for the X/Y sensor? Does the X/Y sensor mount on top of it or inside? The reason I asked, because I considered making a cover for my X/Y sensor (with holes cout out that would allow the sensors to "see" at the right angle) in order to better blend in with the plane's design, but I was afraid that I will impair the sensors' angle of view (40 degrees?).
Second: did you use ArduPilot 2.2 already in this airframe? If yes, did you have to modiy the PID gains significantly?
Comments
"Could you please post the PID gains you had for the Telemaster ? I'm in the process of implementing ArduPilot in a SIG Kadet Senior taildragger, so those probably would be better start values than the EasyStar PID gains. Thanks very much."
smguest answered :
Sure - just remember that I'm using Arudpilot software version 1.x and that these are the gains that I currently use for the RTL function and haven't tested them in the waypoint mode. I made several modifications to the control linkage and therefore the old gains I had before (when I did test the waypoint mode) no longer worked well.
heading_max 50
heading_min -50
altitude_max 40
altitude_min -45
Kp_heading 1
Ki_heading 0.01
Kd_heading 0.3
Kp_altitude 5
Ki_altitude 0.001
Kd_altitude 2
Good luck with the Kadet.
Quote end
If this helps you getting started. I'll use those values as starting point.
As far as the PID tuning.... I wish there was a way to hook up to ArduPilot another Arduino, or other microcontroller based, or Xbee PC/laptop connection that would perform in the air analysis to send parameter adjustments to ArduPilot tuning the PID parameters. I read here previously that PID-tuning will always be "trial and error" manual labor , but wonder if a ballpark figure could be "dialed in".
To your question 2: no I didn't load ArduPilot components until now but I am in the process of doing with following layout, but with latest board+shield version. So no PID gains tweaking until now, but I hope to experiment them soon.
Very nice project. I envy the good economy of space to place your components. Lots of fabrication work.
Two questions:
First: Is the yellow block on top for the X/Y sensor? Does the X/Y sensor mount on top of it or inside? The reason I asked, because I considered making a cover for my X/Y sensor (with holes cout out that would allow the sensors to "see" at the right angle) in order to better blend in with the plane's design, but I was afraid that I will impair the sensors' angle of view (40 degrees?).
Second: did you use ArduPilot 2.2 already in this airframe? If yes, did you have to modiy the PID gains significantly?
Thanks.
Tom