Thanks to the good ideas of Gary Mortimer and others, we're now launching a Trust Time Trial contest. The idea is simple: you set up four waywaypoints, spaced 200m apart, on your own field and time your UAV completing the course. Upload the data in the comments here. Best time on Sept 1 wins (I've got a prize this month--a new FunJet kit).
In the future, we'll add complexity and stricter standards to the trial, but this first one is easy:
1) Must complete the pattern as shown above, totally autonomously (go into auto mode before waypoint 1 and exit after you hit waypoint 1 again). The four points are arranged in a square, with 200m on a side (obviously the two diagonal paths are longer). Any aircraft/autopilot allowed. It doesn't matter how close to the waypoints you get, as long as you pass on the outside of them.
2) For this first one, altitude is not graded.
3) Fastest time to hit all points and return to 1 wins (one lap). Must provide GPS track with timestamps and on-board video. (If you don't have/can't afford a small onboard videocamera like the FlyCamOne 2, we'll let it go this time. But in the future: video or it didn't happen!)
4) Must also demonstrate that fun was had. Kids, picnics, silly hats, marching bands, something.
GPS tracks are best achieved with an onboard GPS datalogger, like the i-Blue 747 or smaller Sanav ML-7. But if you don't have one or don't want to add the weight, you can just capture the GPS track from your telemetry stream, although you'll have to figure out how to convert it to KML format to export to Google Earth (see below). If your Ground Control System has a built-in map+track function, a screen shot of that is fine, but it should be possible for people to check to confirm that your leg lengths are at least 200m.
Evidence data should include these four things:1) Total time, along with aircraft and autopilot used. A photo of the aircraft would be nice.
2) Screen capture of path exported to Google Earth or an equivalent, annotated with waypoints and where autonomy began and ended. Here's a sample from Dean Goedde (waypoints and autonomy not marked):3) GPS datalog file, any format
4) Onboard video, embedded from YouTube or Vimeo. [Not absolutely required but requested]
How to draw path on google image.... how to track that plaease tell me i m successful in running the plane in simulation on data log from plane. but dont know how to make path with visible line
Wow third of August and three tries already, great looking tracks IOS, makes you wonder if you had laid it out 90 degrees around if it would have worked better, still all part of the learning experience. Three horse race now!
Just got back from my first three attempts,... It looks shocking, but from the ground it wasn't so bad. I still havn't looked at the log data yet so that I can give you guys a time (it was around 2minutes on my transmitter clock), but the plane was a little fast and got carried away going into the downwind turn in 10-12knots wind. I'll make a few adjustments and try again - hopefully in calmer wind. I'll post the data this afternoon after work.
While I'm not going to formally submit what may be the record for the slowest time, I thought I'd share my results in the spirit of the competition - having fun! I was intrigued to see what I coult get out of my Electric Telemaster with an Ardupilot (v1.1 and slightly modified) and got a 1:59 and a 2:01. I don't have the gains tweaked that well but then again, the plane is set up primarily for loitering slow fpr fpv flight and the gains work just fine as a failsafe RTL, the primary reason for having the Ardupilot in that aircraft.
Just for grins, I'm including the Google Earth ground track and you can see how well it makes some turns and how poorly it makes others, but it does move along the general path. I think some of the variation was the wind (5 to 10 mph with a plane flying at about 20), and some of it happens because of the 30m tolerance on waypoint capture.
I'm hoping to take a stab at this with the UAV DevBoard in a Twister so we'll see if I can get that to behave better.
Comments
Just got back from my first three attempts,... It looks shocking, but from the ground it wasn't so bad. I still havn't looked at the log data yet so that I can give you guys a time (it was around 2minutes on my transmitter clock), but the plane was a little fast and got carried away going into the downwind turn in 10-12knots wind. I'll make a few adjustments and try again - hopefully in calmer wind. I'll post the data this afternoon after work.Just for grins, I'm including the Google Earth ground track and you can see how well it makes some turns and how poorly it makes others, but it does move along the general path. I think some of the variation was the wind (5 to 10 mph with a plane flying at about 20), and some of it happens because of the 30m tolerance on waypoint capture.
I'm hoping to take a stab at this with the UAV DevBoard in a Twister so we'll see if I can get that to behave better.
And one more thing I forgot: A picture of my airframe! So here it is:
Paparazzi along with the tranceiver is inside the canopy. The camera box can be seen under the right wing.-
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