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ArduCopter in action: Testing the QuadCopter (HIL mode) on X-Plane v9

Posted by Jean-Louis Naudin on December 30, 2011 at 5:34am

ArduCopter in action: Testing the QuadCopter (HIL mode) on X-Plane v9

Here a video a the ArduMega board (2560 or 1280) with the firmware ArduCopter v2.1.1b (JLN update for X-Plane) connected on the X-Plane simulator throught the APM Planner in HIL mode. The QuadCopter QRO has been modelized for X-Plane v9.0 (or greater) so as get a closest replication of a true QuadCopter UAV.

This is a very good method for testing all the features of the ArduCopter firmware. For conducting a such test, only an ArduMega board (APM1280, APM2560, APM2) is used, no IMU shield or sensor are required here...

Setup:

- Receiver: Turnigy 9X8C v2 connected to the APM board

- Transmitter: Turnigy 9x

- APM planner v1.1.1x

- ArduMega board (APM v1 or APM v2)

- firmware ArduCopter v2.x.x + the JLN mod for X-Plane

- Software: X-Plane v9 or greater

- QRO_X: the quadcopter model (by JLN) for X-Plane

More infos at:

http://diydrones.com/profile/JeanLouisNaudin

drone, uas, uav, arducopter, ardumega, ardupilot, multicopter, multirotor, quadcopter

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Comments

Developer

Jean-Louis Naudin January 2, 2012 at 9:18am

Here a video of a test of the firmware ArduCopter v2.1.1 r5b in HIL mode on X-Plane v9.70
I have tested the:
- LOITER mode (GPS position Hold)
- AUTO mode (full autonomous navigation under flight plan)
- Auto LANDING mode: full auto landing
Regards, Jean-Louis
Developer

Jean-Louis Naudin January 2, 2012 at 3:39am

You will find below the good network setting for using X-Plane v9 in HIL mode with the ArduCopter firmware v2.x.x:

Ps: I am using the X-Plane V9.70 retail version.

Regards,

Jean-Louis
Dara Shayda January 1, 2012 at 11:45pm

Same wishes for you as well.

We fly in rural areas, with extreme weather conditions. Right now there is an ice storm outside, I cannot fly the Arducopter.

It would be nice to have training and mission planning using what you have put together but throw in some wind and other weather conditions.

For training purposes this is ideal.

D
Developer

Jean-Louis Naudin January 1, 2012 at 11:23pm

Dear Mr Dara Shayda,

Thanks for your comment, I wish you an Happy New Year 2012 and a lot of hours of flights and R&D..

Regards, Jean-Louis
Dara Shayda January 1, 2012 at 11:12pm

Hello Mr. Naudin

This is 21st century engineering, this is why I am interested in the techs and community here.

Anyone can hook up some camera to some plane and take some fancy pictures, but this system work you propose here is the real engineering and the real innovation

Thank you
bergsprekken January 1, 2012 at 5:10pm

Whats the difference between using this firmware and the HIL Firmware installed from mission planner? Doesnt the missionplanner hil-firmware support x-plane?
Developer

Jean-Louis Naudin January 1, 2012 at 9:35am

You will find below the PID setup for the ArduCopter firmware v2.1.1r5 that I have tested successfully on X-Plane v9 with the QRO_X quadcopter in connected in HIL mode on the APM planner:

Regards, Jean-Louis
Developer

Jean-Louis Naudin January 1, 2012 at 8:50am

I have tested successfully the latest version of the ArduCopter v2.1.1r5 in HIL mode with the QRO_X Quadcopter on the X-Plane simulator v9.

You will find the full version (with a little bug corrected about the AUTO mode when a flight plan is running) with the QRO_X model and the FULL v2.1.1r5 firmware with the X-Plane mod

Regards, Jean-Louis
Martin Poller January 1, 2012 at 4:28am

Great post Jean-Louis,

As always you've taken time to detail all out the steps that we need to take for us to use this valuable testing tool.

I'll certainly be making good use of it.

many thanks.
Héctor García de Marina January 1, 2012 at 4:18am

Yeah of course,

but if you are going to develop new navigation algorithms relying on raw data (served at fixed sample time), keep in mind that the results will be false.

Another issue to keep in mind (that happened to me). If you stress the HW to the limit of its computation force, keep in mind that one second in XPlane is not one real second (usually in XPlane is a little bit higher), so your algorithm could run in real time with X-Plane, but it runs out of time in your autopilot with real raw data.