Blogs

Developer

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

Tags: drone, uas, uav, arducopter, ardumega, ardupilot, multicopter, multirotor, quadcopter
E-mail me when people leave their comments –
Follow

You need to be a member of diydrones to add comments!

Join diydrones

Comments

  • marc.kulhavy February 26, 2012 at 2:04am

    Jean-Luis,

    I tried the HIL V.2.4.1 quad with X-Plane 9.70 but cannot get the quad to lift off.

    All inputs work correctly and are translated to X-Plane, but the throttle range is limited to somewhat 10%-20%.

    By changing the throttle gain in the simulator-tab I can shift the throttle up, but never get the full range form 0-100%.

    I am using APM V1.4 and X-Plane 9.70.

    Any ideas?

    Regards

    Marc

  • Daniel Chapelat February 6, 2012 at 5:45am

    Bonjour Jean Louis,

    J'ai voulu copier:

    APM_Config.h

    APM_PID_HIL_JLN.h

    GCS_Mavlink.pde

    dans le firmware ArduCopter 2.3 (,car le 2.3 quad HIL charger avec APM Planner ne fonctionne pas avec Xplane9 (impossible  d'armer)) mais j'obtiens des erreurs de compilation. Je suis nul avec arduino, pouvez vous me donner la bonne démarche?

    Merci

    Daniel

  • Ammar Husain January 31, 2012 at 5:05am

    Hello Daniel, if Google translated French correctly for me, I used only one PC to run it. I also follow the same boot order as you mentioned..

  • Daniel Chapelat January 30, 2012 at 11:29pm

    Bonjour Amar,

    J'ai eu le même PB car j'utilisais Xplane en réseau sur 2 pc distincts, résolu en utilisant 1 seul PC comme indiqué dans le tuto,:Voici l'ordre de démarrage qui fonctionne dans mon cas:

    1 démarrer en 1er xplane puis pause

    ,2 démarrer Mission Planner,

    3 Connecter et démarrage sim

    ,4 mettre en service TX & Rx,

    5 exécuter le Script

    PS: si  il y "crash" il faut reprendre à l'étape 3

    En espérant vous avoir été utile,cordialement Daniel

  • Ammar Husain January 29, 2012 at 5:13pm

    Hey, I am trying to run this simulation using XPlane by following the steps on the wiki. I am using a demo version of XPlane 9.0. However when I load the situation, my screen starts vibrating like crazy and the quad does not follow the script or the mission waypoints. Any suggestions please? I couldnt get it to work using a radio either.. 

  • George Khobra January 19, 2012 at 6:11am

    Hello Jean, This is some great work simulating arducopter flight behavior.

    Do you know what sensing data can the simulator reproduce? I am modifying the firmware for odometry based navigation in addition to using the GPS at low altitudes. As of now I use the translations produced by the optical flow sensor to do that. Could I test my modified firmware on this simulator package?

    Thank you again!

  • Sven January 10, 2012 at 1:27pm

    hi great how to and informations,

    but i have a question. is it not possible to connect my real copter with the real settings and firmware to the x plane simulator? so i understoud that i have to install the HIL firmware on the copter and than connect to the pc/ xplane

    thanks

    Sven

  • Daniel Chapelat January 10, 2012 at 9:30am

    Bonsoir,

    Merci pour cette réponse rapide j'ai déjà tenter cela mais sans succès,je vais tenter un reset eprom et tout reprendre du début

    Cordialement,Daniel

  • Developer
    Jean-Louis Naudin January 10, 2012 at 8:14am

    Bonjour,

    Pour mettre en route le quadricoptère, il faut avoir les gaz à zéro et mettre le lacet à fond à droite pendant au moins 5 secondes... Pour couper les moteurs: gaz mini et lacet à gauche pendant 5 sec.

    To Start the quadricopter, you need to set the throttle to zero and then the yaw to the full right at least for about 5 seconds. To stop the motors: throttle to zero then yaw full left for about 5 sec.

    Regards, Jean-Louis

  • Daniel Chapelat January 10, 2012 at 6:12am

    Bonjour Jean Louis,

    bravo pour vos travaux(je vais quelques fois sur votre site)

    J'ai voulu tester la sim HIL sur x-plane 9.70 car je suis seul aeoromodélisme dans mon coin de france,j'ai refait  dix fois toutes les manipulations du tuto,mais je n'ai pas l'accélérateur (les trois autres voies fonctionnent).

    avez vous une idée?

    Merci,cordialement,Daniel Chapelat

This reply was deleted.