Developer

ArduPilot Auto Launch Testing

Auto Launch in 2.7 from Jason Short on Vimeo.


This is always a cross your finger moment. Chris offered to flight test the new auto-launch code which has never been flown before outside of Xplane. I think I heard him say something like 'well this is an old plane and I've landed it in the bay a few times so I guess we should try...'


The winds were pretty heavy, but the auto heading hold worked nicely.

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Comments

  • Developer
    There is a height setup, right now 75 meters is the default. If you go above that height you exit into Autopilot mode and go on to waypoints.

    When launching, the plane looks for a certain speed - 3m/s - and locks in the heading. The plane will hold that heading until you reach the altitude. The pitch looks at your speed. It slowly will pitch up as you gain speed.
  • 3D Robotics
    Note the transmitter ON THE GROUND. That's confidence in Jason's code for you!

    Eventually I picked up the transmitter to land the plane after it had done its mission. Next time we'll set up autoland, too, and I'll try to keep it on the ground for the whole flight.
  • This is nice. The old 2.6 Autolaunch would drift depending on your tuning.

    Lemme get this straight - you are keeping roll@0, pitch@whatever and course@ launch value until you attain the required height?
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