Successful 3.5 Km autonomous flight of the MAJA drone with a GoPro HD
The MAJA drone has done a successful 3.5 Km autonomous mission under flight plan on May 2011.
The FPL is composed of 5 waypoints and the MAJA drone autopilot runs the FPL during 2 loops. The full flight have been recorded with a GoPro HD wide camera. The MAJA drone is fully steered with an ArduPilotMega (APM v1.4) autopilot with a 9D0F IMU and the firmware v2.2f (JLN modified version).
The weather conditions was a bit windy and gusty: Wind 13 Km/h from ENE, gusting 20 Km/h with strong thermal lifts.
The MAJA drone setup:
Avionic setup:
- ArduPilotMega APM v1.4 (Atmega 1280 @16 MHz), 32 Mips
- Full 9DOF IMU,
- Built-in 16 MB Data Logger,
- Airspeed and absolute pressure sensors (Bosh),
- triple axis magnetometer HMC5843,
- 10Hz Mediatek GPS MTK v1.6,
- Full high speed telemetry with MavLink protocol,
- Low speed telemetry with M-Link,
- PC Laptop ground station (APM planner),
- Hand-held groundstation (Ardustation),
- XBeePro 900 for High Speed Telemetry (Mavlink).
Firmware: APM v2.2f (modified version by JLN)
Camera: GoPro HD Wide
- Brushless motor: Spitz 30 (BMI) 360 Watts (Max 480W),
- propeller thin APC-E 12x6,
- ESC: BMI #85505 C-45 (45-55A),
- 4 servos Corona CS-929 MG (1.8 kg.cm, 12.5g),
- Propulsion battery: Lipo 3S Turnigy Nanotech 3300mAh 11.1V,
- Avionic battery: Lipo 3S Turnigy Nanotech 2200 mAh 11.1V,
- UBec 5A, 5V for the Avionics (ArduPilotMega + Receiver),
- Receiver: Multiplex RX9 DR with M-Link telemetry.
Payload: Up to 1.5 Kg (Lipo battery included)
Flight time: Up to 1 hour (depends on the Lipo capacity)
More infos at: http://diydrones.com/profile/JeanLouisNaudin
Comments
Hello Luke,
Today, If I need to rebuild a new MAJA drone, I shall only replace the APM v1 by the new APM v2... That's all. The MAJA flight very well and it is able to do full autonomous missions safety in various weather conditions.
Regards, Jean-Louis
Hi Jean-Louis,
A friend and I are looking into the MAJA. Is there anything you would do differently if you were to build it again today, or does your component list still ring true?
Thanks!
Here the PIDs and config setup used for the autonomous flight:
Regards, Jean-Louis
Hello Michael, I have used the main APM code 2.1 and added some update so to get the flight and the spec according to my wish:
My tested version is now the v2.2f, below the log of these changes:
// Updated on 05-24-11: Successful test on a 3.5 Km closed loop nav under flight plan - AirSpeed and throttle tuned
// Updated on 05-24-11: Tested in flight v2.2f - Added the GBOOST for windy conditions (frontwind)
// Updated on 05-23-11: Tested in flight v2.2e - Nav OK, WP alt lock correction
// Updated on 05-22-11: control_mode updated for the GPS emulator, mode change with the transmitter switch in simulation
// Updated on 05-22-11: use the latest library for the waypoint list set by the APM planner v 0.4.35
// Updated on 05-19-11: New test in flight, minor bug corrected for the RTL
// Updated on 05-18-11: New test in flight, minor bug corrected if closed loop nav is enabled
// Updated on 05-10-11: added GPS emulator protocol for nav simulation with the Rembizi GPSemulator v1.1.45
// Updated on 05-06-11: added full autonomous navigation in closed loop under flight plan for long tests runs
// Updated on 05-02-11: added embedded Ardustation Protocol for the Ardustation v1.2
The full firmware APM v2.2f source (and the lib) that I have used for the full autonomous flight on the MAJA drone, can be found HERE.
Regards, Jean-Louis