Auto Takeoff in Auto, Guided and Loiter modes

[Glenn Gregory]

Hey guys,

I'm just trying to get some clarification about the current status of the auto takeoff feature in AC. I'm in a situation where I am wanting to do all control from GCS in the modes. The main features I am after are:

- Takeoff to a pre-defined altitude and loiter for next command.

- Fly to waypoint (fly to here in Mission Planner) and loiter

- Select POI (ROI)

I believe all these features are already available in ArduCopter and Mission Planner or MAVProxy. But I am having trouble with auto takeoff. I can define a mission in Mission Planner with takeoff as first item and get this to run by setting to Auto mode, arm and then 'RC 3 1600' in MAVProxy. But there doesn't seem to be a way to just send takeoff command and loiter until next command. 

- Can I start an auto mission from GCS only? I set to Auto, Arm and select Do Action on Mission Start command but nothing happens. Only a 'RC 3 1600' command will initiate it.

- Can I initiate a takeoff to a pre-defined altitude in Guided or Loiter mode? I.e is using the MAV_CMD_NAV_TAKEOFF command? I have tried to 'takeoff 10' in MAVProxy in Auto, Loiter and Guided modes when armed and have no response. Should this command be working? I quick browse of the code suggests this command isn't handled directly over mavlink but only as a mission item. Is this correct?

So if anyone can suggest the correct method for taking off and loitering as a predefined altitude that would be awesome. Via Mission Planner, MAVProxy or just general commands. My thinking was you should be able to do the following (in MAVProxy for example, but doesn't work):

- mode guided                  <- Successfully changes to guided

- arm throttle                    <- Successfully arms with response

- takeoff 10                      <- Nothing happens :(

Thanks guys.

[Randy Mackay]

Glenn,

 

     You’re understanding is right on the mark.

 

     Basically we don’t support the nav-takeoff command in guided mode, it’s only supported as part of a mission and we also require that the throttle be raised to start the mission (or guided mode) and this must be done through an rc-override.

 

     Both are on the to-do list and are discussed in this particular issue:

               https://github.com/diydrones/ardupilot/issues/656

 

     I’m pretty sure I will get to these over the next few months but if anyone wants to take a crack at supporting the take-off as part of guided I’m happy to provide advice.  It’s actually not that difficult to add because as part of the AVC balloon popper I added the “guided-mode” variable and structure to support guided mode doing various things besides just flying to a point.

 

     Sorting out the RC override thing is a much bigger job because I think it will involve rewriting the RC_Channel library and supporting multiple input devices at the same time (i.e. TX and tablet input). I imagine we will model this on how we’ve added support for dual GPS, dual compass, etc.

 

-Randy

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[Glenn Gregory]

Great thanks for the reply and link to the issue on git Randy. 

I would love to help out with getting takeoff (and other features) in guided mode working. I'm just not going to get a chance over the next month unfortunately. I'll see the state of it after then to see if I can contribute.

Just to clarify. If we start the mission with the RC override, would it then be acceptable to put this back to 0 'RC 3 0' then 'RC 3 -1' to disable override control. And the mission would continue flying? I'm mainly thinking when it comes to land it normally needs a low throttle signal again to fully disarm.

[Randy Mackay]

Glenn,

 

      Yes, I think clearing the rc-override will work.  At that point I would expect the throttle failsafe to trigger but if it’s already in AUTO mode and the FS_THR_ENABLE is set to 2 it will continue with the mission.  When it came home it would see both the low throttle and the failsafe and it would disarm automatically.  This all only applies to Auto mode though, if it was in guided mode the moment the rc-override was cleared the throttle failsafe would cause it to RTL.

[Glenn Gregory]

Great thanks for the advice Randy.

Hopefully I can come back to getting more functionality into Guided mode when I get more time.

[Glenn Gregory]

@Randy

I've got a few spare days to help out with auto takeoff in guided mode as discussed here:

https://github.com/diydrones/ardupilot/issues/656