Fixed wing autonomous flight

[Reddog]

I have been a bit absent from flying as I have been moving all my models over to my new Taranis TX. Now I have that sorted I would like to get Fixed Wing autonomous flight going. Kenn sent me the below (months ago) but its not complete and it might not work anymore. I was wondering if there were any instructions for getting autonomous flight on fixed wing available? I am looking for them because I would like the best chance at not crashing but realise that I might be using untested code.

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1) On the attitude tab, go to filter settings and set the Attitude Algorithm to INSOutdoor and the Navigation Algorithm to INS. You will no longer be able to arm your plane if you do not have a GPS lock with at least 7 satellites. If this starts proving to be a problem, i.e. it never gets the lock because of poor GPS reception, then switch to Complementary/Raw algorithms. However, don't try to fly autonomous flight then.
2) Disable "Turn off integral when throttle low" checkbox.
3) No always armed. Arm via switch.
4) No timeout on low throttle (i.e. set it to 0).


First flight in manual
1) While flying, trim plane for level wings and no pitch/airspeed change.
2) Land and disarm
3) Click button "Trim servos" in the fixed-wing airframe tab.
4) Reset TX trims to 0.

Second flight in stabilized modes
1) Do not use Attitude modes. Use AttitudePlus only.
2) Test that flight behavior in manual control is still trimmed properly.
3) Fly and tune pitch and roll rate P for good behavior
4) Fly and tune pitch and roll attitude PI for good behavior. Set I at 1/2 to 1/4 of P.
5) Once plane is flying well, trim plane for straight and level flight at approximately the desired airspeed.
6) Land and disarm
7) In the fixed-wing airframe tab, click the "Set level angle" button.
8) Reset trims to 0.

You should now have a plane which flies well in all modes.

Autonomous flight values:
*** Make sure you follow the instructions in the link I sent you a few minutes ago. ***
1) In the fixedwingairspeeds UAVO, set the bestrateofclimb. Ignore everything else
2) In the fixedwingpathfollower UAVO, Set your pitch limits to +-7 degrees. This is a good first guess.

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[Carsten Böhme]

>>>*** Make sure you follow the instructions in the link I sent you a few minutes ago. ***

Are there any instructions missing from your post?

[Reddog]

No, he posted them on the now missing odasys.org.

[peabody124]

I created a wiki page for those instructions and added a few steps at the end

https://github.com/TauLabs/TauLabs/wiki/User-Guide:-Configuring-fixed-wing-autonomous-flight

I can't vouch for the code. I tried running it in the simulator but I'm getting odd results even in simple stabilized mode which I suspect is an issue with the simulator more than the code.

[peabody124]

Also, I'd start by testing either RTH or PH since you should be able to flip into manual and recover regardless of what they do, so you shouldn't be really risking your plane if you are a decent pilot. Make sure you are recording logs of any flight otherwise we won't be able tell you much about the results ...

[Reddog]

Thanks everyone, much appreciated.

Will get back to you soon on how I went.

[Carsten Böhme]

Hi Reddog, any success so far? Have you encountered this warning? It says 'Timed out waiting for an attitude update'. Maybe because I have not done  trim servos/level angle yet?

[Reddog]

I have had no time yet to fly but fixed wing flight is the next thing I am doing once I get the time. I will report back ASAP.