[[searchwing-ardupilot-parameters]]

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Ardupilot Parameter Setup

Parametername Value Description Remark
BRD_SAFETYENABLE 0 Disable the safety switch Safety switch is not accessible, because it is inside the fuselage
ARMING_RUDDER 2 Arm and Disarm with rudder Default is that you can only arm but not disarm with rudder
BRD_SAFETY_MASK 27 Servo 1,2,4,5 enabled These servos can move also in safe state - NOT REQUIRED???
INS_GYRO_CAL 0 Disable Gyro Calibration at startup This prevents INS calibration at startup
ARSPD_TYPE 0 No Airspeed Pitot Tube Disable the Pitottube airspeed sensor (we don't have one)
COMPASS_USE2 0 Disable PixRacer compass Disable the PixRacer internal compass
COMPASS_USE3 0 Disable PixRacer compass Disable the PixRacer internal compass

Is the safety_mask maybe not required because the pixracer is always in safe state? Safe and disarmed is different?

Parametername Value Description Remark
SERVO1_FUNCTION 4 Aileron left
SERVO1_REVERSED 1 Reverse the servo
SERVO2_FUNCTION 79 VTAIL left
SERVO2_REVERSED 0 Normal
SERVO3_FUNCTION 70 Throttle
SERVO3_REVERSED 0 Reverse the servo
SERVO4_FUNCTION 80 VTAIL right
SERVO4_REVERSED 1 Reverse servo
SERVO5_FUNCTION 4 Aileron right
SERVO5_REVERSED 1 Reversed
Servo ranges for servo 1,2,4,5 (aileron and vtail)
SERVOx_MIN 1000 Minimum servo value Default is 1100 - too high
SERVOx_MAX 2000 Maximum servo value Default is 1900 - too low
SERVOx_TRIM 1500 Default value Leitwerk mitte
Servo ranges for throttle
SERVO3_MIN 900 Minimum servo value CHECK THIS!!! Maybe 950 to be able to arm
SERVO3_MAX 2000 Maximum servo value Default is 1900 - too low
SERVO3_TRIM 900 Default value zero throttle
Parametername Value Description Remark
MIXING_GAIN 0.75 Mixing of pitch and rudder to vtail Default is 0.5 - full pitch will yield only 50 percent of vtail servo output
Parametername Value Description Remark
SERIAL4_BAUD 57 57600 Baud
SERIAL4_PROTOCOL 10 FrSky SPort Passthrough (OpenTX) Format for the FrSyk Telemetry

Aktiviert die FrSky Telemetrie auf dem FrSky Port des Pixracers

Metadata consist of GPS / Timestamp

Parametername Value Description Remark
SERIAL2_BAUD 9 9600 Baud reduced to 9600 as otherwise no wifi with MAVESP connection possible
SERIAL2_PROTOCOL 1 MAVLink1 Only MAVLink1 works for pymavlink on pi
SR2_RAW_SENS 0 0 Hz no raw data needed
SR2_EXT_STAT 1 1 Hz
SR2_RC_CHAN 0 0 Hz
SR2_RAW_CTRL 0 0 Hz
SR2_POSITION 2 2 Hz Contains GLOBAL_POSITION_INT, LOCAL_POSITION_NED messages
SR2_EXTRA1 2 2 Hz Contains ATTITUDE message
SR2_EXTRA2 0 0 Hz
SR2_EXTRA3 1 1 Hz Contains SYSTEM_TIME message
SR2_PARAMS 0 0 Hz
SR2_ADSB 0 0 Hz

Several bits can be set for logging of different informations: Log Bitmask Description

Enabled all (==65535) results in following per message data sum in bytes for a 20 minute flight:

  • The PID, NKF(EKF) and IMU take a lot of space.
  • The PID and EKF is saved using the “attitude” bit in the logging parameter setting (see Code). For the attitude two settings are available: Fast (50Hz), Medium(10Hz) according to LINK. I think 10Hz could be enough for us.
  • IMU logging could be disabled, as its already triggerd by attitude logging anyway (see Code), but with less data amount.
  • TECS (Total Energy Control System) is not analyzed so far and could be disabled.
  • CTUN Logs control loop tuning info at 10 Hz. This information is useful for tuning servo control loop gain values. AFAIK this is not analyzed so far and could be disabled.
  • NTUN Logs navigation tuning info at 10 Hz. This information is useful for tuning navigation control loop gain values. AFAIK this is not analyzed so far and could be disabled.

This results in the following Table (according to Log Bitmask Description):

Bit Meaning Enabled
0 ATTITUDE_FAST(50Hz) OFF
1 ATTITUDE_MED(10Hz) ON
2 GPS ON
3 PM ON
4 CTUN OFF
5 NTUN OFF
6 MODE ON
7 IMU OFF
8 CMD ON
9 CURRENT ON
10 COMPASS ON
11 TECS OFF
12 CAMERA OFF
13 RC ON
14 SONAR OFF
15 ARM/DISARM ON
19 IMU_RAW OFF

This results into the following parameter values. In the remarks you can see empirical Results for some settings from ArduPlane Simulator.

Parametername Value Description Remark
LOG_BITMASK 65535 Log all ~3.04 MB/Min Log
LOG_BITMASK 42830 Log from table above ~2.08 MB/Min Log
LOG_BITMASK 2 Log only attitude Medium ~1.75 MB/Min Log
Parametername Value Description Remark
SERIAL5_BAUD 921 921600 Baud
SERIAL5_PROTOCOL 2 MAVLink2
  1	1	BATT_AMP_PERVLT	24.0	9
  1	1	BATT_AMP_OFFSET	-0.07	9
  1	1	BATT_CURR_PIN	3	2
  1	1	BATT_MONITOR	4	2
  1	1	BATT_SERIAL_NUM	-1	6
  1	1	BATT_VOLT_MULT	10.213	9
  1	1	BATT_VOLT_PIN	2	2
  1	1	BATT_WATT_MAX	0	4
  
  

To measure the RPM of the motor we can use a BACK-EMF Measurement from 2 of the 3 motorcables. For more info check out the page:

https://www.hobbywingdirect.com/products/rpm-sensor

We connected the output pins to a AUX pin of the FC. Check out the info from Ardupilot for some info regarding the following config:

https://ardupilot.org/copter/docs/common-rpm.html

Parametername Value Description Remark
RPM_MAX 100000.000000000000000000
RPM_MIN 10.000000000000000000
RPM_MIN_QUAL 0.100000001490116119
RPM_PIN Pin PIN depending on FC
RPM_SCALING 0.143 check the hints below for this setting
RPM_TYPE 2 AUX Type needs to be AUX to calc using the given sensor

The RPM in general can be calculated using the formula from https://www.radiocontrolinfo.com/brushless-motor-efficiency/measuring-motor-rpm/ :

RPM = ( 120 x Frequency ) / # of Motor Poles

Thats because:

The AC current that is produced alternates each time 2 magnetic poles pass by a winding in the stator.

As Ardupilot measures the periode duration dt_avg of the sensor rectangular signal, and calculates the RPM using

float rpm = scaling * (1.0e6 / dt_avg) * 60;

the scaling needs to correct this using

SCALING = ( 1 / # of Motor Poles ) * 2

For the Extron 800KV Motor , we have 14 Poles.

(David, Mülli, Simon)

  1	1	ARSPD_FBW_MAX	28	4
  1	1	ARSPD_FBW_MIN	12	4

Min and max airspeed - default 22 / 9

  1	1	LIM_PITCH_MAX	3000	4
  1	1	LIM_PITCH_MIN	-2000	4

default 2000, -2500

  1	1	MIN_GNDSPD_CM	800	6

If min groundspeed is net met, plane increases throttle

  1	1	NAVL1_DAMPING	0.800000023841857910	9	
  1	1	NAVL1_PERIOD	17.000000000000000000	9

This is the default value for NAVL1 (Beck, 27.2.20)

  1	1	PTCH2SRV_RLL	1.299999952316284180	9

This parameter controls how much elevator to add in turns to keep the nose level. Many aircraft require a small change to this parameter from the default of 1.0. (autotune)

  1	1	TECS_CLMB_MAX	6.500000000000000000	9
  1	1	TECS_SINK_MAX	5.000000000000000000	9
  1	1	WP_LOITER_RAD	60	4	
  1	1	WP_RADIUS	90	4

WP settings are set to default (Beck, 27.2.20)

# Modes Setup (Special Switches)

to be done.

  • searchwing-ardupilot-parameters.1622328941.txt.gz
  • Last modified: 2021/05/30 00:55
  • by wf68spef