Ultimate jets EXO x6a, Operation Manual

Page 1: ...5 1 0 4 Select firmware 5 1 0 5 Connect to MavLink 6 1 1 Planning a Mission with Waypoints and Events 6 1 1 1 Basic waypoint commands 7 1 1 2 Tips 7 1 1 3 Setting the Home Position 8 1 1 4 Instructio...

Page 2: ...5 Message Details APM Copter specific 35 1 4 6 Viewing KMZ FILES 41 1 4 7 Video Tutorials 41 1 5 Using Ground Station Apps on Phones Tablets 41 1 5 1 Andropilot 42 1 5 2 Droidplanner 44 1 5 3 iOS Devi...

Page 3: ...ting Manual introduction This manual is split in two main parts 1 The software operations part that explains how to setup and use the 3D Robotics APM autopilot 2 The platform operations part that expl...

Page 4: ...own menus Download mission log files and analyze them Configure APM settings for your airframe Interface with a PC flight simulator to create a full hardware in the loop UAV simulator See the output f...

Page 5: ...anually 1 0 3 Connect APM to Mission Planner Next we ll let Mission Planner know which port we re using to connect to APM In Mission Planner use the drop down menus in the upper right corner of the sc...

Page 6: ...s complete 1 0 5 Connect to MavLink Select Connect upper right corner of the screen to load MavLink parameters to APM Mission Planner will display a window showing the progress of the MavLink download...

Page 7: ...common ones NAV_WAYPOINT n a alt lat lon NAV_TAKEOFF pitch target altitude NAV_LAND n a alt lat lon DO_JUMP waypoint n a repeat count n a Goes to that waypoint and resumes mission there Set repeat cou...

Page 8: ...stance again A dialog box will open with the distance between the two points 1 1 3 Setting the Home Position For APM Copter the home position is set as the location where the copter was armed This mea...

Page 9: ...sion Planner is ignored ArduCopter only uses the default relative altitude In the screenshot above a mission for arducopter starts with an auto takeoff to 20 meters attitude then goes to WP 2 rising t...

Page 10: ...ou don t have that checked your aircraft will try to maintain the altitude it was at when you switched on RTL Verify height means that the Mission Planner will use Google Earth topology data to adjust...

Page 11: ...ft should just go back and forth in a lawnmower pattern over an area to collect photographs To do this in the right click menu select Polygon and draw a box around the area you want to map Then select...

Page 12: ...onds the default is 0 Waypoint Option Bitmask no yet available in the Mission Planner bit 0 Altitude is stored 0 Absolute 1 Relative bit 1 Change Alt between WP 0 Gradually 1 ASAP bit 2 bit 3 Req to h...

Page 13: ...egin to orbit the current location when the command is invoked RETURN_TO_LAUNCH Option Alt Lat Lon N A Altitude meters N A N A Will cause the craft to return to the home position set when the craft is...

Page 14: ...Time in Seconds N A Will delay the execution of the next conditional command CONDITION_DISTANCE N A N A Distance meters N A Will override the next waypoint altitude Useful when used after a delay or...

Page 15: ...change 1 Absolute 0 Fine grain controls of the Yaw DO_SET_MODE Option Alt Lat Lon Not Implemented DO_JUMP Option Alt Lat Lon The desired command index of Jumps DO_CHANGE_SPEED Option Alt Lat Lon Spee...

Page 16: ...ters Latitude Longitude Setting will persist until reboot The location is optional The option is a number from 0 to 4 MAV_ROI_NONE 0 Yaw will hold it s current angle MAV_ROI_WPNEXT 1 Yaw will point at...

Page 17: ...issue the Jump command after that A full guide to MAVLink command and parameter syntax for developers can be found in the Developer section Click on Community select Developer then look in the table...

Page 18: ...o next waypoint in meters o Bearing ERR How far your UAV is from the perfect line to the next waypoint o Alt ERR How far your UAV is from the target altitude o WP Next waypoint to hit o Mode Current a...

Page 19: ...llows you to upload your own orthophotos Use will require Globalmapper as this is currently one of the key steps in exporting in the required format for use in the planner 1 2 2 Guided Mode One of the...

Page 20: ...metry logs also known as tlogs and the subject of this page are recorded by the mission planner when you connect your APM to your computer via your 3DR or Xbee wireless telemetry link or USB 1 3 2 Whe...

Page 21: ...tions the actual rate of the data sent and saved may be lower than the rate requested 1 3 4 Playing back missions If you are using wireless telemetry and have connected to to APM via the Mission Plann...

Page 22: ...move and the vehicles location on the map will update as it did during the flight Individual data values can be seen through the Status tab and you can even display them in a graph by clicking on the...

Page 23: ...13 1 3 5 Creating 3d images of the flight path You can create KMZ files by doing this Open the mission planner s Flight Data screen Click on the Telemetry Logs tab Press the Tlog Kml or Graph button P...

Page 24: ...ml file will be created along side the original tlog and this can be opened in google earth to interactively view the 3d flight path You can open the kmz file in Google Earth to view the flight or pat...

Page 25: ...pane on the left It should appear in a Temporary Places folder Right click on an individual path and select Properties to open the Edit Path window The color can be changed on the Style Color tab The...

Page 26: ...itor Extract WPs will create one or more txt files containing any missions uploaded to the APM PX4 These files can be opened in the Mission Planner by switching to the Flight Plan screen right mouse b...

Page 27: ...down or by right mouse button clicking on the graph and selecting Set Scale To Default 1 3 8 Video overview of tlogs http www youtube com watch feature player_embedded v 4IRRN5YMHJA 1 4 Downloading a...

Page 28: ...n addition to the defaults you can use the Log Bitmask drop down in the Mission Planner s Advanced Parameters list For better control of exactly which messages are recorded you can use the CLI command...

Page 29: ...s part of a mission COMPASS raw compass values and compassmot compensation values CURRENT battery voltage current and board voltage information recorded at 10hz CTUN throttle and altitude information...

Page 30: ...rolling the horizontal position Loiter RTL Auto modes OPTFLOW optical flow sensor velocities and desired roll and pitch angles if OF_LOITER is engaged PID resulting P I and D outputs of the PID contro...

Page 31: ...Terminal Screen Click Connect APM or Connect PX4 When the prompt appears click Log Download When the Log window appears click the checkbox of the log you wish to download normally the highest number S...

Page 32: ...d the is the log number Along with the log file will be a kmz file which show you a 3D view of the flight path if opened in Google Earth A gpx file is also produced but is rarely used Clearing logs Th...

Page 33: ...n the area just below the graph but above the green graphing buttons The basic format of the dataflash is Line numbers appear on the very left side of the viewer Software version and board type appear...

Page 34: ...ll wheel can be used to zoom in or out You may also select an area of the graph to zoom in on it Zoom out by right mouse button clicking and selecting Set Scale to Default Here s a mini tutorial on us...

Page 35: ...tch the vehicle s actual pitch angle in centi degrees YawIn the pilot s desired yaw rate as a number from 4500 4500 not necessarily in deg sec or any other understandable unit Yaw the vehicles actual...

Page 36: ...y different purposes Prm1 the command s parameter used for many different purposes Alt the command s altitude in meters Lat the command s latitude position Lng the command s longitude position COMPASS...

Page 37: ...climb rate estimate in cm s ThrOut final throttle output sent to the motors from 0 1000 Normally equal to ThrIn while in stabilize mode DCRate pilot desired climb rate in cm s D32 DU32 single data val...

Page 38: ...f contact between RX TX ECode 0 above error resolve meaning RX TX contact likely restored 6 Battery failsafe ECode 1 battery voltage dropped below LOW_VOLT or total battery capacity used exceeded BATT...

Page 39: ...itude according to the GPS Lng Longitude according to the GPS RelAlt Accelerometer Baro altitude in meters Alt GPS reported altitude not used by the flight controller SPD horizontal ground speed in m...

Page 40: ...oint in degrees PErX distance to intermediate target between copter and the next waypoint in the latitude direction PErY distance to intermediate target between copter and the next waypoint in the lon...

Page 41: ...e that any loop took since the last PM message This should be close to 10 000 but will be up to 6 000 000 during the interval where the motors are armed PMT a number that increments each time a heart...

Page 42: ...ets via an Android OTG cable there are many available and they cost 1 2 from Amazon Here s one example Once the radio is connected you can control and monitor the UAV from your phone tablet just as yo...

Page 43: ...Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013 Available here...

Page 44: ...is also an iOS radio app in development from Fighting Walrus due out in September 2013 Apple iOS apps are harder to implement because Apple requires any hardware device that connects to an iPhone of...

Page 45: ...in the menu The Mission Planner Console When you first open Mission Planner you will see a small window with a black background with a lot of text scrolling by When Mission Planner finally opens the...

Page 46: ...mport and baud rate to output standard nmea data at 2 hz to any serial port One application would be to use com2com to emulate a serial port to use with third party applications You can have the Missi...

Page 47: ...m RC3_MIN True Script Sleep 5000 while cs lat 0 print Waiting for GPS Script Sleep 1000 print Got GPS jo 10 13 print jo Script SendRC 3 1000 False Script SendRC 4 2000 True cs messages Clear Script Wa...

Page 48: ...ng the Mission Planner serial terminal The Mission Planner serial terminal is the best a way to see text data coming from APM via its USB port and to type commands into the CLI You can can also run te...

Page 49: ...anager serial ports 3 check that you have a microSD card fully inserted into the PX4 Micro SD card socket 4 check that the driver version is at least 1 6 2 or later 5 try a different physical USB port...

Page 50: ...2013 2 Platform operations 2 0 Ground and flight operations introduction 2 1 Platfrom transportation 2 2 Platform pre flight procedures 2 3 In flight operations 2 3 1 Takeoff 2 3 2 Navigation 2 3 3 Fl...