TODO: As of now, we’ve agreed that the state machine contains modes. Modes represent what phase of flight we’re in (takeoff, cruise, land, taxii). Within each mode, we’ve got stages. Stages represent what subphase of the mode we’re in (for ex, taxi mode contains the orient, roll out… stages). And finally, at the lowest level, we’ve got states, which are just the individual elements who’s order of execution makes up a stage of a mode.
Note that often times, a stage will be named after a state of importance. For instance, even though the orient state is just one of many states that make up he orient mode, it is the state that defines that mode (whereas something like sensor fusion is really generic), so the stage is named after it.
Overview
From a high level perspective, Path manager takes care of figuring out how to take the aircraft from point A to point B. It decides how the aircraft should be oriented (requested roll, pitch, and rudder position*) and at what speed it needs to be at to get where it needs to go (requested airspeed). Those instructions are communicated to Attitude manager to be carried out.
...