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Table of Contents

📋 Flight Preparation

Requested by:

Megan Spee

Required Sub-teams

  •  Mech
  •  Electrical
  •  EFS
  •  CV
  •  Operation
  •  Sys-Int

Requested Date

Location and Time

July 9th 2023 @ WRESTRC 12 - 6 pm

Summary & Goals

  • CV Auto

    • Successfully detect the landing pad using Vanny

Approved?

Yes ✅

  • Need camera, jetson, jetson power support

  • Need the jetson zip-tied on

  • Need jetson connections fixed up

  • have EE/CV assess the current wiring setup - may need to add a buck

👥 Required Persons During Test

Name

Phone #

Role

Reason

 Megan Spee

...

Flight Test Lead

  • Creating documentation

  • Booking the test flight

  • Creating a thread in #flight-staging

 Anthony Luo

 Pilot in Command

  • Aircraft preparation

  • Filling out documentation

Hardy Yu

Safety

  • Making sure everyone is safe

  • Bringing Med kit

Amy Hu

Autonomy Technician

  • Check through the jetson system

  • Give flight test instruction

  • Records down the needed data

👥 Other Attendees

Name

Role

Nathan Green

Conall Kingshott

@Saransh Duggal

🚗 Drivers & Seat Arrangement

Driver

Vehicle Type

Passenger

Anthony Luo

Rav4

 

Megan Spee

5-seater Prius

 

 

📊 Success criteria

Tests

Success Criteria

Requirements

Outcome

  • Landing-pad model on Jetson

  • Landing-pad detection model runs on Jetson startup and saves the logging info with bounding box images in SD card.

  • computer-vision-python working and can run on startup

  • Jetson wired and mounted on Vanny correctly

⏲️ Testing Timeline

Date/Time

Action

July 7

Aircraft Assembly

  • Jetson system preparation

  • Amy Hu Need to verify the CV system is working by Friday middle of the day

  • If Jetson can’t be tested and verified as working by Friday, the flight test won’t happen, and we will put the flight test to next week

July 8

Pre-flight Preparation

July 9, 10 am

Required persons for preflight preparation show up at bay

Flight test lead breifly assign task for preparation work

July 9, 11 am

Flight brief from flight test lead

July 9, 11: 15am

Lunch break

July 9, 11: 45am

Loading onto the Car

Take your water bottle with you. Go washroom before we leave!

July 9, 12:00

Drive to the test ground

July 9 12 - 3 pm

Flight Testing

July 9 3:15 pm

Debrief

🧯 Aircraft Incident Procedures

Incident

Procedure

Crash

Outline the procedure for who will go to handle the aircraft in the event of a crash, what should be done, were emergency equipment is, etc.

Flyaway

Outline the procedure for flyaways. List relevant contact information for local authorities and plans of action to recover control of the aircraft

Configuration Error

Outline steps to take in the event of a configuration issue with the aircraft

Injury

Property Damage

🔧 Week-Before To-Do List

Expand
titleWeek Before Checklist
  •  Drone Registration

Drone Registration Number:

  •  Flight test location booked
  •  Pilot scheduled
  •  Test Plan (What we are testing)
    •  This should also include the flight path where applicable
  •  Subteam action items (for flight readiness)
  •  Transportation logistics finalized
    •  Booking SDC vehicles
    •  Assigning drivers
    •  Renting any needed equipment (trailer? generator? etc.)

🔧 Day-Before To-Do List

Expand
titleDay Before Checklist
  •  SDC Vehicle key collected (if required)
  •  Batteries Planned for (DON'T LEAVE CHARGING OVERNIGHT)
    •  Drone batteries & spares
    •  Transmitter batteries
    •  Battery tester/indicator
  •  On-site kit together
    •  First Aid Kit
    •  Ground station / Laptop
    •  Antenna / Receivers
    •  Transmitter
    •  Extra Water
    •  Power cords / Extension cables
    •  Wrenches
    •  Allen keys
    •  Knives
    •  Tape
    •  Rope/string
    •  Zip/Velcro ties
    •  Radios
    •  Safety goggles
    •  Fire extinguisher
    •  Spare foam
    •  hot glue gun w/ hot glue stick
    •  harnesses
  •  Airfame assembled
  •  ESCs/flight controller wired
  •  Radio equipment tested
    •  Channel mappings
    •  Flight modes
  •  Motors tested
  •  Wiring secured (Harnessing)
  •  End-to-end test (neglecting props)
  •  Check the center of gravity
  •  All components not on the airframe that are required should be in the flight box (e.g. props & prop nuts)
  •  Airframe payload
  •  Spare parts
    •  Props
    •  Airframe components (landing struts, arms, etc)
      •  wings nuts
      •  prop nuts
      •  any detached components such as angle mount
      •  props for other aircrafts such as Houston
    •  Hardware to assemble these components
    •  Electronics
      •  ESCs
      •  Motors
      •  Flight controllers
      •  Receiver
  •  Flight Code Flashed
  •  Ground station Software updated

↪️ Pre-Departure Checklist

Expand
titlePre-Departure Checklist
  •  Take the WREST RC entrance card
  •  Grab Pre-departure Items
    •  Battery charger and associated cables(30tx to 60tx)
  •  Check battery status
    •  Charge if required, otherwise place into flight box
  •  Systems test
    •  Check flight controller orientation
    •  Check motor spin & rotation direction
    •  Check transmitter mappings
    •  Verify communication links (VTX/RX, Controller, Groundstation)
    •  Verify the mission planner is logging data
  •  Only attach props directly before flight (keep off at all other times)
  •  Get snacks
  •  Mission Briefing
    •  Read the flight plan to the team (that was made a week ago)
    •  Purpose of flight
    •  Plan of action
    •  Success criteria
    •  Delegate and brief on flight line roles
    •  Safety Briefing
    •  Key flight characteristics to observe
    •  Key system characteristics to observe
    •  Measurements to be made

🚩 Pre-flight Safety Checklist

Expand
titlePre-Flight Inspection
  •  Air Frame
    •  Check all antennas, ensuring they are secure and in good condition
    •  Check the battery emplacement and secure attachment and ensure there are no cracks
    •  Check that all lights are operating normally
    •  Check that all sensors are secured and clear of any obstructions
    •  Check that the GPS is receiving satellites and providing a navigation solution
    •  For fixed wing aircraft, Check:
      •  Wings, ensuring they are securely attached to fuselage
      •  Wing leading edge surfaces
      •  Top and bottom of wing surfaces
      •  Wing tip surfaces
      •  Read of wing and all flight control surfaces for freedom of movement, security and any skin damage
    •  For rotary aircraft:
      •  Inspect top and bottom of air frame arms for cracks, loose parts, or signs of damage
      •  Check fluid levels and ensure no leaks if applicable
  •  Control Surfaces
    •  Ensure Elevator moves correctly
    •  Ensure Ailerons move correctly
    •  Ensure Rudder moves correctly
  •  Landing Gear
    •  Check landing gear is secure
    •  Inspect skids or wheels, especially attachment points
  •  Power plant
    •  Cowling or motor casing
    •  Security of engine mounts
    •  Presence of any cracks
    •  All wiring and connectors, ensure no cracks, loose connectors, or chaffing
  •  Propellers / Rotors
    •  Ensure propeller is secured
    •  Check for nicks, chips or cracks
    •  Ensure prop direction is correct
  •  Batteries
    •  Inspect to ensure there is no signs of swelling, external leaking or other defects
    •  Battery wiring and connectors from the battery are connected securely
    •  Batteries (and spares) are adequately charged
    •  Wires are not pinched
  •  Control Station / Receivers / Transmitter
    •  The battery and spare batteries if required are adequately charged
    •  Control Station device and cables are properly connected and functioning
    •  All flight interfaces are functioning normally
  •  Safety
    •  Good visibility and safe wind speed
    •  Surrounding is free of obstacles
    •  Crew far from drone
    •  General Site Survey
      •  Are there other people on the property
  •  Ground Recording / drone footage on
  •  Autopilot
    •  Control surfaces respond to autopilot in the correct manner
    •  Transitions between flight modes have expected effect
    •  Return-to-home systems, if present, have been configured

😎 Post-Flight Checklist

Item

Owner

  •  Use Flight-Post Mortem to Debrief

ALL MEMBERS PRESENT

  •  Discard of damaged batteries

  •  Discharge used batteries for better longevity

Flight Test Debrief

Flight test rundown:

  • Motor test

  • Flew in loit, failsafed due to GCS disconnect (rfd900’s)

  • Turned off GCS failsafe in pilot control mode

  • Flew over, landed on, over-ground landing pads.

  • Moved landing pads

  • flew over, landed on, over-grass landing pads.

  • Tried auto-tune on battery 1.

    • atune completed

    • thrust loss on 3

    • gps / compass glitch

    • “landing” on battery failsafe (3v/cell)

  • Tried auto-tune on battery 2

    • atune completed

    • landed & saved

Logs: 2032-07-09

Flight Test Post Mortem

Tip
  • 5W vtx delivers clear video.

  • Landing pad detection model works pretty well.

  • Autotune on YAW completed successfully twice.

Note
  • Got lots of messages about Opflow/Lidar health. GPS1 also failing configuration checks

  • Batteries had a LOT of sag (21V in flight recovering to 23V after)

Warning
  • Continually got GCS failsafe messages on first few flights.

    • RF interference was high in general - TPower on the tracer was up to 250mW at times, LOS < 100m away….

RCA for Red Items

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Child pages (Children Display)

5W VTX Performance

  • Noticed significantly better video transmission when landing in grass field south/south-east of skid pad.

    • No degredation in signal quality observed at all

      • comparable to fading to b&w and/or losing signal on 800mW.

Model Performance

  • Image AddedImage AddedImage Added

Autotune Performance

  • Auto-tune completed successfully twice

  • The results were slightly different both times, maybe due to voltage difference between the two batteries:

Image Added

Image Added

Overall, we learned a lot about how autotune works, and are pleasantly surprised to see it function effectively. The general process is as follows:

  • Takeoff, fly over a certain area in a guided flight mode such as AltHold, Loiter.

  • Invoke autotune flight mode from the RC Controller

  • Wait for autotune to complete. Once done, the drone will use original tunes and maintain flight mode that it was invoked from.

  • Switch out of autotune into preferred flight mode for testing the tune.

    • If the tune is good → Switch back into autotune, land, and disarm. The values will save.

    • If the tune is not good → Land immediately and disarm, the values will not save.

Some important notes that we learned:

  • “Autotune: failing to level” messages can be safely ignored. Drift is not super bad with GPS hold.

Image AddedImage Added

Sensor Health

Throughout the flight test, there were numerous messages about bad opflow, or lidar health. Our suspicion is that these warnings are caused by the tall grass and trees creating variable and moving terrain under the drone.

Image AddedImage Added

Battery Sag / Voltage

Image Added

Batteries sagged as low as 12V overall (2v/cell) near the end of the flight. The drop-off was incredibly fast as batteries were sitting around 21V/cell when autotune ended.

Image Added

The low battery voltage led to a “supposed” lost of thrust on motor 3, where it was at full throttle and unable to provide thrust to change the attitude of the drone. This rapid lost in thrust would also contribute to our harsher-than-normal landing.

GCS Failsafe

Action Items

  •  

Other Resources

Booking WRESTRC Field

How to Book the Flight Grounds