📋 Admin Preparation

Requested By	Yuchen Lin
Goal Summary	Houston 2 first-time Flight test
Status?	DRAFT / SUBMITTED / WAITING FOR SUB-TEAM REVIEW / APPROVED
Desired Airframe	Pegasus 1
Date(s)	18th May 2024

🥅 Testplan

Card 1: Task 1

Test 1: Prove basic Flight performance
Procedure	Goals / Objectives	Knockoff Criteria
Battery plugged in	Mission planner no pre-arm warning
Bring the drone to the flightline	toggle safety switch
Enable logging
Take off the drone in Stablize	verify drone flight performance	Drone unstable unable to establish VLOS Timer threshold: flight time exceeded 5 min. VBatt below safety threshold: 10V QLAND immediately, disarm when landed. Recover drone & gather state of batteries Lost link Follow lost link procedures. Maintain vlos if possible. Contact necessary local authorities.
Switch Flight mode to Alt Hold	verify drone flight performance	Drone unstable unable to establish VLOS Timer threshold: flight time exceeded 5 min. VBatt below safety threshold: 10V QLAND immediately, disarm when landed. Recover drone & gather state of batteries Lost link Follow lost link procedures. Maintain vlos if possible. Contact necessary local authorities.
Switch Flight mode to Loiter	verify drone flight performance	Drone unstable unable to establish VLOS Timer threshold: flight time exceeded 5 min. VBatt below safety threshold: 10V QLAND immediately, disarm when landed. Recover drone & gather state of batteries Lost link Follow lost link procedures. Maintain vlos if possible. Contact necessary local authorities.
land the drone	disarm the drone, Toggle safety switch

Card 2: Task 2

Test 1: Tuning
Procedure	Goals / Objectives	Knockoff Criteria
Battery plugged in	Mission planner no pre-arm warning make sure autotune is in one of the flight mode
Bring the drone to the flightline	toggle safety switch
Enable logging
Take off the drone in Loiter	verify drone flight performance	Drone unstable unable to establish VLOS Timer threshold: flight time exceeded 5 min. VBatt below safety threshold: 10V QLAND immediately, disarm when landed. Recover drone & gather state of batteries Lost link Follow lost link procedures. Maintain vlos if possible. Contact necessary local authorities.
Engage Autotune	one axis at a time	Drone unstable unable to establish VLOS Timer threshold: flight time exceeded 5 min. VBatt below safety threshold: 10V QLAND immediately, disarm when landed. Recover drone & gather state of batteries Lost link Follow lost link procedures. Maintain vlos if possible. Contact necessary local authorities.
Switch Flight mode to Loiter to back to landing area		Drone unstable unable to establish VLOS Timer threshold: flight time exceeded 5 min. VBatt below safety threshold: 10V QLAND immediately, disarm when landed. Recover drone & gather state of batteries Lost link Follow lost link procedures. Maintain vlos if possible. Contact necessary local authorities.
Land the drone with autotune mode	to permanently save the PID value	Drone unstable unable to establish VLOS Timer threshold: flight time exceeded 5 min. VBatt below safety threshold: 10V QLAND immediately, disarm when landed. Recover drone & gather state of batteries Lost link Follow lost link procedures. Maintain vlos if possible. Contact necessary local authorities.
Disarm the drone	disarm the drone, Toggle safety switch

Card 3: Task 1

Test 1: Test Basic Obstacle Avoidance
Procedure	Goals / Objectives	Knockoff Criteria
Battery plugged in	Mission planner no pre-arm warning make sure autotune is in one of the flight mode
Bring the drone to the flightline	toggle safety switch
Enable logging
Take off the drone in Loiter	verify drone flight performance	Drone unstable unable to establish VLOS Timer threshold: flight time exceeded 5 min. VBatt below safety threshold: 10V QLAND immediately, disarm when landed. Recover drone & gather state of batteries Lost link Follow lost link procedures. Maintain vlos if possible. Contact necessary local authorities.
Engage Autotune	one axis at a time	Drone unstable unable to establish VLOS Timer threshold: flight time exceeded 5 min. VBatt below safety threshold: 10V QLAND immediately, disarm when landed. Recover drone & gather state of batteries Lost link Follow lost link procedures. Maintain vlos if possible. Contact necessary local authorities.
Switch Flight mode to Loiter to back to landing area		Drone unstable unable to establish VLOS Timer threshold: flight time exceeded 5 min. VBatt below safety threshold: 10V QLAND immediately, disarm when landed. Recover drone & gather state of batteries Lost link Follow lost link procedures. Maintain vlos if possible. Contact necessary local authorities.
Land the drone with autotune mode	to permanently save the PID value	Drone unstable unable to establish VLOS Timer threshold: flight time exceeded 5 min. VBatt below safety threshold: 10V QLAND immediately, disarm when landed. Recover drone & gather state of batteries Lost link Follow lost link procedures. Maintain vlos if possible. Contact necessary local authorities.
Disarm the drone	disarm the drone, Toggle safety switch

Necessary Preparation

Explain what capacity you need, what needs to be mounted, etc.

Necessary items:

Jetson
CV camera
< rfd900 >
etc

Flight characteristics needed:

Flight speed
flight distance
max altitude
< etc >

Comms / Support needed:

Autonomous/repeatable missions
ability to hold location within +/- X meters
FPV Video from the drone?
etc….

🫂 Mandatory Attendees

This is a section for all attendees from your subteam which will be present for this flight test. (because they are testing their products, or otherwise)

Name	Phone #	Sub-team	Role
Smile Khatri	8076320853	Mech
Evan Janakievski	206-247-2823	Mech
Yuchen Lin
Hardy Yu
Ashish Agrahari	5195898378	Auto
Manasva Katyal	2896985018	EFS
Andrew Shum	6473836886	Auto	Testing obstacle avoidance
Tong Zhang	2897729826	Auto

Flightline Team

Name	Phone #	Role	Reason
Smile Khatri
Yuchen Lin
Evan Janakievski
Hardy Yu
Smile Khatri
Manasva Katyal

Pre-Flight Checklists

Week-Before checklist

Software configuration correct
Compare against latest baselines and verify no params changed, or changes approved by comp-ft-team
LTE tested
Autopilot Orientation checked
Motors tested
Prop direction check
Sensors outputs healthy & within range
Controller input mappings correct
Controller input choices correct for pilot preferences
Wireless trainer tested & working per pilot preferences.

Hardware (wiring)

Wires are not too tight or too loose (comfortable, not strained, not flapping around)
- No cut/exposed wires
- Shrouding is neat + presentable
- Solder joints look good
  - no cracks
  - no corrossion
  - no exposed contacts (unless expected)
- Specific requirement from Daniel Puratich
  - no exposed pad without solder on ESC caps
    - i did this on peggy 2
    - someone will need to do with peggy 1
  - ESCs all have a touch of hot glue to secure cap to board
- Connectors fully plugged in
- Connectors in good health

Hardware (airframe)

Bolts secure (nothing loose)
- Carbon fiber not cracked
- 3D prints not failing / crushed / cracked
- No loose items

Hardware (groundstation)

ELRS Gemini tested & Working
- Logging correct
- Data looks correct
- Control tower tested & working
Tracking antenna x2 (control + video) (mechanical)
- Servos secure
- Hardware (antennas) secure
- No cracks/bends/chips in polycarb/aluminum
- Gears / shafts look healthy
- Grease if necessary
Tracking antenna x2 (control + video) (electrical)
- Electrical components secure
- Power delivery / signal wires secure, no cracks/corrosion/damage
Video System
- goggles(?)
- Monitors(?)
- Video tower tested & working
Laptop w/mission planner configured correctly.
- LTE Link tested working

Flightline Kit

Spare motors
Spare props
Spare tools
- Metric allen keys
- Socket set
- Pliers (flatnose + needle nose)
USB-C cable (short & long)
Soldering iron + heat shrink + spare cables
Power supplies for ground station computer
Ground station computer
Spare bolts
Radio Controllers

Day-before checklist

Mission plan clear
flightline roles assigned
Communication hierarchy established
Incident procedures & roles in-place & briefed to all flightline team members
Timeline for day-of clear
Battery charging plan, equipment management plan clear.
Transportation clear

Day-of checklist

Batteries in safety bag
Equipment
- Zip tie
- duck tape
- label maker
- Type c cable
- ELRS Gemini
- Saleae Logic Analyzer
- charged WARG laptop
- spare bag for small electronics
- controller box
  - two controller
  - battery tester
- VTX box
execute

Total 5 main system checked:

Power system(battery and connection)
Propulsion system(motor and propeller)
Controller system(Control links and ground station system)
Sensory system(sensors)
Video system (VTX)

Debrief
clean / store equipment if necessary

⏲️ Flight Test Timeline

note test 1 is competition task 1 and test 2 is competition task 2

Date/Time	Action	Notes
lunch time ish	Briefing @ WARG Bay
	Arrival at Flight Test Location
	Experiment with tracking antenna
	Bring equipment to flightline
	Test1 card 1	Hardy Yu manually track the drone RTL because RC failsafe
	Configure direct binding phrase to use normal controller elrs instead of gemini
	Test 1 card 1	Nathan Green
	Test 2 card 1 practice #1	Nathan Green
	Test 2 card 1 practice #2	Nathan Green
	switch battery
	Test 2 card 1 practice #3	Nathan Green
	Test 2 card 1 practice #4	Nathan Green
	Test 2 card 1 practice #5	Yuchen Lin
	Presentation Photos
Start 4:30pm	Debrief

💻 DEBRIEF

Flight test debrief report

Before Card 1:

Before departure

Yuchen Lin didn’t logistic going to flight test → next time book the car beforehand + long weekend machine shop does not open

Yuchen Lin Hardy Yu Testing with huston → connected to mission planner and able to forward the message(test 2 times)

first one does not flash the latest code
second one see tracking antenna working as expected

After departure

pre-flight tracking antenna testing: (no code change)

Keep rotating without stop and does not work

After adjust to the north keep rotating clockwise

does not help after adding delay

Card 1 Test 1

Flight planning

conduct half task 1 goal (1.5 lap)

Flight test card requirements/objectives Performance

Comp sim

Control performance & payload situation

Four payload in the cabin + alien key
Hardy Yu manually track the drone

Identified issue

Compass variance issue
place the drone backward and cause sharp turning

Issue need to be RCA

Gemini not working (performance worse than without gemini) → fully lost link
- Link quality got worst after first lap
- possible thermal issue
- flew lost link 750 meter
- previously tested with the same gemini board with smaller antenna with 3km
- gemini is not hot at all
- look at power used(power limit)

Card 1 Test 1 retry 1

Flight planning

conduct half task 1 goal (1.5 lap)

Flight test card requirements/objectives Performance

Check tuning in all three mode and compass variable at full throttle.

Control performance & payload situation

Four payload in the cabin
Current draw pretty good at calm weather
half of task 1 5000mah

Identified issue

aggressive takeoff
Almost all the time ekf yellow

Issue need to be RCA

Card 2 Test 1

Flight planning

Test the auto mission task 2 pathing and training pilot for landing

Flight test card requirements/objectives Performance

During flight time upload the mission to pixhawk
Arm in auto and complete the mission
Pilot navigate through and land on the pad with fpv goggle

Control performance & payload situation

Four payload in the cabin
GSO and pilot get familiar with callout (Better callout procedure for less than 1 meter → with range finder) practice next week
cannot really callout the height sub 1 meter
easy to land on the paved ground
all the landing are smooth and within timeframe
descent first

Identified issue

Daniel Puratich callout at last waypoint based on height not ardupilot
Full path does not show outside of planning window

Issue need to be RCA

Overall performance and Lessons learned

Outcomes

confident in flight characteristics of the drone and electrical robsutness
- spline waypoints looked good during flight but looks poor on mission plannre
low confidence in custom rf links and tracking antenna
- not using tracking antenna for comp → cc Daniel Puratich to bringup at AEAC
- Gemini board was low link quality
  - try another gemini board and see if it works
Nathan Green apply new mag fit data based on today’s data

Check weather before comp.

Flightline tasks:
bring vtx tower, drone(path uploaded, battery in , shourds on), controller and the monitor

Before takeoff

Daniel Puratich conduct the pre takeoff checklist

manually toggle safety switch

confirm take off flight mode

arm in auto

2024-06-29 Houston 2 First Time Flight Test

📋 Admin Preparation

🥅 Testplan

Necessary Preparation

🫂 Mandatory Attendees

Flightline Team

Pre-Flight Checklists

Total 5 main system checked:

⏲️ Flight Test Timeline

💻 DEBRIEF

Flight test debrief report

Flight planning

Flight test card requirements/objectives Performance

Control performance & payload situation

Identified issue

Issue need to be RCA

Flight planning

Flight test card requirements/objectives Performance

Control performance & payload situation

Identified issue

Issue need to be RCA

Flight planning

Flight test card requirements/objectives Performance

Control performance & payload situation

Identified issue

Issue need to be RCA

Overall performance and Lessons learned

Outcomes