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Saturday May 7th, 2022 : Task 2

Time: 11:30 time bracket start, actual 11:20 → 12:05 (45 min flight window per comp rules).

Purpose: Complete CONOPS task #2

Pre-flight

0845 - team left hotel?

Things that were worked on pre-flight

  • MOSTLY Harnessing

    • Brielle + Matt Harnessing

    • Daniel creating connections

    • Anni working on minipix motor test

    • Ryan working on lightbridge for vtx

    • Sahil putting out fires

    • Aidan working on harnessing

  • Notes:

    • remember to start battery charging EARLY

      • batteries were not fully charged before flight

    • Work together to create harness diagram before starting

      • highlights: rewiring the same set of cables multiple times (gopro, power, antennas, etc)

        • mostly caused by one person wiring something and then someone else having another requirement that was not met.

      • Unmarked similar cables led to confusion on what led to where

        • mark cable ends with colours/labels AND/OR prepare wiring harness diagrams in advance.

1040 started moving to flightline.

  • could’ve been their earlier if we didn’t do and undo a bunch of stuff.

  • Had too much downtime when we got to flightline → could’ve taken 5 minutes to run through setup instead of 10? Too much time being unsure about what to do. This should have been discussed before.

Flight (flot)

  • Overall what we were expecting. Aborted task to validate systems integration.

  • Managed to have hands off sticks for a few moments.

  • Too much talking / distracting things. Need to be clear about what we need to know and when it is ok to say it.

  • VTX tested a bit, footage in the drive.

    • lightbridge && runcam both working !

Friday May 6th, 2022 : Testing flight ?

  • Testing flight

  • Supposed to be an overall systems check

  • Changed battery wiring harness ~ 2 hours before flight test began

  • Did not check battery wiring harness with flight batteries.

  • On flight field, battery & harness did not match

  • ^ causes delays in flight

  • Logging not super useful without glonass/gnss/inss data (all we see is the delayed baud rate of attitude and error messages).

  • Need better video transmission system - openhd was not at all good enough (too much latency) 

  • General lack of preparedness // not meeting timelines to have integration ready

  • Also, gps data influenced by the harnessing -> spent time wiring / harnessing

  • Had issues with not properly testing motor orientations before testing

    • Drone literally sent itself into the ground.

  • ESC Blew up?

    • Not sure what happened: working theory is that exposed wire shorted to ground and blew up low voltage protection

Post-flight

  • Team debriefed?

    • Highlighted issues

    • Highlighted solutions

    • Cost-benefit analysis of doing certain things? 

      • Eg could redo wiring harness -> will not since it works (more potential to f* things up)

      • Will rewire controls system and DShot signal cables to provide more clarity when debugging.

        • Will also tape and label motors

  • Solutions presented for VTX issue: 

    • Lightbridge (need some electrical involvement to use) + Gopro

      • Fully off the shelf

      • Untested ?

      • To be reviewed

    • OpenHD + PiCam

      • High latency

      • Higher resolution

    • RunCam

      • Graciously donated by the UOFT

      • Unsure about operation at distance

      • Fairly low latency in tests?

      • Has many artifacts // lower resolution

  • Solutions presented for harnessing issues:

    • TAPE, electrical tape

    • Proper distancing and insulation? 

    • Proper cable wiring to allow for easier debugging.

  • Solutions presented for motor orientation issue

Friday May 6, 2022

Pre-Comp

  • Verified individual components before flight

    • (unit level), did not have any system level integration with everything on the drone.

Main things

  • Velcro is important

  • Coat the frame so it’s not conductive

    • Or just measure frame conductivity and be very deliberate about hardware mounting

  • Cases to allow for weatherproofing and protection from shorts

  • Be more thorough about deciding/debating what to bring and not to bring to competition

  • Check the paperwork….. (pineapples now belong on pizza)\

  • Importance of harnessing and appropriate length cables

    • We completely overlooked our scuffed battery connections

    • Wires being everywhere caused problems with vectornav gps signal

  • READS THE CONOPS

    • Specifically right after the CONOPS come out it would be nice to hold an all team “Strategy Meeting” to discuss how we want to approach the challenge as well as delegating critical tasks.

  • Motor guards for safety and to save props

  • AT LEAST 2x spares for everything (but ideally more)

    • It is very nice to be able to loan out equipment to other teams in need, favors go a long way!

  • More flight testing!

Other, more team-y stuff

  • More in-person collab (Set time where people from all subteams are in the bay)

    • We’ve found talking more in person makes it waaay easier to get things done

  • Transparency regarding SDC rules and regulations

  • Better visibility as to the funding situation of the team

    • I think this ties more into leads transparency, maybe making leads meetings open to anyone who’s interested?

    • The funding situation and budgeting guidelines helps everyone make purchasing decisions and push our teams!

  • Starting a new “Integration subteam”

    • Someone to coordinate how our system is integrated so subteams keep up with each other and feel less disjointed.

  • Stricter timeline that coordinates sub team and whole team goals so everyone is aware of progress/what’s being blocked

  • Build 2 drones so one can always be ready for flight test and other is developmental?

  • All data sheets in a central location (g drive?)

Ideas to explore

  • some sort of dome over the top of the drone for protection?

    • this way electronics on top won’t be destroyed in a crash.

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