• 1 Overview
• 2 Hardware Configuration & Identification
  • 2.1 V2 (latest)
  • 2.2 V1
• 3 Software configuration
  • 3.1 Controller Configuration
    • 3.1.1 Understanding the main menu
• 4 Operating Limits
  • 4.1 Special Operations
• 5 Emergency Procedures

 

Open

Houston V1.1 Feb 18, 2023

Overview

Quick Start Guide: Houston Quick Start Guide - SysInt - WARG (atlassian.net)

Hardware Configuration: Houston: Hardware Configuration - SysInt - WARG (atlassian.net)

Software Configuration:

Hardware Configuration & Identification

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All HOUSTON class aircraft are built to support multiple configurations, and have undergone many revisions.

In all standard configurations, RED arms correspond to the left side of the aircraft, while white arms correspond to the right side of the aircraft.

V2 (latest)

Open

Version 2 metal landing gear

The second iteration of houston has metal landing gear, enabling a third carrier plate for additional payload such as the jetson or 200$ camera. V2 is also characterized by the use of a power monitor, and NEO M9N GPS.

V1

Early versions of Houston-class quadcopters used either metal landing gear (cover photo), or 3d printed landing gear as shown in the photo above.

Software configuration

All PX5/6 related software configuration can be done using mission planner.

Controller Configuration

Houston class aircraft make use of ardupilot flight modes. They are as follows:

All controllers @ WARG operate in Mode 2, this means that for houston, the following mapping is employed:

There are a few special functions

Understanding the main menu

You will see a few items in the top bar, a channel list on the left, and then the model name or image along with two flight timers. Here’s what it all means:

Top Bar

• TPWR: Transmission power. If this starts going up, your transmitter is working harder to get a signal to your drone. Try and keep this < 500mW if you can. You should not see it go > 100mW when flying LOS if antenna orientation is correct.

• TQly: What % of packets are being understood by the drone. Try and keep this > 80. Minimum flyable LQ is around 30%.

• TR8: This shows you the value of your wireless trainer (if enabled). It’s an easy way to confirm their flight mode before you hand off control, and also lets you know when they are connected.

• Batt: This is the controller battery voltage. Try and keep this > 6.6 v.

• speaker/battery: These two symbols indicate your volume and remaining battery

• RF bar: Indicicates RSSI.

• Time/Date: This is the time and date, you can use this to find your logs later

Left side

• Channel monitor: Shows you all active channels and what you are outputting. Good for debugging your current link status as well as your trainer link status

Right Side

• Name/Image: Name or image of the model. This is good to make sure you have the right model

• Curr FT: Current flight time (from when you armed and throttle is > 0). This is useful for tracking how long you have flown in this flight (i.e. doing one flight on one battery?)

• Tot FT: Total flight time (can be reset by using switch SE). This is useful for tracking how long you have flown if you are doing multiple arm/disarm sequences on one battery.

Operating Limits

Special Operations

Emergency Procedures