If you need to fly Houston for a flight test, this is where you need to be. This page contains all the information related to the operation of Houston. For setup information, please see hardware and software configuration.

Pre-requisites

• You have at least a MR-PRE and GS-PRE level operators

  • At this level, you MUST work in pairs - it is very easy for one person to become task-saturated.

• Houston has already been configured to-spec as per our Configuration documents.

• You have reviewed and familiarized yourself with the operating procedure of Houston.

• You have healthy batteries and a valid flight plan.

Pilot Operating Procedures

• Follow the “takeoff checklist” found at the bottom of this page.

• Put Houston into flight mode #3 (Loiter).

• Arm and enable Telemetry logging if necessary

• Takeoff to about ~ 50-100cm above ground.

• Verify movement directions.

• Continue mission, do not exceed 8 minutes of flight time.

GSO Operating Procedures

• Follow the “takeoff checklist” found at the bottom of this page.

• Ensure AUTO_OPTIONS bit 0 is set (allow arm in auto).

• Put houston where you want to takeoff/land

• Upload a waypoint mission through mission planner. Include takeoff & land “at current position”. Do not exceed 1km mission length (round trip).

• Put Houston into flight mode #5 (Auto). Verify. (Can be doe through MP)

• Arm. (Can be done through MP).

Pre-Departure Checklist

This is a list of everything that you will need to successfully fly Houston, as of Aug 26, 2023

• TX16 with BLUE ziptie

• TBS Crossfire Micro TX Module

• Radiomaster Ranger module, w/antenna. Ensure polarity is correct.

• USB-C cable

• Laptop with latest mission planner install

• Houston, with the TBS Crossfire Nano RX and ELRS Airport RX (see below photos)

• 3s 4000mah batteries, with soft-side velcro. Expect 8 minutes of flight time per battery.

Open

TBS Crossfire Nano RX taped to the back-left arm, antenna on the back-left leg.

Open

ELRS Airport Rx taped to the front right arm, antenna goes THROUGH the orange tape.

Takeoff Checklist

1. Groundstation setup

   1. Turn on the laptop

   2. Put the antenna on the radiomaster ranger module

      2. Ensure that the antenna is oriented with long-edge vertical. This ensures polarization matches.

   3. Plug the usb-c to usb-a cable into the radiomaster ranger and into your laptop

   4. Open mission planner on the laptop

2. Groundside RC Link setup

   1. Put the crossfire module into the back of the TX16

      1.  

   2. Turn on the TX16

   3. Long-press “MDL”, and then select “Warg” label, then “Houston”

      1.  

3. Airside setup

   1. Ensure that no airside components are damaged or missing. Especially the antennas. Ask a pilot to run their pre-flight check.

   2. With the controller and groundstation on, put a battery into the drone.

   3. Plug the battery into the input of the power module, the power module should already connect to the drone PDB.

   4. Listen for turn-on beeps!

   5. Ensure that changing flight modes results in beeps from the drone!

4. Link setup

   1. Verify that your Radiomaster ranger is connected. If not, power-cycle all devices by unplugging the radiomaster ranger and the drone, and plugging them back in within 20 seconds of each other.

   2. In mission planner, select the Silicon Labs CP210x USB to UART Bridge Device

   3. Set the “baud rate” to 9600 if not set already

   4. Hit connect! You should now see parameters loading.

      1. This will take a while. On the WARG laptop, this will occur in the background, but on your laptop, you may be blocked until this is done.

      2. If you are flying with a pilot, feel free to takeoff as long as you have up-to-date data in the HUD.

      3. If you are flying GCS missions, please wait for parameters to load so that you can verify them.

   5. Ensure that changing flight modes on the TX16 changes flight modes on the HUD.

   6. Setup any monitoring values that you may need. Commonly you will want to see:

      1. battery voltage

      2. Altitude

      3. Groundspeed

      4. Flight time

      5. vertical speed

      6. GPS HDOP

      7. GPS NumSats

Post-Flight Checklist

1. Unplug the battery

2. Check that all parts are present, and nothing is loose.

3. Perform proper pre-flight check before next flight.

4. TX16 battery is charged to at least storage voltage.

   1. If not, use the USB-C port at the bottom of the radio to charge up to ~ 7.8-8v

Accessing Logs

This is probably the most important step in post-flight analysis. There is one guiding principle in our steps:

Ardupilot Logs

Ardupilot logs can be downloaded through MAVLink. Downloading and Analyzing Data Logs in Mission Planner — Mission Planner documentation (ardupilot.org)

Connect the drone using a USB-C cable (there are grey magnetic cables which fit the magnetic end already on Houston in the EFS cables box). Do not use telemetry as the link-rate is significantly slower than a usb cable. Set your COM Port to “MAVLink” and set the baud rate to 115200. Then hit connect.

Go to “Dataflash Logs” tab in the quick actions menu, then select “Download Dataflash Logs over MAVLink”. Only select the logs from your flight test, and hit “Download selected logs”.

TX16 Logs

Turn on the TX16, find a USB-C cable, and plug it into the port labelled “USB” at the top of the TX16. This is not the same as the charging-port found on the bottom of the radio.

Once you plug the USB cable into a laptop and the tx16, you will get an on-screen prompt for how you want the device to connect. Select “USB Storage (SD)”

Once you open up file explorer, you will see folders labelled “RM TX16S and “USB Drive”

Select “USB Drive” and you will be greeted by folders that look like this

Navigate to Logs, where you will find logs sorted by model name and time:

These logs can be opened and converted in microsoft excel directly, to give you any graphs and charts that you may need.