Mar 11, 2023 Cornflakes Validation

Owned by Aidan Bowers (Deactivated), created
Last updated: 2023-03-11 by Daniel Puratich
10 min read

 Flight Preparation

Requested by:

@Aidan Bowers (Deactivated)

Required Sub-teams

Mech
Electrical
EFS
CV
Operation
Sys-Int

Requested Date

Feb 22, 2023

Location and Time

WRESTRC, Mar 11, 2023 12:00-6:00pm

Summary & Goals

  • Validate fixed wing flight control and stability

  • Validate basic RTL functionality.

  • Verify transition

  • Collect Preliminary data on battery life.

  • Houston setup validation and control validation

Approved?

Yes

 Required Persons During Test

Name

Phone #

Role

Reason

Name

Phone #

Role

Reason

@Dhruv Upadhyay

 

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

@Megan Spee

 

Secondary Pilot

  • Aircraft preparation

  • documentation

@Hardy Yu

 

Safety

  • Making sure everyone is safe

  • Bringing Med kit

  • Site survey during aircraft setup

  • Emergency Procedure Executor

@Megan Spee @Anthony Luo

 

Pilot Monitoring

  • Assist pilot with communication, telemetry, readbacks, etc.

  • Provide pilot advice, act as visual observer as required

  • The other pilot will assist on the current pilot on monitoring

@Hamza Ali

 

Media

  • Take photos / videos for marketing or analysis

@Megan Spee @Daniel Puratich

 

Aircraft Technician

  • Aircraft Setup

  • Systems Monitoring

 Other Attendees

Name

Role

Name

Role

@Alison Thompson

Mech Rep & Cornflakes Project Manager

@Nolan Haines

EE Technician & DMM Overload

@Daniel Puratich

EE Rep & Emergency Procedure Executor

@Hardy Yu

Flight Test Coordinator

@Andrew Wright

Doing Capacity Assignments

@Justin Joseph

 

@Joseph Bagheri

 

Drivers & Seat Distribution

Driver

Car Type

Passengers

Driver

Car Type

Passengers

@Anthony Luo

Personal Car

With Cornflakes

@Cornflakes

@Daniel Puratich

@Megan Spee

Personal Car

@Alison Thompson @Nolan Haines @Andrew Wright

@Joseph Bagheri

Personal Car

@Dhruv Rawat @Hamza Ali @Hardy Yu

@Justin

 Success criteria

Tests

Success Criteria

Requirements

Outcome

Tests

Success Criteria

Requirements

Outcome

Fixed Wing Flight

Aircraft is able to fly in a fixed-wing configuration without issue

Cornflakes should be ready to fly, as outlined by all pre-flight checks

Did not execute

Quad-to-Fixed transition

Aircraft is able to successfully perform the transition from quad to fixed wing flight, and back.

Cornflakes should be ready to fly, as outlined by all pre-flight checks

Did not execute

Battery Life

Information on battery voltage/capacity is collected throughout the flight

Proper battery capacity recording and monitoring

New batteries remained balanced, but we didn’t fly too much to measure this

Quad Yaw Authority

Aircraft is responsive to yaw input in quad mode

Minimum yaw rate of 90deg per second

Was Tested.

Houston Setup Validation

Validate Houston has the correct setup after crashing from last flight test

Components on Houston are working and Houston is responsive to the control

Did not execute

Testing Timeline

Date/Time

Action

Date/Time

Action

Feb 26, 2023 (due)

Aircraft Assembly: @Alison Thompson

  • Subframe assembly

  • Wing assembly

Mar 3, 2023 (due)

Aircraft Assembly: @Alison Thompson

  • Control surface design and construction

  • Motor protection design and construction

  • Aircraft frame assembly

Mar 5, 2023 (due)

Electrical Repairs: @Daniel Puratich

  • Replace/fix damaged PDB

  • Fix/Replace damaged ESC

Mar 9, 2023 (due)

Harnessing: @Daniel Puratich

  • Finish wiring new aircraft

Mar 9, 2023

Pre-flight Preparation: @Aidan Bowers (Deactivated) / @Hardy Yu

  • Ensure Incident Procedures, driver lists, etc. are completed

  • Ensure all items in Week-Before and Day-Before checklist are complete

Mar 10, 2023

Pre-Flight Systems Review:

  • Review all systems, and complete checklists to ensure systems are functioning as expected

Mar 11, 2023 9:00am

Pre-Departure Preparation:

  • Complete all pre-departure checklist items

Mar 11, 2023 10:45am

Flight brief from flight test lead

  • Outline what is being tested, responsibilities of all participants, incident procedures, and general coordination.

Mar 11, 2023 11:30am

Loading onto the Car

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

Mar 11, 2023 11:45pm

Drive to the test ground

Mar 11, 2023 12:00-3:00pm

Flight Testing

Test #1

Quad mode takeoff/landing w/ flat mounts

  • assert that system is stable & both pilots are comfortable with the controls.

Test #2

Quad mode YAW control w/flat mounts

  • Test to see how much yaw control we have, which is basically the drone correctly responds to our left/right instruction

  • Success if drone give correct respond and appropiate yaw throttle

  • The test is first done without wings then with wings

Test #3

Quad mode takeoff/landing w/angled mounts

  • similar test with angled mounts, this should give more throttle on yaw

Test #4

Quad mode yaw control w/angled mounts

  • first done without wings then with wings

Test #5

Buddy box

  • control handover in all altitude

  • both pilot have the control to the rc link

  • After one pilot delivers the control, the other pilot should has the control of the drone

Test #6

Battery VS Flight time measurement. Recharge batteries if needed

  • Measure the amount of the time the batteries were used in the previous tests and come out with an estimation of batteries life

  • we probably need to go back to bay in this process to recharge batteires for an hour since we don’t have spare ones

Houston Test

While batteries are under charging, the group of ppl on wrest rc can conduct the test for Houston

Test #7

Transition & Fixed Wing Flight (brief, 1 circle)

  • Trasition will take place in a straight line

  • After the trasition is done, the drone should fly in fixed wing for one circle, the return to quad mode

  • during this process, making sure the drone maintain altitude and flight forward while avoid other people

  • TODO: the flight path needs to be determined

Test #8

Transition & Fixed Wing Flight second pilot

  • repeat everything with second pilot

Test #9

Fixed wing “waypoint” navigation

  • Setup a destination on mission planner and run the drone in autopilot

  • Wait is the fixed wing or quad? I suppose this should be quad.

  • drone maintain altitude all the time

  • TODO: the waypoint needs to be determined

Test #10

Quad Mode RTL

  • Quad mode to RTL. Start close and then move further away.

  • to see if it autoland

Test #11

Fix wing in a whole circle

  • Once again, we are looking for checking the drone responds correctly to our control in fix wing. Fly in a whole circle under fix wings will be tested

Test #12

Transition to fix wing then RTL

  • Fly the drone away-> transition to fix wings-> RTL

  • we expect the drone transition to quad and autoland

  • but this is risky and we don’t know what’s gonna happen. Also the batteries may not support us to do this test, so this might move to 18th flight test

Mar 11, 2023 3:30pm

Debrief

Week-Before To-Do List

Drone Registration
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

SDC Vehicle key collected (if required)
Batteries Planned for (DON”T LEAVE CHARGING OVERNIGHT)
Drone batteries & spares
Transmitter batteries
On-site kit together
Airfame assembled
ESCs/flight controller wired
Radio equipment tested
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)
Airfame payload
Spare parts
Flight Code Flashed
Ground station Software updated

Pre-Departure Checklist

Pre-flight Safety Checklist

 

Aircraft Incident Procedures

Emergency Procedures:

  • Imminent Emergency: 911

  • Privacy offence: Local police

  • Fly away or loss of control - Local Aviation Authority (Refer to CFS)

    • This applies to both vertical and horizontal fly aways

Control Station Failure

In the event of a control station failure, the following steps should be taken:

  • Attempt to restart the transmitter

  • Use spare transmitter to communicate to drone

  • If unable to establish communication with the drone, follow lost link procedures

Equipment Failure

  • Battery

    • Do not fly if the battery appears dead or a problem is suspected. Puffy batteries should be ignored

  • Transmitter should be verified before flight

  • Props

    • Ensure in flight worthy condition (ex: no dings, etc)

  • Control Surfaces

    • Smooth, verify servo control, pushrod integrity

RPA Failure

In the event of an RPA failure, the drone should be disarmed - this will stop all motors. The following steps should be followed:

  • Secure the area where the RPA will land

    • Do NOT fly the drone over an area where the RPA can unexpectedly land for this reason. Thus, flying over people is NOT permitted in this drone

  • Secure the drone and disconnect the battery

  • Do NOT fly the drone until inspected

In the event of loss of transmitter link, the pixhawk will activate return to home mode. If the RTH mode does not engage, initiate fly away procedures

In the event a fly-away occurs (both vertical and horizontal), the following procedures should be taken:

  • Attempt to regain communication by following lost link procedures

  • If unsuccessful, record last heading, speed, and altitude

    • Additionally, know the last battery level to estimate flight time

  • Alert local aviation authorities about new flight path and potential conflicts

The flight may be terminated by disarming the drone - this will stop all motors. This should be used with caution as the aircraft will be rendered inoperable and unable to glide under control.

Post-Flight Checklist

Item

Owner

Item

Owner

@Alison Thompson @Dhruv Upadhyay @Nolan Haines @Hardy Yu @Daniel Puratich @Anthony Luo @Megan Spee

No damaged batteries

 

Flight Test Post Mortem

RCA for Red Items

Create a RCA and keep it as a child page.

Action Items

Other Resources

Booking WRESTRC Field