2024-02-03 Pegasus Efficiency Flight Test
Sections for requesting team to fill out:
Admin preparation
Test Cards / Test Plan
Mandatory Attendees
Sections for flight test coordinator to fill out:
Flightline team
Location
Status
Drone
Sections for flightline team to fill out:
EFS to fill out Card #1, #2, #3 (Tracking Antenna, Obstacle Avoidance)
Admin Preparation
Requested By | @Anthony Luo |
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Sub-Team Review (To be checked once reviewed by sub-team representative) | Mechanical Electrical EFS Autonomy Operations |
Date of Request | 2024-01-22 |
Goal Summary |
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Status? | Waiting for Sub-Team Review |
Desired Airframe | Pegasus |
Location + Time | WrestRC |
Testplan - to be filled out by requesting team
Necessary Preparation
Mechanical
Electrical
Embedded Flight Software
Autonomy
Attendees
Name | Phone # (opt) | Sub-team | Driving | Role |
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@Megan Spee |
| Director | toyota prius | FT director/pilot |
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| 3-274 Caravan |
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| 3-196 Rav4 |
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@Georgia Vachon Westerlund |
| Ops |
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@Nathan Green |
| Mech |
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@Yuchen Lin |
| EFS |
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@Sam Zhang |
| EFS |
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@Tim Gu |
| EFS |
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Flightline Team
Name | Phone # | Role | Reason |
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@Megan Spee |
| Pilot | je suis |
@Nathan Green / @Yuchen Lin |
| GSO |
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Pre-Flight Preparation
Checklists
Incident Procedures
Flight Test Timeline
Date/Time | Action | Notes |
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7:30/8 | Start charging batteries 4x 6s 5000mah (pegasus) |
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9:30 | Briefing @ WARG Bay |
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9:50 | Final flight inspections |
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10:00 | Begin loading vehicles |
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10:30 | Arrival at Flight Test Location |
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10:50 | Flight Test Pegasus |
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12 | Packup |
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| Lunch |
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1:00 | Debrief |
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| <> |
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DEBRIEF
Timeline:
Leaving the bay: 10:16 AM
Arrived at flight test location: 10:35 AM
Take-off time (autotune 1): 10:41 AM
Take-off time (autotune 2): 10:46 AM
Take-off time (autotune 3): 10:58 AM
Take-off time (air speed 1 - 14m/s): 11:09 AM
Take-off time (air speed 2 - 16m/s): 11:18 AM
Take-off time (air speed 3 - 18m/s): 11:23 AM
Take-off time (air speed 4 - 20m/s): 11:26 AM
Take-off time (air speed 5 - 20m/s): 11:28 AM
Take-off time (wind test): 11:39 AM
Analysis
Pegasus did not actually get up to speed on the 160-180 meter straight flight (during the 20 m/s test).
Fastest we can go (demonstrated here, at least:) is 18m/s, giving us 2.7778 minutes per lap at competition (3000 meter lap).
Batteries would die before this.
Theoretically, at 8 m/s, it can fly the entire 30 minute window, and complete 6.25 laps.
no point flying slower thana 8m/s in future tests - this is the lower bound for how much time we have
Seems to be more efficient when you go slower.
will need to test again on a longer flight path (500m) to see actual max speed given a 20 m/s command. At 20 m/s command speed this time, did not finish accelerating.
What we want to get from logs:
EK3_DRAG_MCOEF via https://ardupilot.org/copter/docs/airspeed-estimation.html
efficiency rating for each speed (mahperkm)
@Nathan Green looking at getting this stat for each speed
can compare last week’s tune to this week’s tune
Also need to fix the LTE module connectivity issue.
Theories
LTE failure
interference from motors/ESCs
orientation of antenna
@Nathan Green troubleshooting this by testing signal strength with different cables, etc