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2024-09-28 Pegasus 2 Tuning/Range/Speed FT

2024-09-28 Pegasus 2 Tuning/Range/Speed FT

Owned by Nathan Green
Last updated: 2024-09-28 by Megan Spee
5 min read

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Requesting team: Directors

Items TBD:

  • Test Procedures/Test Cards

Sections for flightline team to fill out:

  • Incident Procedures, communication preferences.

  • Test Cards

Admin Preparation

Requested By

@Nathan Green

Sub-Team Review

(To be checked once reviewed by sub-team representative)

Mechanical
Electrical
EFS
Autonomy
Operations

Date of Request

Sep 7, 2024

Goal Summary

Successfully fly Pegasus 2 without major incidents

Validate that all sensors and peripherals are working correctly

Evaluate tune and potentially retune

Status?

In PROGRESS

Desired Airframe

Pegasus 2

Desired Date(s)

September 28th 2024

Testplan - to be filled out by requesting team

  • Notes

    • apply magfit (will do before leaving)

    • motor direction and order check

    • log raw IMU data before and after filter

    • loiter takeoff

    • make sure no EKF failures

    • hover

    • full stick deflection all axes

    • land

    • review filters ArduPilot Filter Review , adjust if needed

    • if the existing filters were not good, rerun autotune with updated filters

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https://ardupilot.github.io/MethodicConfigurator/TUNING_GUIDE_ArduCopter

Test 1 - Further Tuning

Procedure

Goals / Objectives

Knockoff criteria

  1. Ensure raw IMU data is being logged

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  1. Set mode to Loiter, arm, hover ~10m above ground for 30 seconds

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  1. Ensure no errors or failsafes

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  1. Full stick deflection in each axis

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  1. Land

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  1. Evaluate filters using online tool, adjust if needed, repeat test

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  1. If filters are good and were not good originally, repeat autotune on each axis

high (> 4.5) value for ATC_ANG_RLL_P, ATC_ANG_PIT_P, and ATC_ANG_YAW_P

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  1. Disable raw IMU data logging

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Test 1 - Range Test

Procedure

Goals / Objectives

knock-off criteria

  1. Check failsafe behaviour, auto speed, RTL altitude

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  1. Set mode to loiter

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  1. Arm, takeoff to 50m

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  • Any EKF issues

  1. Use guided mode to set a waypoint on the other side of WRESTRC

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  • Any EKF issues

  1. While the drone is flying, keep an eye on the link quality, tx power, and number of dropped packets

  • No connection loss, no dropped packets

  • Drone loses connection, will RTL

  • Any EKF issues

  1. Once the drone reaches the waypoint, enable RTL

  • No connection loss, no dropped packets

  • Any EKF issues

  1. Drone lands

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Test 2 - Speed Test

Procedure

Goals / Objectives

knock-off criteria

  1. Set mode to loiter

  • Determine maximum flight speed, efficiency at each speed from log analysis

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  1. Takeoff, climb to 50m

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  • Any EKF issues

  1. Set a guided waypoint ~400m from the current location and fly there

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  • Any EKF issues

  1. Increase the speed parameter by 2 m/s and fly another ~400m stretch

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  • Any EKF issues

  1. Continue until speed maxes out, check max tilt value and increase if reasonable, then increase speed again

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  • Any EKF issues

  1. If drone cannot reach max speed parameter after an increase, the old value can be said to be β€œmax speed”

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  • Any EKF issues

  1. Land

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Necessary items:

  • Pegasus 2

  • Controller

  • Video receiver monitor

  • Video ground station

  • Batteries

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Flight characteristics needed:

Comms / Support needed:

Attendees

Name

Phone #

Sub-team

Role

Name

Phone #

Sub-team

Role

@Nathan Green

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  • Pilot

@Smile Khatri

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  • Mech lead tingz

@Evan Janakievski

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  • Mech

@Balaji Leninrajan

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  • Auto

@Ben Lovegrove

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@Camilo Artigas Alos

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  • Mech

@Jane Zeng

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  • Auto

@Daniel Puratich

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@Victor Sun

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  • Mech

@Vyomm Khanna

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Flightline Team

Name

Phone #

Role

Reason

Name

Phone #

Role

Reason

Nathan Green

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Pilot

Fly the drone

Daniel Puratich

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Pre-Flight Preparation

Checklists

  • Software configuration correct

  • Compare against latest baselines and verify no params changed, or changes approved by comp-ft-team

  • LTE tested

  • Autopilot Orientation checked

  • Motors tested

  • Prop direction check

  • Sensors outputs healthy & within range

  • Controller input mappings correct

  • Controller input choices correct for pilot preferences

  • Wireless trainer tested & working per pilot preferences.

Hardware (wiring)

  • Wires are not too tight or too loose (comfortable, not strained, not flapping around)

    • No cut/exposed wires

    • Shrouding is neat + presentable

    • Solder joints look good

      • no cracks

      • no corrossion

      • no exposed contacts (unless expected)

    • Specific requirement from @Daniel Puratich

      • no exposed pad without solder on ESC caps

        • i did this on peggy 2

        • someone will need to do with peggy 1

      • ESCs all have a touch of hot glue to secure cap to board

    • Connectors fully plugged in

    • Connectors in good health

Hardware (airframe)

  • Bolts secure (nothing loose)

    • Carbon fiber not cracked

    • 3D prints not failing / crushed / cracked

    • No loose items

Hardware (groundstation)

  • ELRS Gemini tested & Working

    • Logging correct

    • Data looks correct

    • Control tower tested & working

  • Tracking antenna x2 (control + video) (mechanical)

    • Servos secure

    • Hardware (antennas) secure

    • No cracks/bends/chips in polycarb/aluminum

    • Gears / shafts look healthy

    • Grease if necessary

  • Tracking antenna x2 (control + video) (electrical)

    • Electrical components secure

    • Power delivery / signal wires secure, no cracks/corrosion/damage

  • Video System

    • goggles(?)

    • Monitors(?)

    • Video tower tested & working

  • Laptop w/mission planner configured correctly.

    • LTE Link tested working

Flightline Kit

  • Spare motors

  • Spare props

  • Spare tools

    • Metric allen keys

    • Socket set

      Pliers (flatnose + needle nose)

  • USB-C cable (short & long)

  • Soldering iron + heat shrink + spare cables

  • Power supplies for ground station computer

  • Ground station computer

  • Spare bolts

  • Radio Controllers

  • Mission plan clear

  • flightline roles assigned

  • Communication hierarchy established

  • Incident procedures & roles in-place & briefed to all flightline team members

  • Timeline for day-of clear

  • Battery charging plan, equipment management plan clear.

  • Transportation clear

  • Batteries in safety bag

  • Equipment

    • Zip tie

    • duck tape

    • label maker

    • Type c cable

    • ELRS Gemini

    • Saleae Logic Analyzer

    • charged WARG laptop

    • spare bag for small electronics

    • controller box

      • two controller

      • battery tester

    • VTX box

  • execute

Total 5 main system checked:

  • Power system(battery and connection)

  • Propulsion system(motor and propeller)

  • Controller system(Control links and ground station system)

  • Sensory system(sensors)

  • Video system (VTX)

  • Debrief

  • clean / store equipment if necessary

Incident Procedures

Flight Test Timeline

Related to 2024-09-28 Autonomy Obstacle avoidance FT

Date/Time

Action

Notes

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Date/Time

Action

Notes

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10:00

Meet in bay

  • Tried to leave at 10

    • batteries were still charging

      • daniel woke up late

        • delegate someone to charge batteries

    • autonomy system was not wired

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10:30

Leave for WRESTRC

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11:00

Flights started

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12:20

Finished

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12:40

Bay Arrival

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Flight Test Debrief report

Card 1 Test 1: Tuning

What Happened

  • Analyzed the initial tune, determined it was too aggressive

    • did not feel very stable in flight

  • Checked notch filter frequencies

    • took us a bit to setup parameters correctly

    • compared to in-flight FFT

    • Settled on using in-flight FFT as best outcome

  • Reset tune to default using initial tune config

  • Ran autotune again on all axes with aggressiveness of 0.07 (default is 0.1, range 0.05 to 0.1)

  • Evaluated new tune, new tune is felt less aggressive.

    • Needs more testing and log analysis

  • Ran all flights except final autotune with detailed IMU logging

Log Analysis

  • Stability

    • How stable was the drone with the new tune?

    • How good was the autotune solution according to the parameters?

    • We couldn't really fly it much because of the rain, but overshoots of a few degrees on all axies show up in the logs.

      • It felt much better than before to the pilot, but still doesn’t seem ideal when looking at the logs

      • Yaw looked good, but roll and pitch aren’t that great

    • Paths forward

      • run pitch and roll atune again β†’ recommended

      • lower atune aggressiveness and run the full sequence again β†’ maybe we get a better solution

      • learn to tune manually from this autotune solution β†’ probably the best if we have skill or can learn

  • Vibration

    • Seemed okay in the flight

    • some clipping in VIBE reading above 30 m/s^2 but no problems with EKF, good most of the time

  • Packet Loss on Mavlink RC

    • Did the paccket

    • Have to check on mission planner laptop

    • zero damaged packet count

    • 100% link quality in mission planner

Action Items

  • Next week spend more time analyzing the tune and retune if needed.

  • Checking packet loss on laptop

Card 2 Test 1: Range Test

  • NOT ATTEMPTED

  • It started to rain and we did not want to attempt this.

Card 2 Test 2: Speed Test

  • NOT ATTEMPTED

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