2024-11-16 Houston Flight Test
- 1 Planning
- 1.1 Scope
- 1.2 Flight Cards
- 1.2.1 Flight Card 1
- 1.2.2 Flight Card 2
- 1.2.3 Flight Card 3
- 1.2.4 Flight Card 4 ~ Moved to next flight test
- 1.3 Timeline
- 1.4 Attendees
- 1.4.1 Key People Not Attending
- 2 Debrief
- 2.1 Flight Card 1
- 2.2 Flight Card 2
- 2.3 Flight Card 3
- 2.4 Action Items
Planning
Scope
Houston
Testing new camera
We have a non-global shutter RPi Camera we need to test on the drone
Autonomy should try geolocation as well, need to get script ready
Should acquire data of just images (with nothing overlayed) so we can test algorithms
Note: Geolocation with the CV camera will be tested FIRST as it requires more setup. Then the CV camera will be swapped out for the IR camera, and the IR camera will be used to capture images.
Tracking Antenna ~ Moved to next flight test
Must be tested and verified before 2024-11-06 to include in this flight test @Omer Sajid
Pre Flight Test validations
Test drone selected - Houston chosen
Determine and setup link OTA link on Houston, RFD or ELRS
E2E Mavlink connection established (drone → mavproxy → mission planner + tracking antenna)
Basic tracking works (tracking antenna follows drone being walked in a 180° arc around it)
If ready, can be tested alongside another Flight Card to decrease necessary flights
Testing object detection?
Awaiting confirmation from @Andrew Shum
Flight Cards
Flight Card 1
Autonomy Geolocation
Pilot: @Evan Janakievski
GSO: @Yuchen Lin
What is being tested? To be filled out by flight card requesters @Ashish Agrahari @Maxwell Lou
Geolocation + Cluster estimation accuracy
Have more precise measurements of the location of landing pad relative to the drone take-off position.
Have a marker for starting location so we can put drone back there every time
Preferably switch on drone at starting location, or ensure that starting location is logged
Test different heights (ie 3-5m, 10m, 15m, 20m), each should be its own independent flight
Test different speeds? (optional, just go approximately same speed/slow if not testing this)
Local logging should work
Hardware to be installed (change status to success when installed or plan for installing at flight test is done)
CV camera
RPi
THINGS TO BRING
Measuring tape
Marker/tape/box or something to mark drone take-off position
Geolocation + Cluster Estimation Accuracy Procedure (HOUSTON) | ||
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Procedure | Goals/Objectives | Knockoff criteria |
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| < list of reasons why you would want to stop the test >
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Flight Card 2
IR Camera Test (HOUSTON) | ||
Procedure | Goals/Objectives | Knockoff criteria |
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| < list of reasons why you would want to stop the test > |
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| due to vibration on drone, images are very blurry. Weather: cloudy |
| Same as above |
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| Same as above |
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| Same as above |
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Flight Card 3
Obstacle Detection/Guided Mode (HOUSTON) | ||
Procedure | Goals / Objectives | Knockoff criteria |
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IMP: pls see photo before reading the description below!
| < list of reasons why you would want to stop the test > Pilot intervention is not necessary unless safety issues arise, or there are environmental disruptions, as the auto → guided → auto switch is handled by the script. NOTE: on mp, simulating a mission-abort, ie. killing the script changes mode to loiter almost instantly, but drone altitude plummets to zero. (discussed with Andrew and it should just be a MissionPlanner default issue). However, just in case, pilot should be ready to control vertical throttle when aborting mission (when killing the script)
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Flight Card 4 ~ Moved to next flight test
TRACKING ANTENNA TEST PROCEDURE (HOUSTON) | ||
Procedure | Goals / Objectives | Knockoff criteria |
| LINK TO DOCUMENTATION FOR SETUP |
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| < list of reasons why you would want to stop the test > |
Move in periodic squares moving away from the tracking antenna. |
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Timeline
Batteries charging 9:30
Leave bay at 10:30
Drive to CIF
10:50 begin Flight Card 3
Uninstall Lidar at the end of flight
11:15 begin Flight Card 1
Flight 1
Flight 2
Flight 3
Flight 4
11:50 begin Flight Card 2
Possible delay for installing IR camera for CV camera
Flight 1
Flight 2
Flight 3
Flight 4
12:25 begin Flight Card 4
12:50 head back to bay
1:10 charge batteries to storage
1:15 debrief and unpack
Attendees
@Evan Janakievski
@Yuchen Lin
@Maxwell Lou
@Tochi Okoro
@Vyomm Khanna
@Ashish Agrahari
@Andrew Shum
Key People Not Attending
If you’re directly involved in this stuff and cannot make this test please note it here. All onsite FTCs and subteam leads should fill this out please.
Debrief
Flight Card 1
Recap
Photos below are also in onedrive
Takeoff location | Landing pad to detectlocation Flights 1-3 | Landing pad to detect location Flight 4 |
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Flight 1 - 5 m altitude
West
Flight 2 - 10 m altitude
West
Flight 3 - 20 m altitude
West
Flight 4 - 20 m altitude
315 deg (i.e. in NW direction)
Good
Geolocation logs worked, will update with photos after checking them
Auto starts with Houston when powered up
Bad
Camera direction needs to be labeled for installing
Distance/offset for camera location needs to be known at some point
Flight Card 2
Recap
Cloudy weather
Grass in the background
IR emitter set on top of controller box
Flight 1 - 5 m
Flight 2 - 10 m
Flight 3 - 15-20 m
Good
Lots of images
Different altitudes
Bad
Not great images
Need a better camera with global shutter due to vibe and drifting of drone
IR camera broke before flight test, glued back on (Nathan glued it)
Took a while prior to leaving for flight to get set up on Pi
Flight Card 3
Recap
Flight 1 - completed script
Flight 2 - tested canceling script switching to loiter
Good
Script completed well, armed and took off drone in auto and successfully switched from Auto to Guided at flags
Bad
Could not switch from Auto/Guided to Loiter in the middle of the script
Was able to switch to RTL though
RTL switch to Loiter cut thrust and drone fell, caught with RTL but switch to loiter caused same issue
Hard landing, nothing was damaged
Thrust on controller was at 50% during this too
Test script on drone with lower altitude to problem solve switching to loiter issue
Simulation successfully switched from auto/guided to loiter, but did not translate to real flight
Action Items
Check photos for IR and Geolocation
Check path from guided mode and compare to simulation
Check RTL to loiter transition issues