Ultimate jets EXO x6a Operation Manual

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EXO x6a operations manual

Contents

0. Operating Manual introduction .............................................................................................................. 3

1. Software operations ............................................................................................................................... 3

1.0. Mission Planner introduction ........................................................................................................... 3

1.0.1. Loading Firmware onto APM..................................................................................................... 4

1.0.2. Connect APM to computer........................................................................................................ 5

1.0.3. Connect APM to Mission Planner .............................................................................................. 5

1.0.4. Select firmware ......................................................................................................................... 5

1. 0.5. Connect to MavLink ..................................................................................................................... 6

1.1. Planning a Mission with Waypoints and Events ............................................................................... 6

1.1.1 Basic waypoint commands ......................................................................................................... 7

1.1.2. Tips ............................................................................................................................................ 7

1.1.3. Setting the Home Position ........................................................................................................ 8

1.1.4. Instructions ............................................................................................................................... 9

1.1.5. Auto grid ................................................................................................................................. 11

1.1.6. Basic waypoint commands scripts .......................................................................................... 11

1.2. Mission planner Ground Control Station ....................................................................................... 17

1.2.1 The GCS Flight Data Screen ...................................................................................................... 17

1.2.2. Guided Mode .......................................................................................................................... 19

1.3. Mission planner telemetry logs. ..................................................................................................... 20

1.3.1. Log Types (Dataflash vs tlogs) ................................................................................................. 20

1.3.2.When and where tlogs are created .......................................................................................... 20

Exo x6a Operations Manual

revision 1

1st September 2013

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Page 1: Table Of Contents
EXO x6a operations manual Contents 0. Operating Manual introduction ......................3 1. Software operations ..........................3 1.0. Mission Planner introduction ......................3 1.0.1. Loading Firmware onto APM..................... 4 1.0.2. Connect APM to computer......................5 1.0.3. Connect APM to Mission Planner ....................5 1.0.4.
Page 2 2.1. Platfrom transportation ......................... 50 2.2. Platform pre-flight procedures ...................... 50 2.3. In flight operations ......................... 50 2.3.1. Takeoff ............................ 50 2.3.2. Navigation ..........................50 2.3.3. Fligth modes ..........................50 2.3.4. Landing ............................ 50 Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...
Page 3: Operating Manual Introduction
1. The software operations part that explains how to setup and use the 3D Robotics APM autopilot 2. The platform operations part that explains how to setup and use the hardware 1. Software operations 1.0. Mission Planner introduction Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...
Page 4: Loading Firmware Onto Apm
1.0.1. Loading Firmware onto APM firmware is the brains of your autopilot operation, created and maintained by the dedicated open source community. Downloading the latest firmware onto APM is an important part of first Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...
Page 5: Connect Apm To Computer
+ or x configuration later.) The firmware screen will not appear if you have already selected Connect, so ensure that Mission Planner shows a disconnected icon in the upper-right corner to access the firmware. Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...
Page 6: Connect To Mavlink
Connect, your APM firmware has been downloaded successfully. 1.1. Planning a Mission with Waypoints and Events In Mission Planner you can create missions use the easy point-and-click Waypoint Editor created by Michael Oborne. Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...
Page 7: Basic Waypoint Commands
Grid: This allows you to draw a polygon (right click) and automatically create waypoints over the selected area. Note that it does not do “island detection”, which means if you have a big Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...
Page 8: Setting The Home Position
GPS lock, so only power up your plane in the location you intend it to return to when performing an RTL. Video: Produce and save a Multi-waypoint Mission http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAjkuJdjZw4&feature=player_embedded Video: Load an already saved Multi-waypoint Mission http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBq8YHShkVU&feature=player_embedded Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...
Page 9: Instructions
Since the default altitude is 100 meters, the return to launch will be at 100 meters. After reaching the launch position, the craft will land. The mission assumes that the launch position is set at the home position. Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...
Page 10 EEPROM. You can confirm that it‟s as you wanted by selecting “Read” You can save multiple mission files to your local hard drive by selecting “Save WP File” or read in files with “Load WP File” in the right-click menu: Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...
Page 11: Auto Grid
Then select Auto WP, Grid. Follow the dialog box process to select altitude and spacing. The Mission Planner will then generate a mission that looks something like this: 1.1.6. Basic waypoint commands scripts WAYPOINT Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...
Page 12 1: Loiter until commanded LOITER_UNLIM Option Alt Lat Lon N/A N/A N/A  Will cause the craft to begin to Loiter at the current location when the command is invoked. LOITER_TIME Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...
Page 13 If you have Sonar, the craft will stop holding position at 3 meters and drop straight down.  The motors will not stop on their own, you must exit the AP mode to cut the engines Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...
Page 14 Useful when used after a delay or distance conditional command CONDITION_CHANGE_ALT Option Alt Lat Lon Altitude (meters) N/A N/A  Will override the next waypoint altitude.  Useful when used after a delay or distance conditional command CONDITION_YAW Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...
Page 15 DO_SET_RELAY Option Alt Lat Lon 1 = on, 0 = off, -1 = toggle N/A N/A N/A * Toggling the Relay will turn an off relay on and vice versa DO_REPEAT_RELAY Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...
Page 16 A waypoint command means “start heading to this WP”, not “wait until you get to this WP.” So, for example, if you put a “Jump to WP1″ command in-between WP4 and Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...
Page 17: Mission Planner Ground Control Station
Video: How to prefetch a stored Mission Map http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1s8gsXTdPY8&feature=player_embedded Video: Occasionally You will see some really big Numbers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5ClTnggZKk&feature=player_embedded 1.2. Mission planner Ground Control Station 1.2.1 The GCS Flight Data Screen Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...
Page 18 MAVlink commands to take effect.  You can change the voice used in the speech synthesis in the Ease of Access center in Windows Control Panel. Go to the “Text to Speech” options. Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...
Page 19: Guided Mode
“Fly To Here”. The UAV will fly there and loiter until you give it another command. We call this “Guided Mode”. There are more commands coming in this mode soon, but the functionality is now built-in. Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...
Page 20: Mission Planner Telemetry Logs
1.3.3. Setting the datarate The desired rate at which data is sent from the APM/PX to the ground station can be controlled through the mission planner‟s Software > Planner screen‟s Telemetry drop-downs. Because all Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...
Page 21: Playing Back Missions
You can play back these logs by doing the following: Open the mission planner‟s Flight Data screen   click on the Telemetry Logs tab Press “Load Log” and find the flight‟s tlog file  Press “Play”  Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...
Page 22 This will show the recorded data changing as the flight progresses. Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...
Page 23: Creating 3D Images Of The Flight Path
Open the mission planner‟s Flight Data screen   Click on the Telemetry Logs tab Press the “Tlog > Kml or Graph” button  Press the “Create KML + GPX” button   select the flight tlog Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...
Page 24 3d flight path. You can open the kmz file in Google Earth to view the flight or path. Just double click the file or drag it and drop into Google Earth. Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1...
Page 25: Extracting Parameters And Waypoints
You can extract the parameters and waypoints from the tlog by following the same steps as for creating the KML file except that at the last step select “Extract Params” or “Extract WPs”. Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...
Page 26: Graphing Data From A Flight
Open the mission planner‟s Flight Data screen   Click on the Telemetry Logs tab Press the “Tlog > Kml or Graph” button  Press the “Graph Log” button   select the flight tlog Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...
Page 27: Video Overview Of Tlogs
(also known as “tlogs”) are recorded by the mission planner (or other  ground station) when you connect your APM to your computer via your 3DR or Xbee wireless telemetry link. You can find the details here. Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...
Page 28: Setting What Data You Want Recorded
Press “Connect APM” or “Connect PX”   type logs  enable or disable one of the possible messages types by typing enable or disable followed by the message type. I.e enable IMU Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...
Page 29 DU32: id = 7, bit mask of internal state. The meaning of individual bits can be found in ArduCopter.pde‟s definition of the ap structure. “Diagnosing ERR: error subsystem and error number. A list of these can be found on the problems using LogFiles” wiki page. Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...
Page 30 Type Enable All at the cli prompt. That will enable logging of all parameters for your platform – some of which you may not want. You will see the new list of all items now being logged. Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...
Page 31: Downloading Logs With The Mission Planner
For very large logs it can take several minutes to download but you should see the amount of data transferred so far in light grey just below the “Clear Logs” button. When the file is completely downloaded “Done” should appear in the area below the Clear Logs button.. Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...
Page 32: Viewing The Contents
Once the data-flash memory card is full it will wrap around and start overwriting the oldest logs. 1.4.4.Viewing the contents Dataflash files can be opened for analysis by doing the following: Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...
Page 33 PARM rows which show each parameter (in the order in which they appear in the eeprom) along with their value at the beginning of the flight  Flight data messages including GPS, IMU, etc. Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...
Page 34 This is very useful especially for viewing the different flight modes (called “MODE” messages) used during the mission. Click the first column again but press “Cancel” to clear the filter. Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...
Page 35: Message Details (Apm:copter Specific)
CAM (time and position when camera shutter was activated): GPSTime : the GPS reported time since epoch in milliseconds Lat : the accelerometer + GPS latitude estimate Lat : the accelerometer + GPS longitude estimate Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...
Page 36 ThrInt: integrated throttle (i.e. sum of total throttle output for this flight) Volt: battery voltage in volts * 100 Curr: current drawn from the battery in amps * 100 Vcc: board voltage Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...
Page 37 ECode 1: “Late Frame” which means the APM‟s onboard ppm encoder did not provide an update for at least 2 seconds ECode 0: error resolved which means the ppm encoder started providing data again Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...
Page 38 ECode 0: updates from ground station restored 9: Fence ECode 1: altitude fence breached ECode 2: circular fence breached ECode 3: both altitude and circular fences breached ECode 0: vehicle is back within the fences Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...
Page 39 IAlt: inertial nav altitude estimate in cm IClb: inertial nav estimated climb rate in cm/s ACorrX. ACorrY, ACorrZ: x, y and z-axis accelerometer correction in cm/s/s GLat, GLon: GPS latitude and longitude from home Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...
Page 40 DAcY: desired acceleration in cm/s/s in the longitude direction DRol: desired roll angle in centi-degrees DPit: desired pitch angle in centi-degrees PM (performance monitoring): RenCnt: DCM renormalization count – a high number may indicate problems in DCM (extremely rare) Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...
Page 41: Viewing Kmz Files
Google Earth. Please see the instructions on the Telemetry Logs Page for additional details. 1.4.7. Video Tutorials http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62TmGiwFiDU&feature=player_embedded http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcVlJCR8N2g&feature=player_embedded 1.5. Using Ground Station Apps on Phones/Tablets Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...
Page 42: Andropilot
UAV from your phone/tablet, just as you would from your laptop via the Mission Planner. Any app that supports the MAVLink communications standard should work, but right now these are the two that we recommend. Both are free, although donations are very appreciated. 1.5.1. Andropilot Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...
Page 43 Available here Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...
Page 44: Droidplanner
2013. Apple/iOS apps are harder to implement, because Apple requires any hardware device that connects to an iPhone of iPad to go through a certification process. Thus the iOS apps need a hardware component and are typically not free. Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...
Page 45: Other Mission Planner Features
That window is called the console. You can keep it alive by checking a box at the bottom of the Mission Planner help screen.  Shortcut Keys: Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...
Page 46: Using The Python Scripting Language With Mission Planner
One of the cool features of the Mission Planner is that it can run Python scripts, so you can easily program your UAV to do anything, from robotic acrobatics to just script-driven missions. Aside from the regular Python commands, these are the special Mission Planner commands you can use: Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...
Page 47 0 – 180 Script.Sleep(5) while cs.roll < -45: # -180 – -45 Script.Sleep(5) Script.SendRC(5,1500,False) # stabilize Script.SendRC(1,1500,True) # level roll Script.Sleep(2000) # 2 sec to stabilize Script.SendRC(3,1300,True) # throttle back to land thro = 1350 # will decend while cs.alt > 0.1: Script.Sleep(300) Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...
Page 48: Using The Mission Planner Serial Terminal
USB port and to type commands into the CLI. You can can also run tests and download and analyze log files from this page. Remember to always have the APM slider switch in CLI position (towards the RC pins) when you‟re using the Termin 1.9. Mission Planner Troubleshooting Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...
Page 49: Troubleshooting Your Apm Connection From Missionplanner
5. rc.APM finished 3. If the file does not exist or the contents are different from above reinstall the ArduCopter/ArduPlane/ArduRover firmware in the PX4FMU board and the PX4IO firmware into the PX4IO board. Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...
Page 50: Platform Operations
2. Platform operations 2.0 Ground and flight operations introduction 2.1. Platfrom transportation 2.2. Platform pre-flight procedures 2.3. In flight operations 2.3.1. Takeoff 2.3.2. Navigation 2.3.3. Fligth modes 2.3.4. Landing 2.4. Post flight operations Exo x6a Operations Manual revision 1 1st September 2013...