Quadplane precision landing support - testers needed!

ArduPlane Plane 4.5
1

I have opened a PR to add precision landing support for quadplanes. The support is based on lua scripting bindings plus a simple lua script that updates the target location based on the precision landing target position estimate.
I am now looking for users who can test the system on their aircraft. To do testing you need:

  • a well tuned quadplane
  • a flight controller that can support lua scripting (eg. STM32H7 based)
  • a willingness to test beta code and report findings and logs here

If you want to try it then start by reading this documentation:
https://github.com/tridge/ardupilot/blob/pr-quadplane-precland/libraries/AP_Scripting/applets/plane_precland.md

then you can either build the PR yourself or ask me to build a firmware for you. Please let me know what flight controller you are using.
The plan is to incorporate this capability into the 4.5.x release.
So far this has only been tested in SITL
I also plan on making it possible to use precland in ship landing, but that is not done yet

A discord discussion thread is here:

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Thanks @tridge , I’ll setup the system to test

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Hi Tridge,this is an awesome add on to ArduPlane,once it is a little bit further on and I have made more progress with my new Heewing T1 Vtol i will join this tea party,i take off and land in quite restricted areas most of the time so will be a godsend for me.

Once again Andrew thank you for all the work you do to keep us all happy

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quadplane precision landing is now merged in master and should be on the build server soon

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I’ve added precision loiter support in QLOITER mode with this PR:

still waiting for the first testers of this precision landing feature!

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Precision Landing test with VTOL and Aruco Markers today, the result is very good, thanks for all the work
Log file: https://www.mediafire.com/file/osjzfayatzrwvh5/2024-03-09+17-24-56.bin/file

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thanks!
looks like it locked and held position well:
image
(grid squares are 1m across)

image
image1030×503 38.6 KB

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note that at the moment I have not implemented the retry logic in precision landing where it can go back to the last place it saw the target. Is that wanted for quadplanes? I had thought not as hover battery is often very limited

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Hi,

Just a question:
We can use Rangefinders for QPreLand or QPreloiter in this firmware version?
I think it will be useful.

Thanks

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I think it will be useful, because some quadplane can fly long time like copter.

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Precision Loiter test with VTOL and Aruco markers at branch: GitHub - tridge/ardupilot at pr-quadplane-precloiter
This is the log file: https://www.mediafire.com/file/ea4akhuiw18ps45/precloiter-pr-test2024-03-11+17-29-36.bin/file

The result seems good, but I feel It’s having a little delay in the precision loiter response…

Thanks,

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yes, rangefinders work

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Hi tridge,

I feel It’s having a little delay in the precision loiter response, could you improve that?

Thanks
Trinh

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do you mean delay to stick inputs, or delay to target movements?

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Hi @tridge,

Delay to target movements ( The drone saw the target but 3-4 seconds later it moved) in Preloiter.
When I try with PreLand, the drone will move immediately when saw the target.

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Hi @tridge,

I have tested PLND with newlest firmware (master) with same drone,para and same LUA.
It’s quite overshoot and it’s quite difficult to hit the target compared to the previous version. After that, I back to old version (pr-quadplane-precloiter) and it work stable.
Did you change the PLND code with master firmware?

This is the log and video: https://www.mediafire.com/file/6kynkdbrfbg58x1/020424+master+firwmare+PLND+test.zip/file

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Hi @tridge ,

Which system offers greater precision?

  • Use these scripts with landing sensor or
  • Use dual-F9P GPS beacon system with moving baseline yaw
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no, it didn’t change, so it should perform the same.
Have you done any more testing? Do you still find a difference?

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that depends if you provide a good RTCMv3 feed for global RTK to the dual-F9P setup. If you do, then you should get a few cm accuracy with the GPS beacon. In practice it can be difficult to provide a RTCMv3 feed to an aircraft in many situations, and the precision landing should provide more accuracy if you don’t provide that.

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OK, I understood it; I will wait for that option to implement this Script for ship landing