As the title suggests, I was unable to control the copter’s yaw while in CIRCLE mode, when the documentation clearly states that I should be able to. Is this known behaviour, or can anyone give any explanation as to why this happened?
If it helps, I triggered the CIRCLE mode by using a LOITER_TURNS waypoint, which the drone executed succesfully (apart from not letting me take control of yaw). I am running Copter 3.3.3
Thanks in advance
If by “I triggered the CIRCLE mode by using a LOITER_TURNS waypoint” you mean that you were in Auto mode then it is normal you couldn’t control yaw - that has never been possible although from a comment in code it looks like the intention was to allow it.
In Circle mode you should be able to control yaw.
Thank you for your fast response.
Your answer confused me though. What I did was load a mission containing a LOITER_TURNS waypoint, load it to the aircraft and set it to auto mode. It took off (first waypoint), then went for the LOITER_TURNS and finally landed all on its own.
From what you’ve said it seems like there should be a different way to make it enter CIRCLE mode. I am using Mission Planner and I’ve just noticed that in the Actions tab you can choose the Circle Mode and then use Set Mode. Is that what you mean? Where would the drone make the circle in this situation? I know the radius and set are defined as parameters.
loiter_turns is specific to an AUTO mission.
This is very different to CIRCLE mode which is a flight mode which you can select the same you would AUTO, POSITION HOLD, STABILIZE etc.
Filipe,
Like @MarkM said Circle is a flight mode just like Auto, Loiter, Land or RTL are. You’ve linked to a wiki page for a specific flight mode so you might have read it but here is a general page about flight modes and how to select them: http://ardupilot.org/copter/docs/flight-modes.html
With Circle mode it indeed uses the radius defined by the CIRCLE_RADIUS parameter. When you enter the mode the location where the vehicle is looking at, at the radius distance, is the center of the circle.
Thank you both for your time. I now understand my mistake. I think the documentation on this is a bit confusing; particularly the line “The mission command LOITER_TURNS invokes Circle mode during a mission.” in the circle mode documentation.
That line made me think the waypoint of type LOITER_TURNS also invoked this mode.
Sorry to reply again to what seemed to be a closed thread, but I’ve just found this on the documentation on Auto Mode
"During the mission the pilot’s roll, pitch and throttle inputs are ignored but the yaw can be overridden with the yaw stick. This allows the pilot to for example aim the nose of the copter (which might have a hard mounted camera on it) as the copter flies the mission. The autopilot will attempt to retake yaw control as the vehicle passes the next waypoint."
( from http://ardupilot.org/copter/docs/auto-mode.html )
Perhaps the yaw is controllable as long as WP_YAW_BEHAVIOR is set to 0?
Hi Filipe,
I’m sorry our documentation is giving you a bad time, it’s not only hard to keep it updated but also to keep it simple for users without missing detail. It is true that you can control yaw in Auto in most commands, but the in the loiter turns command you can’t control yaw with your stick.