ArduCopter & Dronekit Arming Without GPS

ArduCopter Copter 4.4
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1

Hello, I am working on an autonomous drone project for indoors without a GPS and a RC. Here is my GitHub repo link for reference, hope you like it!

Components:

  • CUAV V5 Nano (ArduCopter V4.4.4) using Mission Planner
  • SpeedyBee BL32 50A 4-in-1 ESC
  • Raspberry Pi 4B (DroneKit & MAVLink)

I don’t need the GPS and RC so I tried to disable it from the pre-arm checks, AHRS, and FS. When I run my python script to arm I receive the errors:

CRITICAL:autopilot:PreArm: EKF attitude is bad
CRITICAL:autopilot:PreArm: AHRS: EKF3 not started
CRITICAL:autopilot:Arm: EKF attitude is bad
CRITICAL:autopilot:Arm: AHRS: EKF3 not started

I understand that autopilots without GPS require a different AHRS but without a GPS it can’t function. My questions are:

  1. Can I create one with an onboard oak-d-lite camera and how feasible is it?
  2. Can I disable EK3 and use only altidude control?

I have tried disabling these pre-arm checks with:
AHRS_EKF_TYPE, 0
ARMING_CHECK, 1043890

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image1023×189 43.8 KB

COMPASS_ENABLE, 0
GPS_TYPE, 0

2

Without a GPS, you’ll need different sensors to get your position and velocity information. See EKF Source Selection and Switching — Copter documentation for instructions (and options) for non-GPS EKF inputs.

There’s a blog post here: A VIO system using OAK-D & Raspberry Pi

Nope. EK3 needs to be running (unless you have an external AHRS).

3

Thank you for the clarification @stephendade, I briefly looked at them and they are exactly what I was looking for!