Is there a need for an RC Transmitter?

Hello,
i have a general, maybe dumb questions. I used to fly RC Airplanes and a some drones, equiped with Naza-M.
All those flying objects are controlled by me through transmitter, receiver, servos or flight controller.

So, now a want to equip my drone with an ardupilot and use the mission planer.

Now my questions : for what do i need my transmitter ? Is it possible to “overrule” the ardupilot for a emergency landing with my transmitter while the drone is “on route” ?

Thx

Eberhard

You need a transmitter for the initial tuning and setup. But once it’s flying then you don’t need an RC.

Yes, you can fly with mission planner and have a transmitter available for emergencies or whatever.

https://ardupilot.org/copter/docs/common-gcs-only-operation.html

Hello Allister,
thank You. That is the information i needed. Well, maybe it is a bit overkill, but my plan is, to drop an RC-Parachutist with a drone and this drone should go autonomus to a way point 50 m away and 200 m high, drop the parachutist and come back and land.

That has been done before. You can probably find it on here searching for paraglider because it was a scaled version to test some things. But, as you suggest it’s very basic functionality anyway. You still need an RC system to configure and tune it :slight_smile:

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Thanks for the help !
Do You think, such a kit Link would do the job ?

It looks like very old hardware. I would steer clear.

Hi Lupus, i understand “old hardware” but what do You mean with " steer cleer". Sorry, i am no native english speaker

To steer clear of something means to avoid it.
I would be suspicious of any kits, especially
on AliExpress or if components aren’t clearly listed by name.

“Pixhawk 2.4.8” is typically sign of a cheap copy using known branding. Checkout “Hardware to avoid” thread on the forum.

ah, ok, thx for that explanation

In the price range of that Flight Controller look at boards from Matek and HolyBro. It’s best to use an H743 based controller.

I don’t use it. I only have autonomous missions. You can use only Ground Control, if you have the telemetry, but i don’t use it either. Just create mission, throw my plane and it’s flying itself.
Calibration of ESC throttle is not needed really needed, mine worked plug and play. I turned on Autotune, so that servo ranges calibrated themselves. You can configure switch or relay to drop the RC-Parachutist in any waypoint.

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Thanks mates for Your tipps, tricks and hints. Today my pixhawk 6c arrived and first test did not show any issues. Firmware update worked at first try, calibration and rc-setup is done, today i will try some BLHeli-ESC.
I will build a small test quadcopter and see what happens.

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