I’m currently running the v3.2 of arduplane trying to get the auto landing feature to work. I am having some issues with the land flare pitch not holding when the plane overshoots the final land wp.
The flare pitch does get triggered when the land_flare_alt/sec condition is met but it does not stay at that pitch when the plane overshoots the final land wp. It seems as if the plane goes into stabilize at some point after it overshoots the final land wp instead of holding the flare pitch.
Anyone knows how this problem may be addressed? Should I just put another land wp down the line some where to trick the plane to hold the desired land_flare_pitch?
I have wanted to try autoland but never tried it because I have a fairly small runway. How accurate is the touchdown point?
I have no problems with manual landings but if it is 10 meters short or long it’s going to end in a broken airplane. I would say that +/- 5 meters is all that I can afford.
It won’t be accurate enough for you consistently. You need more space. That said, you can always try it and see. It’s pretty easy to see early in the approach whether the autopilot is well positioned. Just be ready with a go-around procedure. Have your finger on the switch to go to FBWA or Trainer mode and add max throttle. Trainer gives you all the authority of Manual but protects you if you over control the airplane during a panicky transition. Some guys just switch directly to RTL which initiated the climb too, but be ready for the turn. You could set a Rally Point straight ahead, then RTL will bring you there.
The next firmware release should have some code to allow for Go-Arounds to be executed from the RC handheld. I have been lobbying for this signal to be a movement of the throttle to max while on final approach.
This problem has been resolved when I increased the landing approach angle. Previously I was toying with different landing profiles and adding additional wps along the way which messed with the landing path calculations between the final wp and the land wp.