Precision Loiter & Landing indications

ArduCopter Copter 3.6
1

Hello All,

I am using the IR-LOCK along with a Lidar (LW20B) on my quad for Precision Loiter & Landing.

When I use the rc to change the state to Precision Loiter, there is no indication on the user interface (Mission Planner in my case) that the copter has actually changed its state to PL. I can see the behavior of the copter and guess that it indeed changed, but it is not enough: There can be a case where the copter did change mode to PL but the sensor doesnt detect the beacon.

When I change to Land - the copter will do a Precision Landing anywaty. However, there is no way to tell in real time whether the sensor has detected the beacon or not.

My questions:
a. Is it possible to get an indication whether the copter change mode to Precision Loiter?
b. In Land - it is possible to tell in real time (not to extract from the log file) that the sensor has detected the beacon?

Tnx.

2

I am using the ANALYZE widget of QGC to read the signal in real time while debugging and tuning Precision Landing

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3

Thank you for your reply. This is a walk around. I would like to get the indication up front.

Is Precision Loiter a different mode, such as PosHold or Att. Hold? If it is - why there is no indication?

And what happens if I trigger the PL switch when I am in PosHold? or in Att. Hold?

@rmackay9 - could you please comment?

Tnx.

4

Is there any other way to tell the copter is in Precision Loiter mode w/o looking at the Mavlink inspector or the copter’s response? Typically, when you assign flight modes and flip switches on the controller back and forth, the current flight mode is displayed in the top info bar, and is highlighted yellow in the Flight Modes menu in QGC. Would the assignment of the auxiliary channel to Precision Loiter do the same, or is there no indication other than Mavlink and physical response?

Thanks!

5

Hi

I didnt manage to get any notification or sign other than the copters behavior.

Arik

6

Do the sensor_offset messages only come to the GCS for companion precision landing implementations? I didn’t see it in the IR-LOCK backend. Are there any other status messages associated with the precision loiter or landing that could be monitored on the GCS side? For instance, is there a status for target acquired or that precision loiter is activated. Right now, I have to review the log files to determine why it didn’t work.

Also, why is precision loiter not in the enum of flight modes?

7

I only worked with Companion Computers and we used to check the mavlink signal on the GCS using mavlink inspector. I dont remember if there was announciator output avail for status.

Maybe @ThomasSFL can have a better answer ?

8

I don’t know if anybody put something like that into master. I think I did that in some custom work, but it may not be a default feature.

Best,
Thomas

9

Hi, im using copter 4.0.5 and mission planner 1.3.74, in which i dont see any indication as well.
Do you know how you are getting TARGET_LANDING massages?
Do you use arducopter as well?
Does the QGC ask for something MP doesn’t?

10

Hi, can you elaborate on the job?
Did you make any changes in the AC code?
Do you know if I can ask for TARGET_LANDING messages from the autopilot via companion computer?

11

I would recommend

  1. Not necroing 4 year old thread, about an ancient Ardupilot version.
  2. Using up to date Ardupilot version
  3. Describing your setup and posting relevant .bin log files
12

Sure
Need to do some custom work with these AC and MP versions
I am curious how he got these messages through QGC
For the record i do get indication in the BIN log on PL.Tacc but need to get real time indication.

Regards, omer

13

Its is Mavlink Inspector that you can invoke in both Mission Planner and QGC
Wiki is your friend
and Please follow @LupusTheCanine advise and start a new thread with detailled information if you require more explanation on a particular issue.