Hi Dave,
Thanks for your reply !!! Are you referring to the full parameter list and not sure how to download the file. I am quite new to all of this but slowly but surely learning lots of good stuff thanks to everyone in this forum !!! Rick
Rick-Yes you can save the parameter file from the Full Parameter screen and attached it directly here.
Thanks much !!! When you talk about making short yaw movements am I correct in assuming that I donât use the steering stick to make the yaw (steering movements) but pick the vehicle up and make short movements left and right and observe what the vehicle
does? In other words with no P the vehicle steering should not respond at all but with a P value of say .2 the steering will move in the opposite direction that I yaw the vehicle to? Also do I need to set the I value to something other than zero (say .2, same
as P)? I assume from the documentation and my experience tuning (not much) that the value of D should be left at zero. I noticed that increasing D to anything other than zero causes the steering to oscillate?
I am a long ways off in trying to tune the navigation controller and noticed there is no video showing how this is done and what information there is in the ardurover documentation is very sketchy. What is the best approach to tuning the navigation controller
once I get to this step? Again, thanks for all your help and for hanging in there with me !!! Rick
Yes, you are right. I just wanted you to see what the PID controller does for your rover.
âPâ alone should give you good results. âIâ helps to get rid off the last remaining error. It is usually lower than âPâ.
Leaving âDâ at zero is a good idea, because it can lead to mechanical failure and vibration.
Hello Dave,
I think I have attached two full parameter files but not sure it was successfull? Please let me know if this was successful and if you see anything in the full parameter list that may be causing my issues? Thanks Much !!! Rick
2019-05-03 21-50-25.log.param (11.7 KB)
2019-06-12.log.param (11.8 KB)
Yes, those are parameter files, not sure why you attached 2 different ones. Why donât you update to the latest stable release of Rover and then send that one?
Hello Dave,
I am hesitant to update the rover software at this point until I figure out what is going on with my current sofyware version. Donât want to add more unknowns at this time. When you update the rover software does it erase your current parameters and settings?
I am not confident yet with the whole process yet and donât want to have to start over. I havenât had alot of time to work on my project of late.
Have you had a chance to look at the parameter list (lattest) and if so do you see anything that could be causing issues with my traxxas rover? Thanks much for your continued help !!! Rick
I would take the opposite approach with a new vehicle by installing the latest stable version of Ardupilot. The parameter settings are persistent when updating but starting with default settings and working forward is probably a better idea. But if you donât want to do that try these:
ATC_STR_RAT_FF,1
ATC_STR_RAT_I,0.5
ATC_STR_RAT_P,0.5
MOT_THR_MAX,100 (assisted mode vehicle speed should be controlled by other parameters).
Why is COMPASS_AUTODEC disabled?
Hello Sebastian,
I put the traxxas rover on a stand that rotates and yawed the vehicle left and right as you suggested. I tried it with no âPâ and then with âPâ of .4 to .5. With no âPâ nothing happened as you said and with âPâ of .4 or .5 when I yawed to the right the
vehicle wheels would move a very short bit to the left and when yawing left the vehicle wheels moved a very slight bit to the right as you said. I did notice that the wheels intermittently moved left when yawing left and right when yawing the vehicle right.
Would I be correct this could happen as the vehicle is not on the ground moving forward? I found that increasing and decreasing âIâ didnât affect the tuning at all but maybe this was because the vehicle was not moving forward. Does this sound like correct
operation when not moving forward?
Also, when do you know that the vehicle is tuned properly to go ahead and enter and load waypoints and operate in auto mode to tune the navigation controller? I want to make sure the vehicle is tuned properly so that when I enter the auto mode things wonât
go crazy and the vehicle starts performing unpredictably? Thanks again for all your help !!! Rick
Hello Dave,
Compass_Autodec is disabled because I have an external compass as my primary compass. The compass is working great and I am getting no compass errors in mission planner. Do you see any reason to have Compass_Autodec enabled in a rover project?
How do you know that the vehicle is tuned well enough to enter waypoints and operate the vehicle in auto mode? I want to have some assurance that the vehicle wonât go crazy and get away from me. Thanks again for all your help !!! Rick
There is no reason not to use Auto Declination no matter what compass is used or what vehicle. This corrects for declination errors based on location.
If it drives correctly in Acro mode it should work in Auto. In any case you have an Arming switch setup right? So if it runs off just hit the switch. It must not go too fast anyway with a cruise speed of 1.5M/sec at 25% throttle. Thatâs slower than my crawler.
Dave,
Thanks for clarifying these issues. The only time the steering gets messed up is when I steer with the rover standing still. Would this be true most of the time when the vehicle is not moving forward at all. Once I start moving forward steering works fine. Thanks again !!! Rick
Rick,
Yes, it can do some squirrely things sitting stationary in Acro. When you drive it in Steering mode does it mostly hold itâs heading with center stick? And why the COMPASS_TYPEMASK of 32? You donât even have one of those compassâs. Which GPS/Compass module do you have?
Iâll just suggest again that you install the latest version of Rover, reset to default and start over. Some of your parameter settings donât make sense and I see no reason to stick with old firmware.
What is the difference in driving between acro and steering mode? When you mean center stick do you mean the steering is set to center so the vehicle goes straight and as long as the steering stick is centered it should go straight and not veer off course? Should the vehicle drive the same way in acro as it does in steering mode?
I am using the external gps/compass that came with the pixhawk 2.1 controller. It is a here2+ and is working quite well. What should the compass value be. I thought this parameter was set in the compass setup screen in mission planner?
How do you determine acro turn rate in mission planner once you have run the vehicle in a full circle as shown in the steering tuning video? Does this get shown in the full parameter list once you complete the full circle? If not, where in mission planner do you read acro turn rate.
Also, what are all the values in the parameter list that you have an issue with so I can check them out and learn from this experience?
Thanks again Dave!!! Rick
@rbonari
Hi Rick,
sorry for replying so late, real life got in the wayâŚ
I can only support Dave, you should update to the latest stable version of ardurover. Ardurover is evolving fast recently and many bugs are removed from version to version.
To tune your rover, you have to use Missionplanners âtuningâ screen. There is a checkbox below the map view in the primary flight screen. You then select âpidachievedâ and âpiddesiredâ after doubleclicking in the graph view. There is also a selection for turnrate available there.
You also need to change âGCS_PID_MASKâ to select between speed and steering tuning.
I made the experience, that the max turnrate aproach is not always usable. The rover in Randyâs video is quite slow, so it is no problem to let it drive a circle with full throttle, full steering. This is not possible for both of my skid steering rovers. The big one would roll over and the smaller one spins out of control. For the big rover I entered an acro turnrate that seemed reasonable for full stick input and for the smaller rover I left acro turnrate at default, tuned the FF and PIDs and noticed pidachieved was always higher than piddesired, even with low values for FF and PID, so I increased acro turnrate, till I got a relativly good match for pidachieved/desired. Then I adjusted the values, so it would not spin out of control (lowered the FF a bit and increased P).
Every vehicle is a bit (or a lot) different and so is the method of tuning them. And I think, this is also the reason why there is no autotune for ardurover yet.
Acro and Steering mode are using different methods of controlling the rover. Acro just tries to keep a constant turn rate, while Steering uses lateral acceleration (turn g) to control the rover.
The COMPASS_TYPEMASK parameter is used to disable compass drivers(s). It will not be set in the compass calibration screen. Itâs doing you no harm because the value entered is disabling a driver for a compass you donât have but there is no reason to set it to anything other than 0 in your case. My point is there could be other parameters set improperly and starting over with the latest version of firmware at default and working through the configuration and calibration IMO is your best option. Itâs a rover what do you have to lose? Aircraft can turn into a pile of broken parts but the worst case on my Rovers has been it runs into an obstacle, failsafes and shuts down.
Note: It occurs to me that my Rovers are small and can do little damage but some of the guys with large Rovers (mowers, etc.) this is certainly not the case.So my comment about worst case is a bit naive 
Did you load someone elseâs parameter file at some point?
Thanks Sebastian and Dave,
I didnât load the parameter file from someone else. I will make the changes you both suggest and try tuning again.
Also I noticed in the tuning video the steering mode was not used to tune the vehicle?
If I upload the lattest rover software should I load the beta or the lattest release. What is the lattest released software?
If I hear you correctly the update will not remove my current parameters. Would this be correct?
Also I assume that I wonât have to recalibrate compass, etc. and start over again. Would this be a correct assumption?
Before loading the new software I will try some of the other things you have both suggested and then go from there. Let me know what you think of the above issues? Thank you both for all the great continued help !!! Rick