Has anyone been running a VTOL/Quadplane without an airspeed sensor? I saw on the PX4 forum that vertical technologies is NOT using one and claims increase in efficiency… This is NOT a bash post, I want to hear what people have to say from experience about this. I think the pre flight calibration of the airspeed sensor is annoying, and is a failure point if you fail to do it on your checklist.
Ryan
I have flown a Tiltrotor Quadplane without an airspeed sensor before. It is not ideal.
On takeoff, Arduplane has no way of knowing the wind. Thus, it has no way of telling it’s airspeed apart from GPS groundspeed, which is very important for a properly tuned VTOL to Forward Flight transition. On a windier day, the quadplane may not reach a high enough groundspeed to complete the transition, due to headwinds.
I also doubt that not having one would improve efficiency, unless the sensor is calibrated incorrectly. Any given fixed wing will be most efficient at a particular airspeed, and staying as close as possible to that airspeed is made easier with a well-calibrated airspeed sensor.
Agreed! I can’t for the life of me think that this is more efficient… I am wondering if the kalman filter in PX4 is different in the way it handles the transition. Also I saw that they are using the energy used on a curve over the flight to make it work as the pack sags. I find that very interesting, how they have this modeled to make it work reliably.
Ryan
Anyone else have some ideas on this?
Ryan